Should I start Darren Waller or Elijah Higgins in Week 9?
Updated Nov 3, 10:21 AM ET. Week 10 answers post Tuesday.
Week 9 verdict
Start Darren Waller over Elijah Higgins
- Market projects
- 4.8
- fantasy pts
- DEN D vs TE
- 16.8
- 7th most to TEs (2026)
- Snap share
- 48%
- Through Week 8
- Target share
- 10%
- Through Week 8
- Market projects
- 4.1
- recent weeks avg
- SEA D vs TE
- 10.2
- 5th fewest to TEs (2026)
- Snap share
- 39%
- Through Week 8
- Target share
- 6%
- Through Week 8
Start Darren Waller: 51 percent of the snaps and 6 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against Elijah Higgins's 41 percent of the snaps and 8 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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Your next move
More fantasy football tools and rankings, all built from the same board.
Both players' season market-based projection, their usage this season and their last full season's numbers.
TE8 · CAR · bye 5
2026 vs anytime td line 2-5
- Market-based projection
- 4.9 pts a game
TE · ARI · bye unlisted
2026 vs anytime td line 1-7
- Overall rank
- not on the board
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The gap
- Board size301 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 Darren Waller, and the board ranks him 52nd overall on the rest of his evidence.
Our board does not carry Elijah Higgins at all right now: live drafts have stopped taking him and there is no player market on him this week, so he has no rank, no tier and no ADP here.
The market-based projections
Darren Waller's market-based projection is 4.9 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 6 market sources. That is the 48th highest figure of the 211 players with a market-based projection.
No season market is posted for Elijah Higgins, so the only market valuing him on this page is the draft room.
This season through Week 8
Through Week 8, Darren Waller has been on the field for 48 percent of CAR snaps, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.
He has taken 9 of the offence's 53 third down targets, had 0 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 34 two minute targets.
His 25 targets have averaged 9.4 air yards.
In Week 6 against PHI he caught 0 of 2 targets for 0 yards and did not score.
In Week 7 against TB he caught 1 of 2 targets for 50 yards and scored 1 touchdown.
In Week 8 against GB he caught 1 of 2 targets for 11 yards and did not score.
Through Week 8, Elijah Higgins has been on the field for 39 percent of ARI snaps, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 2 percent of the red zone chances.
He has taken 1 of the offence's 88 third down targets, had 1 of its 29 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 57 two minute targets.
His 18 targets have averaged 2.7 air yards.
In Week 6 against LAR he caught 3 of 3 targets for 28 yards and did not score.
In Week 7 against DEN he caught 3 of 3 targets for 17 yards and did not score.
In Week 8 against DAL he caught 2 of 4 targets for 10 yards and did not score.
Their 2025 seasons
In 2025 Darren Waller played 9 games and scored 88.7 PPR points, 9.9 a game, finishing TE33.
He caught 24 of 34 targets for 283 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets.
That came to 3.8 targets a game, a 71 percent catch rate and 11.8 yards a catch.
He was on the field for 45 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
In 2025 Elijah Higgins played 17 games and scored 58.1 PPR points, 3.4 a game, finishing TE48.
He caught 30 of 37 targets for 301 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 4 red zone targets.
That came to 2.2 targets a game, a 81 percent catch rate and 10.0 yards a catch.
He was on the field for 41 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
Elijah Higgins was available for 8 games more.
Head to head
In 2025 Darren Waller scored 9.9 PPR points a game and Elijah Higgins 3.4, 6.4 a game between them.
Darren Waller finished TE33 that year and Elijah Higgins TE48.
Elijah Higgins had 3 more targets than Darren Waller, 37 to 34.
Elijah Higgins had 18 more receiving yards than Darren Waller, 301 to 283.
This season Darren Waller holds the bigger snap share, 48 percent against 39 percent.
This season Darren Waller holds the bigger target share, 10 percent against 6 percent.
Byes and availability
Darren Waller is off in Week 5. No bye is listed for Elijah Higgins.
What would change the answer
Elijah Higgins has no posted market, so one half of the evidence on this page exists for only one of them.
Both players in full
Week 9 on the board
- Is Darren Waller playing Week 9?
- Is Elijah Higgins playing Week 9?
- Panthers depth chart
- Cardinals 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
