Should I start David Montgomery or Travis Etienne Jr. in Week 9?
Updated Nov 2, 9:36 PM ET. Week 10 answers post Tuesday.
Start Travis Etienne Jr.: 51 percent of the snaps and 38 percent of the carries over their last 3 games, against David Montgomery's 42 percent of the snaps and 40 percent of the carries. 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.
RB · HOU · on bye this week
2026 vs carries line 1-4
- Overall rank
- 258
RB · NO · on bye this week
2025 vs rush yds line 9-8
- Overall rank
- 269
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The gap
- Board size330 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 David Montgomery, and the board ranks him 258th overall on the rest of his evidence.
In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 33.
Live drafts hold no current pick on Travis Etienne Jr., and the board ranks him 269th overall on the rest of his evidence.
The market-based projections
No season market is posted for David Montgomery, so the only market valuing him on this page is the draft room.
No season market is posted for Travis Etienne Jr., 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 5, David Montgomery has been on the field for 46 percent of HOU snaps, taken 45 percent of the carries, drawn 4 percent of the targets and had 28 percent of the red zone chances.
He has taken 1 of the offence's 39 third down targets, had 3 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 30 two minute targets.
His 7 targets have averaged 3.6 air yards.
In Week 3 against IND he carried 11 times for 33 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 15 yards and did not score.
In Week 4 against DAL he carried 10 times for 24 yards and did not score.
In Week 5 against TEN he carried 5 times for 11 yards and did not score.
Through Week 3, Travis Etienne Jr. has been on the field for 51 percent of NO snaps, taken 38 percent of the carries, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 18 percent of the red zone chances.
He has taken 2 of the offence's 28 third down targets, had 1 of its 8 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 23 two minute targets.
His 13 targets have come 0.7 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.
In Week 1 against DET he carried 9 times for 46 yards, caught 7 of 9 targets for 32 yards and did not score.
In Week 2 against BAL he carried 8 times for 25 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 6 yards and did not score.
In Week 3 against LV he carried 13 times for 57 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 13 yards and did not score.
Their 2025 seasons
In 2025 David Montgomery played 17 games and scored 166.9 PPR points, 9.8 a game, finishing RB27.
He carried 158 times for 716 yards and 8 touchdowns, and caught 24 of 29 targets for 192 more yards.
That came to 9.3 carries a game at 5 yards a carry and 1.4 catches a game.
He was on the field for 37 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
In 2025 Travis Etienne Jr. played 17 games and scored 253.9 PPR points, 14.9 a game, finishing RB10.
He carried 260 times for 1107 yards and 7 touchdowns, and caught 36 of 52 targets for 292 more yards.
That came to 15.3 carries a game at 4.3 yards a carry and 2.1 catches a game.
He was on the field for 60 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
Both were available for 17 games that season.
Head to head
In 2025 Travis Etienne Jr. scored 14.9 PPR points a game and David Montgomery 9.8, 5.1 a game between them.
David Montgomery finished RB27 that year and Travis Etienne Jr. RB10.
Travis Etienne Jr. had 102 more carries than David Montgomery, 260 to 158.
Travis Etienne Jr. had 12 more catches than David Montgomery, 36 to 24.
This season Travis Etienne Jr. holds the bigger snap share, 51 percent against 46 percent.
This season David Montgomery holds the bigger share of the carries, 45 percent against 38 percent.
Byes and availability
Both are off in Week 8, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.
David Montgomery is listed as out on the injury report.
Travis Etienne Jr. is listed as ir on the injury report.
Both players in full
Week 9 on the board
- Is David Montgomery playing Week 9?
- Is Travis Etienne Jr. playing Week 9?
- Texans depth chart
- Saints depth chart
- Week 9 RB 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
