Should I start Kaelon Black or Evan Engram in Week 9?
Updated Nov 4, 7:16 AM ET. Week 10 answers post Tuesday.
Start Evan Engram: 46 percent of the snaps and 10 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against Kaelon Black's 30 percent of the snaps and 35 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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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.
RB52 · SF · bye 8
- Overall rank
- 146
TE20 · DEN · bye 10
2026 vs anytime td line 1-7
- Market-based projection
- 4.6 pts a game
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The gap
- Board size306 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 Kaelon Black, and the board ranks him 146th overall on the rest of his evidence.
Live drafts hold no current pick on Evan Engram, and the board ranks him 147th overall on the rest of his evidence.
The market-based projections
The market-based projection for Kaelon Black is 1.4 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.
Evan Engram's market-based projection is 4.6 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 114th highest figure of the 219 players with a market-based projection.
Kaelon Black's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.
This season so far
Through Week 7, Kaelon Black has been on the field for 30 percent of SF snaps, taken 31 percent of the carries, drawn 3 percent of the targets and had 16 percent of the red zone chances.
He has taken 0 of the offence's 50 third down targets, had 3 of its 24 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 30 two minute targets.
His 6 targets have come 2.0 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.
In Week 5 against SEA he carried 6 times for 16 yards and did not score.
In Week 6 against WAS he carried 8 times for 34 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 3 yards and did not score.
In Week 7 against ATL he carried 12 times for 63 yards, caught 1 of 3 targets for -4 yards and scored 1 touchdown.
Through Week 8, Evan Engram has been on the field for 54 percent of DEN snaps, drawn 11 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.
He has taken 9 of the offence's 66 third down targets, had 0 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 26 two minute targets.
His 25 targets have averaged 5.1 air yards.
In Week 6 against SEA he caught 2 of 2 targets for 13 yards and did not score.
In Week 7 against ARI he caught 1 of 3 targets for 2 yards and did not score.
In Week 8 against KC he caught 0 of 3 targets for 0 yards and did not score.
Their 2025 seasons
Kaelon Black is a rookie, so there is no NFL season behind him to price him against.
In 2025 Evan Engram played 16 games and scored 102.8 PPR points, 6.4 a game, finishing TE29.
He caught 50 of 76 targets for 461 yards and 1 touchdown, with 10 red zone targets.
That came to 4.8 targets a game, a 66 percent catch rate and 9.2 yards a catch.
He was on the field for 42 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
Side by side
Kaelon Black is a running back and Evan Engram a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.
Byes and availability
Kaelon Black is off in Week 8 and Evan Engram in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.
What would change the answer
Kaelon Black has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.
Both players in full
Week 9 on the board
- Is Kaelon Black playing Week 9?
- Is Evan Engram playing Week 9?
- 49ers depth chart
- Broncos depth chart
- Week 9 RB rankings
- 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
