Remember the paradigm shift that was coming to fantasy football? Draft receivers are safer. And for the love of all that is holy, please avoid aging running backs – they are just too risky.

Well, throw it all in the shredder, at least for 2024. In this current fantasy landscape, up is down, down is up, and dogs and cats are best friends.

Let's have some fun with the Week 9 running back leaderboard. Derrick Henry, old man – he's the RB3 with 25.8 fantasy points and only SNF and MNF left to play with. Alvin Kamara, old man – he's at RB4 (24.5 points). Saquon Barkley leads the position in scoring (31.4 points) with touchdowns through the air and on the ground. Joe Mixon did his usual thing in Thursday's loss to the Jets (over 100 yards, one touchdown, 16.6 points).

Henry is two months away from his 31st birthday. Kamara is 29. Barkley is 27 and is in his seventh NFL season. This is the eighth season for the 28-year-old Mixon.

Fantasy analysts generally disagree, but Henry was widely praised and targeted throughout the summer. The reasons were pretty simple: Baltimore always has a strong offensive infrastructure and the rushing presence of Lamar Jackson will clear the way. And as athletic as Jackson is, he generally doesn't steal too many rushing touchdowns.

Henry's first season in Baltimore was the rare combination of weekly ups and downs. He has scored a touchdown in all nine of his games. This week marks the seventh time he has made it into the top 10 at this position. While there are some tricky matchups coming up – including both games in Pittsburgh – I don't see what will stop Henry. And remember, his career trend is that he's typically more effective the further we get into the season.

Henry racked up 133 total yards and two touchdowns, surpassing 100 career rushing scores in a 41-10 win over Denver on Sunday. Jackson only had to throw 19 times, but managed 16 of them, good for 280 yards and three touchdowns. Zay Flowers finally broke through with a few touchdowns and scored twice in a 5-127-2 afternoon.

When Henry, Jackson and Flowers are on point, there's not much room for anyone else. Mark Andrews only drew two targets on Sunday; Rashod Bateman had four. Diontae Johnson played about a third of the snaps and ran six routes with 22 dropbacks. I know this might sound wild, but I wonder if his fantasy value was better in Carolina. He'll eventually grow into a bigger role in Baltimore, but there are a lot of additions to the ball here.

Kamara continues to strive for a career high in contacts. He had a ridiculous 35 handles, 29 rushes and six catches in the loss to Carolina – which amounted to 215 yards given that workload. Taysom Hill threw for a touchdown, but Kamara managers will be happy to follow that line. But we have to wonder how well Kamara will hold up to the impacts. His season high for touches was 287 three years ago. After Sunday, he is at 196 after nine games.

Of course, the Saints don't have much else to rely on. Breakout receiver Rashid Shaheed is out this year. Chris Olave suffered a horrific concussion on Sunday. There is no other influential running back on the roster. Unfortunately, New Orleans has to come up with something. After a blistering 2-0 start to the season in September – stunning victories over Carolina and Dallas – the Saints have now lost seven games in a row.

Will the paper bags be out when New Orleans hosts Atlanta next week?

Another week 9 is booming

Achane does everything for the dolphins

With all due respect to older defensemen, let's put the ceiling on the current No. 2 in Week 9 – that's second-year De'Von Achane from Miami with 28.1 fantasy points. He had 20 touches for a total of 121 yards and two scores in the loss to Buffalo, including an 8-58-1 passing line (catching all). Tua Tagovailoa still hasn't got things back on track with Tyreek Hill (4-80-0, five scores) and Jaylen Waddle (minus 4 yards, but one touchdown). Achane is obviously the linchpin of this Miami offense.

Burrow is having a day without much from Chase

Joe Burrow currently wears the Week 9 yellow jersey at quarterback, a five-touchdown jamboree against the Raiders. Unfortunately, not a single goal went to Ja'Marr Chase (7-43-0), although it was not due to a lack of performance (11 goals). Mike Gesicki clicked as a tight end sleeper (5-100-2), Chase Brown caught a touchdown and Drew Sample and Andrei Iosivas scored, keeping each other company on the most waiver lines in America.

Fantasy gods laugh in week 9

Sometimes the touchdown trolls come to play. Josh Allen had three touchdown passes in the win over Miami, and they went to Ray Davis (a nice player and a plus, but a backup), Mack Hollins and Quintin Morris (on the 11th catch of his career). Some things just can't be predicted. It's interesting to see Allen downshift as a runner – he only managed seven yards on Sunday, and he only has three rushing touchdowns after gobbling up 15 last year.

note: I will be doing additional analysis for Week 9 later today.