Should I start Jaxon Smith-Njigba or Mark Andrews in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and the board ranks him 45th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 8.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Mark Andrews, and the board ranks him 47th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Jaxon Smith-Njigba is 5.5 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Mark Andrews's market-based projection is 5.6 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 41st highest figure of the 211 players with a market-based projection.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Jaxon Smith-Njigba has been on the field for 83 percent of SEA snaps, drawn 36 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 30 of the offence's 70 third down targets, had 2 of its 19 chances inside the five and seen 18 of its 43 two minute targets.

His 89 targets have averaged 10.5 air yards.

In Week 6 against DEN he caught 12 of 16 targets for 134 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against KC he carried 2 times for 13 yards, caught 9 of 12 targets for 150 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against CHI he caught 6 of 11 targets for 118 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, Mark Andrews has been on the field for 64 percent of BAL snaps, drawn 18 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 17 of the offence's 66 third down targets, had 2 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 47 two minute targets.

His 41 targets have averaged 6.6 air yards.

In Week 6 against CLE he caught 1 of 3 targets for 4 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CIN he caught 3 of 4 targets for 23 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against BUF he caught 3 of 4 targets for 14 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Jaxon Smith-Njigba played 17 games and scored 359.9 PPR points, 21.2 a game, finishing WR2.

He caught 119 of 163 targets for 1793 yards and 10 touchdowns, with 17 red zone targets.

That came to 9.6 targets a game, a 73 percent catch rate and 15.1 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 78 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Mark Andrews played 17 games and scored 131.0 PPR points, 7.7 a game, finishing TE16.

He caught 48 of 70 targets for 422 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets.

That came to 4.1 targets a game, a 69 percent catch rate and 8.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 62 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Jaxon Smith-Njigba scored 21.2 PPR points a game and Mark Andrews 7.7, 13.5 a game between them.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba finished WR2 and Mark Andrews TE16, which are two different ladders.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a wide receiver and Mark Andrews a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Jaxon Smith-Njigba is off in Week 11 and Mark Andrews in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

Jaxon Smith-Njigba has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.