Start AJ Barner or Juwan Johnson? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Juwan Johnson over AJ Barner in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Juwan Johnson at 9.3 points and AJ Barner at 7.4, a gap of 1.9. No player market is posted for Juwan Johnson this week yet, so his 9.3 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6 and 7 (10.3 and 8.2); 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 Juwan Johnson yet. His market-based projections were 10.3 and 8.2 points in Weeks 6 and 7, an average of 9.3, 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 Juwan Johnson 1.9 points ahead of AJ Barner on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Juwan Johnson and NO host CLE on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CLE allowed 13.6 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 14th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 49 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against CLE.

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

Juwan Johnson is not on the injury report.

AJ Barner is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 7, Juwan Johnson played 66 percent of NO snaps, drew 14 percent of the targets, earned 9 percent of the air yards and had 12 percent of the red zone chances.

Juwan Johnson, Week 4 against ATL: 58 of 74 snaps, 8 targets and 6 catches for 59 yards.

Juwan Johnson, Week 5 against MIN: 29 of 45 snaps, 5 targets and 4 catches for 16 yards.

Juwan Johnson, Week 6 against NYG: 42 of 72 snaps, 2 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Juwan Johnson, Week 7 against PIT: 32 of 57 snaps, 3 targets and 1 catch for 7 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, Juwan Johnson played 17 games for NO and scored 179.9 PPR points, 10.6 a game, finishing TE8.

He caught 77 of 102 targets for 889 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets and 527 air yards.

He was on the field for 76 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 Juwan Johnson.
• Start Juwan Johnson over Cade Otton.
• Start Juwan Johnson over Chig Okonkwo.
• Start Brenton Strange over AJ Barner.
• Start Cade Otton over AJ Barner.
• Start AJ Barner over Charlie Kolar.