Start AJ Barner or Harold Fannin Jr.? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Harold Fannin Jr. over AJ Barner in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Harold Fannin Jr. at 9.0 points and AJ Barner at 7.4, a gap of 1.6. No player market is posted for Harold Fannin Jr. this week yet, so his 9.0 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (10.0, 8.3 and 8.5); 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 Harold Fannin Jr. yet. His market-based projections were 10.0, 8.3 and 8.5 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 9.0, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

The market-based projection for Harold Fannin Jr. is 0.4 touchdowns (5 market sources).

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 Harold Fannin Jr. 1.6 points ahead of AJ Barner on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Harold Fannin Jr. and CLE visit NO on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

NO allowed 17.0 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 6th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 68 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against NO.

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, Harold Fannin Jr. has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Harold Fannin Jr. is not on the injury report.

AJ Barner is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Harold Fannin Jr. played 83 percent of CLE snaps, drew 28 percent of the targets, earned 24 percent of the air yards and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

Harold Fannin Jr., Week 7 against TEN: 58 of 70 snaps, 9 targets and 6 catches for 91 yards.

Harold Fannin Jr., Week 8 against PIT: 12 targets and 10 catches for 154 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, Harold Fannin Jr. played 16 games for CLE and scored 186.4 PPR points, 11.7 a game, finishing TE6.

He caught 72 of 107 targets for 731 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 10 red zone targets and 379 air yards.

He was on the field for 76 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Harold Fannin Jr., Week 17 of 2025 against PIT: 12 of 52 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 30 yards, 1 touchdown, 11.0 PPR points.

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