Start AJ Barner or Mike Gesicki? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Mike Gesicki over AJ Barner in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Mike Gesicki 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 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

Player markets imply 7.5 fantasy points for Mike Gesicki, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market-based projection for Mike Gesicki is 29 receiving yards, 2-3 receptions and 0.4 touchdowns (7, 7 and 7 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 Mike Gesicki 0.1 points ahead of AJ Barner on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Mike Gesicki and CIN visit ATL on Sunday at 9:30 AM ET.

ATL allowed 15.8 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 10th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 63 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against ATL.

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

Mike Gesicki is not on the injury report.

AJ Barner is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Mike Gesicki played 45 percent of CIN snaps, drew 9 percent of the targets, earned 13 percent of the air yards and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

Mike Gesicki, Week 4 against JAX: 47 of 76 snaps, 5 targets and 3 catches for 40 yards, 1 touchdown.

Mike Gesicki, Week 5 against MIA: 29 of 65 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 4 yards, 1 touchdown.

Mike Gesicki, Week 7 against BAL: 20 of 53 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 6 yards, 1 touchdown.

Mike Gesicki, Week 8 against TEN: 6 targets and 4 catches for 76 yards, 1 touchdown.

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, Mike Gesicki played 13 games for CIN and scored 70.7 PPR points, 5.4 a game, finishing TE41.

He caught 28 of 42 targets for 307 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets and 244 air yards.

He was on the field for 38 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 Mike Gesicki.
• Start Cade Otton over Mike Gesicki.
• Start Mike Gesicki over Charlie Kolar.
• Start Brenton Strange over AJ Barner.
• Start Cade Otton over AJ Barner.
• Start AJ Barner over Charlie Kolar.