This article is part of our IDP Analysis series.
Another week is down in the regular season, and Week 9 featured a number of impressive individual performances. We'll highlight some of those below, as well as a few players who didn't meet expectations or suffered unfortunate injuries.
Risers
David Onyemata, DT 
Onyemata spent the first seven seasons of his career in New Orleans and served primarily as a system player. He was a well above-average player in that role, but he reached five sacks only twice and his highest tackle total was 44. He joined Atlanta this offseason and has seen a significant change in his role. He recorded his second sack in his last three games Sunday against the Vikings, giving him 3.5 sacks this campaign. He's backed that up with peripheral numbers, highlighted by 12 quarterback hits – just four fewer than his highest mark in a season. In other words, Onyemata is performing well in his new role.
Darnell Savage (calf) was placed on injured reserve before the team's Week 8 matchup in Minnesota. Owens has played 100 percent of snaps in each game since, though the first came with little production in the box score. That changed in Week 9 – albeit in a very positive matchup – when he posted eight tackles, one sack and one forced fumble. While the Packers won't have the benefit of playing Brett Rypien every week, Owens seems to have some value so long as Savage remains out.
Kenny Moore, CB
Another week is down in the regular season, and Week 9 featured a number of impressive individual performances. We'll highlight some of those below, as well as a few players who didn't meet expectations or suffered unfortunate injuries.
Risers
David Onyemata, DT
Onyemata spent the first seven seasons of his career in New Orleans and served primarily as a system player. He was a well above-average player in that role, but he reached five sacks only twice and his highest tackle total was 44. He joined Atlanta this offseason and has seen a significant change in his role. He recorded his second sack in his last three games Sunday against the Vikings, giving him 3.5 sacks this campaign. He's backed that up with peripheral numbers, highlighted by 12 quarterback hits – just four fewer than his highest mark in a season. In other words, Onyemata is performing well in his new role.
Darnell Savage (calf) was placed on injured reserve before the team's Week 8 matchup in Minnesota. Owens has played 100 percent of snaps in each game since, though the first came with little production in the box score. That changed in Week 9 – albeit in a very positive matchup – when he posted eight tackles, one sack and one forced fumble. While the Packers won't have the benefit of playing Brett Rypien every week, Owens seems to have some value so long as Savage remains out.
Kenny Moore, CB 
Moore has been a consistent starter since his second season in the NFL, and he's been solid for much of that time. Noting him as a riser doesn't suggest a significant change in production as it does for Owens and Savage, but Moore needs to be acknowledged for tallying two pick-sixes against Carolina to lead the Colts to a win. Always a good source of pass breakups and interceptions, Moore is also on pace for at least the second-highest tackle total of his career and he could top his 102 stops from the 2021 season.
Amik Robertson, CB 
Robertson has been hyped from inside the Raiders' organization for significant portions of the offseason and into the regular season. After playing only three defensive snaps combined across the team's first three games, his role has increased significantly since. That peaked Sunday when he led all of the team's corners with 51 snaps to go along with his second interception of the season and first forced fumble. He's taken over an outside corner role for Vegas, so the second half of this season could be his full breakout.
Kyle Van Noy, LB 
Van Noy got a late start to his season, as he was only signed to the active roster in Week 4. However, he's made his presence felt since, tallying at least one sack in three of his six contests, including multiple sacks in two contests. Put another way, he managed five sacks on 702 snaps in 2022 and has matched that mark on only 167 snaps in 2023.
Boye Mafe, LB 
Mafe played a modest role in Seattle's defense in his rookie season in 2022. He's taken a massive leap in year two, however, already racking up six sacks with one in every game except Week 1 (he was out with injury in Week 2). While Mafe's top skill is clearly his work as a pass rusher, he's shown the ability to chip in against the run game of late as well, accounting for 18 of his 33 tackles combined across the last two weeks.
Fallers
Nakobe Dean, 
LB
Dean appeared on this list just a few weeks ago, as he returned from a foot injury to make a mess of the Eagles' linebacker corps. Just as he started to see his snap share tick back up with corresponding production, he was forced to exit Sunday's game against the Cowboys with what appeared to an aggravation of his foot injury. We'll learn more throughout the week, but there has to be some concern we won't see Dean again this season.
Ryan Neal, 
S
Neal has had a miserable season in coverage, and it appears as if the Buccaneers have had enough. Entering Sunday's game against the Texans, he had never posted below a 90 percent defensive snap share, with the only exception being when he suffered a concussion early in a Week 4 matchup against the Saints. That changed in Week 9, as he played only 19 snaps (31 percent) and was replaced on almost exactly a one-to-one basis by Christian Izien. Neal had been a valuable fantasy option regardless of his actual level of play, racking up double-digit stops in three games.
