Start AJ Barner or Evan Engram? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start AJ Barner over Evan Engram in Week 9.

Market-based projections have AJ Barner at 7.4 points and Evan Engram at 6.0, a gap of 1.4. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. 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. No player market is posted for Evan Engram this week yet, so his 6.0 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (5.8, 6.0 and 6.2); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

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.

No Week 9 player market is posted for Evan Engram yet. His market-based projections were 5.8, 6.0 and 6.2 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 6.0, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts AJ Barner 1.4 points ahead of Evan Engram on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

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.

Evan Engram and DEN visit CAR on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CAR allowed 13.5 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 6 games, the 15th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 46 yards and 0.7 touchdowns a game against CAR.

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

Injury status

AJ Barner is not on the injury report.

Evan Engram is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

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.

Through Week 8, Evan Engram played 54 percent of DEN snaps, drew 11 percent of the targets, earned 10 percent of the air yards and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

Evan Engram, Week 5 against LAC: 30 of 62 snaps, 4 targets and 4 catches for 55 yards.

Evan Engram, Week 6 against SEA: 31 of 60 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 13 yards.

Evan Engram, Week 7 against ARI: 24 of 61 snaps, 3 targets and 1 catch for 2 yards.

Evan Engram, Week 8 against KC: 3 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025, Evan Engram played 16 games for DEN 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 and 159 air yards.

He was on the field for 42 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

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