Are Alvin Kamara, Rashid Shaheed playing today? Injury updates, fantasy advice for Week 9

The New Orleans Saints have a pair of key offensive players questionable for the Week 9 game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Running back Alvin Kamara is dealing with an ankle injury and wideout Rashid Shaheed has a hip issue. Both players practiced on a limited basis all week before drawing the aforementioned questionable tag.

That tag offers hope that Kamara and Shaheed will play, but it of course does not give us a definitive answer.

Here's what we know about the statuses of both players on Sunday.

Is Alvin Kamara playing today?

Yes, he is expected to play today, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

"RB Alvin Kamara (ankle) and WR Rashid Shaheed (hip) are both listed as questionable and both are expected to play, sources say," Rapoport said.

Is Rashid Shaheed playing today?

As you saw in the above Rapoport report, Shaheed is indeed slated to play in Week 9.

That means rookie Tyler Shough will have his top two receivers in Shaheed and Chris Olave active for his first NFL start. 

Alvin Kamara start or sit

Kamara is having a terrible season by his standards with 363 rushing yards and 147 receiving yards, which leaves him ranked as RB31 overall in fantasy points per contest.

There's a few reasons for this.

The Saints' offense is one of the worst in the league thanks to bad quarterback play from Spencer Rattler, which has greatly limited everyone on New Orleans' offense. It remains to be seen if Shough will be able to fix that, but chances are he won't, at least not immediately.

But Kamara also just hasn't been utilized as much as the team has been looking to get Kendre Miller more involved. Kamara's lack of passing-game usage has been stunning, also, and that has cut off another scoring stream for the veteran.

If you're looking for a glimmer of hope, Miller is now out for the season, so that should provide a boost to Kamara's workload.

The Week 9 matchup against the Rams isn't a good one, as Los Angeles is giving up the third-fewest fantasy points per game to running backs this season.

Add in the fact that we have no idea what to expect from Shough in his first career start and that makes Kamara tough to insert into lineups on Sunday, outside of the most desperate situations.

Verdict: Sit

Rashid Shaheed start or sit advice

Shaheed has also been a victim of bad quarterback play, which has led to him ranking as WR40 overall this season in terms of fantasy points per game.

Now, we have the total wild card that is Shough, who is making his first NFL start against a vaunted Rams pass-rush.

Los Angeles is, however, just a middle-of-the-road team when it comes to giving up fantasy points to receivers, and the Saints might be chasing points in this contest, which would be a positive game script for Shaheed.

But none of that is enough to trust Shaheed in lineups, especially if we have options with better quarterback situations. Keep Shaheed on the bench this week and see how things play out with Shough.

Verdict: Sit