Start Nate Boerkircher or Austin Hooper? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Nate Boerkircher over Austin Hooper in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Nate Boerkircher at 2.3 points and Austin Hooper at 1.5, a gap of 0.8. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Austin Hooper this week yet, so his 1.5 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 7 and 8 (1.4 and 1.6); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 2.3 fantasy points for Nate Boerkircher, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market-based projection for Nate Boerkircher is 8 receiving yards, 0-1 receptions and 0.2 touchdowns (8, 8 and 11 market sources).

No Week 9 player market is posted for Austin Hooper yet. His market-based projections were 1.4 and 1.6 points in Weeks 7 and 8, an average of 1.5, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

The market-based projection for Austin Hooper is 0.1 touchdowns (7 market sources).

That puts Nate Boerkircher 0.8 points ahead of Austin Hooper on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Nate Boerkircher and JAX visit BAL on Thursday at 8:15 PM ET.

BAL allowed 13.5 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 8 games, the 15th fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 47 yards and 0.8 touchdowns a game against BAL.

Austin Hooper 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, Austin Hooper has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Nate Boerkircher is not on the injury report.

Austin Hooper is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Nate Boerkircher played 48 percent of JAX snaps, drew 5 percent of the targets, earned 4 percent of the air yards and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

Nate Boerkircher, Week 4 against CIN: 21 of 61 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 15 yards.

Nate Boerkircher, Week 5 against PHI: 35 of 72 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 20 yards.

Nate Boerkircher, Week 6 against HOU: 39 of 71 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 8 yards, 1 touchdown.

Nate Boerkircher, Week 8 against IND: 26 of 54 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 31 yards, 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, Austin Hooper played 25 percent of ATL snaps, drew 5 percent of the targets, earned 3 percent of the air yards and had 2 percent of the red zone chances.

Austin Hooper, Week 5 against BAL: 10 of 64 snaps, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Austin Hooper, Week 6 against CHI: 7 of 55 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 6 yards.

Austin Hooper, Week 7 against SF: 29 of 69 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 21 yards.

Austin Hooper, Week 8 against TB: 7 of 53 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 9 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Austin Hooper played 16 games for NE and scored 59.3 PPR points, 3.7 a game, finishing TE47.

He caught 21 of 26 targets for 263 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 5 red zone targets and 177 air yards.

He was on the field for 50 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Brevyn Spann-Ford over Nate Boerkircher.
• Start Nate Boerkircher over Davis Allen.
• Start Nate Boerkircher over Jonnu Smith.