Start AJ Barner or Chig Okonkwo? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Chig Okonkwo over AJ Barner in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Chig Okonkwo at 7.5 points and AJ Barner at 7.4, a gap of 0.1. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Chig Okonkwo this week yet, so his 7.5 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6 and 8 (6.6 and 8.3); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for AJ Barner this week yet, so his 7.4 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (7.0, 7.0 and 8.2); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 9 player market is posted for Chig Okonkwo yet. His market-based projections were 6.6 and 8.3 points in Weeks 6 and 8, an average of 7.5, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

No Week 9 player market is posted for AJ Barner yet. His market-based projections were 7.0, 7.0 and 8.2 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 7.4, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts Chig Okonkwo 0.1 points ahead of AJ Barner on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Chig Okonkwo and WAS host LAR on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

LAR allowed 10.2 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 5th fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 42 yards and 0.1 touchdowns a game against LAR.

AJ Barner and SEA host ARI on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

ARI allowed 16.6 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 7th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 60 yards and 0.7 touchdowns a game against ARI.

By points allowed to the position, AJ Barner has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Chig Okonkwo is not on the injury report.

AJ Barner is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Chig Okonkwo played 65 percent of WAS snaps, drew 16 percent of the targets, earned 13 percent of the air yards and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

Chig Okonkwo, Week 4 against IND: 37 of 64 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 5 yards.

Chig Okonkwo, Week 5 against NYG: 44 of 62 snaps, 6 targets and 4 catches for 60 yards.

Chig Okonkwo, Week 6 against SF: 51 of 67 snaps, 7 targets and 7 catches for 69 yards.

Chig Okonkwo, Week 8 against PHI: 4 targets and 2 catches for 32 yards.

Through Week 7, AJ Barner played 88 percent of SEA snaps, drew 13 percent of the targets, earned 4 percent of the air yards and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

AJ Barner, Week 4 against LAC: 54 of 60 snaps, 3 targets and 1 catch for 12 yards.

AJ Barner, Week 5 against SF: 60 of 63 snaps, 5 targets and 3 catches for 20 yards.

AJ Barner, Week 6 against DEN: 79 of 85 snaps, 4 targets and 3 catches for 16 yards.

AJ Barner, Week 7 against KC: 55 of 69 snaps, 3 carries for 4 yards, 5 targets and 4 catches for 42 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Chig Okonkwo played 17 games for TEN and scored 124.0 PPR points, 7.3 a game, finishing TE21.

He caught 56 of 79 targets for 560 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 5 red zone targets and 218 air yards.

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

In 2025, AJ Barner played 17 games for SEA and scored 147.3 PPR points, 8.7 a game, finishing TE14.

He caught 52 of 68 targets for 519 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 12 red zone targets and 248 air yards.

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

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Brenton Strange over Chig Okonkwo.
• Start Cade Otton over Chig Okonkwo.
• Start Chig Okonkwo over Charlie Kolar.
• Start Brenton Strange over AJ Barner.
• Start Cade Otton over AJ Barner.
• Start AJ Barner over Charlie Kolar.