Start Kyle Pitts Sr. or AJ Barner? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Kyle Pitts Sr. over AJ Barner in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Kyle Pitts Sr. at 9.4 points and AJ Barner at 7.4, a gap of 2.1. 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 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.

Player markets imply 9.4 fantasy points for Kyle Pitts Sr., with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market-based projection for Kyle Pitts Sr. is 41 receiving yards, 3-4 receptions and 0.3 touchdowns (8, 8 and 7 market sources).

That puts Kyle Pitts Sr. 2.1 points ahead of AJ Barner on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

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

ARI allowed 16.1 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 8 games, the 9th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 56 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against ARI.

Kyle Pitts Sr. and ATL host CIN on Sunday at 9:30 AM ET.

CIN allowed 16.5 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 8th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 89 yards and no touchdowns a game against CIN.

By points allowed to the position, Kyle Pitts Sr. has the softer matchup.

Injury status

AJ Barner is not on the injury report.

Kyle Pitts Sr. is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, AJ Barner played 88 percent of SEA snaps, drew 14 percent of the targets, earned 4 percent of the air yards and had 12 percent of the red zone chances.

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.

AJ Barner, Week 8 against CHI: 5 targets and 2 catches for 23 yards.

Through Week 8, Kyle Pitts Sr. played 55 percent of ATL snaps, drew 18 percent of the targets, earned 6 percent of the air yards and had 14 percent of the red zone chances.

Kyle Pitts Sr., Week 7 against SF: 38 of 69 snaps, 5 targets and 5 catches for 22 yards, 1 touchdown.

Kyle Pitts Sr., Week 8 against TB: 29 of 53 snaps, 5 targets and 2 catches for 6 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, Kyle Pitts Sr. played 17 games for ATL and scored 210.8 PPR points, 12.4 a game, finishing TE2.

He caught 88 of 118 targets for 928 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets and 528 air yards.

He was on the field for 87 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Kyle Pitts Sr., Week 18 of 2025 against NO: 9 targets and 6 catches for 58 yards, 11.8 PPR points.

Their other Week 9 calls

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