Should I start Darnell Washington or David Njoku in Week 9?
Updated Nov 3, 6:16 AM ET. Week 10 answers post Tuesday.
Start Darnell Washington: 64 percent of the snaps and 10 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against David Njoku's 33 percent of the snaps and 15 percent of the targets. No market projection is posted on either of them this week, so this is a usage call, and a lower confidence one than a call made on a projection. What follows is what each of them has done.
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Neither man carries a season projection right now, so this is their usage this season and their last full season's numbers, side by side.
TE · PIT · on bye this week
2026 vs anytime td line 3-5
- Market-based projection
- 6.3 pts a game Wk 8 price
- Overall rank
- 274
TE · LAC · bye 7
2025 vs rec yds line 3-9
- Overall rank
- 281
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The gap
- Board size297 draftable players
Draft data is not current for these two, so the figures that depend on it are left out. The call above comes from each player's usage.
Where the draft room stands
Live drafts hold no current pick on Darnell Washington, and the board ranks him 274th overall on the rest of his evidence.
Live drafts hold no current pick on David Njoku, and the board ranks him 281st overall on the rest of his evidence.
The market-based projections
No season market is posted for Darnell Washington, so the only market valuing him on this page is the draft room.
No season market is posted for David Njoku, so the only market valuing him on this page is the draft room.
Neither carries a posted market, so this page rests on the draft room and on what the two have already done.
This season so far
Through Week 8, Darnell Washington has been on the field for 65 percent of PIT snaps, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 12 percent of the red zone chances.
He has taken 2 of the offence's 61 third down targets, had 3 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 44 two minute targets.
His 28 targets have averaged 5.4 air yards.
In Week 6 against TB he caught 4 of 6 targets for 25 yards and scored 1 touchdown.
In Week 7 against NO he caught 1 of 1 target for 4 yards and scored 1 touchdown.
In Week 8 against CLE he caught 3 of 5 targets for 94 yards and did not score.
Through Week 2, David Njoku has been on the field for 33 percent of LAC snaps, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.
He has taken 2 of the offence's 16 third down targets, had 0 of its 2 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 7 two minute targets.
His 8 targets have averaged 6.6 air yards.
In Week 1 against ARI he caught 5 of 5 targets for 58 yards and did not score.
In Week 2 against LV he caught 1 of 3 targets for 9 yards and did not score.
Their 2025 seasons
In 2025 Darnell Washington played 16 games and scored 73.4 PPR points, 4.6 a game, finishing TE39.
He caught 31 of 43 targets for 364 yards and 1 touchdown, with 8 red zone targets.
That came to 2.7 targets a game, a 72 percent catch rate and 11.7 yards a catch.
He was on the field for 57 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
In 2025 David Njoku played 12 games and scored 86.3 PPR points, 7.2 a game, finishing TE34.
He caught 33 of 48 targets for 293 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets.
That came to 4.0 targets a game, a 69 percent catch rate and 8.9 yards a catch.
He was on the field for 64 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
Darnell Washington was available for 4 games more.
Head to head
In 2025 David Njoku scored 7.2 PPR points a game and Darnell Washington 4.6, 2.6 a game between them.
Darnell Washington finished TE39 that year and David Njoku TE34.
David Njoku had 5 more targets than Darnell Washington, 48 to 43.
Darnell Washington had 71 more receiving yards than David Njoku, 364 to 293.
This season Darnell Washington holds the bigger snap share, 65 percent against 33 percent.
This season David Njoku holds the bigger target share, 15 percent against 10 percent.
Byes and availability
Darnell Washington is off in Week 9 and David Njoku in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.
David Njoku is listed as ir on the injury report.
Should I drop Darnell Washington?
Both players in full
Week 9 on the board
- Is Darnell Washington playing Week 9?
- Is David Njoku playing Week 9?
- Steelers depth chart
- Chargers depth chart
- Week 9 TE rankings
- Week 9 fantasy rankings
- Week 9 start or sit
- Week 9 waiver wire
- Week 9 trade value chart
- Trade deadline buy low, sell high
- Fantasy football rankings
- Start 'em sit 'em Week 9
- Waiver wire pickups
- Fantasy sleepers
- Rest of season rankings
- Week 9 kicker rankings
- Week 9 defense rankings
