Should I start Malik Washington or Jake Ferguson in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Malik Washington, and the board ranks him 129th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Jake Ferguson, and the board ranks him 130th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Malik Washington is 2.1 PPR points a game off 1 market across 5 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Jake Ferguson is 2.0 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a tight end's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Malik Washington's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Malik Washington has been on the field for 82 percent of MIA snaps, drawn 25 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 8 of the offence's 51 third down targets, had 1 of its 16 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 45 targets have averaged 10.4 air yards.

In Week 5 against CIN he carried 1 time for 18 yards, caught 6 of 8 targets for 43 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against NYJ he carried 2 times for 8 yards, caught 3 of 3 targets for 27 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against NE he caught 5 of 6 targets for 40 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, Jake Ferguson has been on the field for 58 percent of DAL snaps, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 5 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 69 third down targets, had 1 of its 31 chances inside the five and seen 6 of its 50 two minute targets.

His 25 targets have averaged 5.0 air yards.

In Week 6 against GB he caught 2 of 3 targets for 13 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against PHI he caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against ARI he was not given the ball.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Malik Washington played 17 games and scored 116.7 PPR points, 6.9 a game, finishing WR54.

He caught 46 of 65 targets for 317 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets.

That came to 3.8 targets a game, a 71 percent catch rate and 6.9 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 56 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Jake Ferguson played 17 games and scored 188.1 PPR points, 11.1 a game, finishing TE5.

He caught 82 of 102 targets for 600 yards and 8 touchdowns, with 23 red zone targets.

That came to 6.0 targets a game, a 80 percent catch rate and 7.3 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 67 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Jake Ferguson scored 11.1 PPR points a game and Malik Washington 6.9, 4.2 a game between them.

Malik Washington finished WR54 and Jake Ferguson TE5, which are two different ladders.

Malik Washington is a wide receiver and Jake Ferguson a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Malik Washington is off in Week 6 and Jake Ferguson in Week 14, so either can cover the other's bye.

Jake Ferguson is listed as out on the injury report.