Start Baker Mayfield or Gardner Minshew II? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Baker Mayfield over Gardner Minshew II in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Baker Mayfield at 15.6 points and Gardner Minshew II at 9.4, a gap of 6.2. Baker Mayfield's number is scaled up from a partial market: not every stat the position needs is posted yet, so the rest is estimated from what is.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 15.6 fantasy points for Baker Mayfield, with 80 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Baker Mayfield is 214 passing yards, 1-2 passing touchdowns and 0.1 rushing touchdowns (13, 14 and 9 market sources).

Player markets imply 9.4 fantasy points for Gardner Minshew II, with 100 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Gardner Minshew II is 200 passing yards, 0-1 passing touchdowns, 6 rushing yards and 0.1 rushing touchdowns (10, 12, 10 and 12 market sources).

That puts Baker Mayfield 6.2 points ahead of Gardner Minshew II on the market projections.

Week 9 matchups

Baker Mayfield and TB visit CHI on Sunday at 8:20 PM ET.

CHI allowed 19.7 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 8 games, the 8th most in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 235 yards and 1.6 touchdowns a game against CHI, with 0.6 interceptions a game.

Gardner Minshew II and ARI visit SEA on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

SEA allowed 11.9 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 8 games, the 2nd fewest in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 169 yards and 1.1 touchdowns a game against SEA, with an interception a game.

By points allowed to the position, Baker Mayfield has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Baker Mayfield is not on the injury report.

Gardner Minshew II is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Baker Mayfield played 97 percent of TB snaps, dropped back 134 times and threw an average of 8.4 air yards per attempt.

Baker Mayfield, Week 2 against CLE: 65 of 65 snaps, 21 of 34 passes for 182 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception, 4 carries for 29 yards.

Baker Mayfield, Week 3 against MIN: 65 of 69 snaps, 17 of 34 passes for 217 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception, 2 carries for 6 yards.

Baker Mayfield, Week 7 against CAR: 57 of 63 snaps, 7 of 11 passes for 64 yards, 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions, 1 carry for 1 yards.

Baker Mayfield, Week 8 against ATL: 60 of 60 snaps, 0 of 3 passes for 0 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 3 carries for 15 yards.

Through Week 8, Gardner Minshew II played 42 percent of ARI snaps, dropped back 21 times and threw an average of 6.8 air yards per attempt.

Gardner Minshew II, Week 8 against DAL: 34 of 81 snaps, 17 of 20 passes for 188 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Baker Mayfield played 17 games for TB and scored 282.9 PPR points, 16.6 a game, finishing QB12.

He completed 343 of 543 passes for 3693 yards, 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and ran 55 times for 382 yards and 1 touchdown.

He was on the field for 97 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Gardner Minshew II played 4 games for KC and scored 0.7 PPR points, 0.2 a game, finishing QB72.

He completed 6 of 13 passes for 37 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception, and ran 6 times for 2 yards and 0 touchdowns.

He was on the field for 4 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Gardner Minshew II, Week 16 of 2025 against TEN: 14 of 45 snaps, 3 of 8 passes for 15 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 1 carry for 8 yards, 1.4 PPR points.

Gardner Minshew II, Week 15 of 2025 against LAC: 5 of 61 snaps, 3 of 5 passes for 22 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception, -0.1 PPR points.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Bo Nix over Baker Mayfield.
• Start Baker Mayfield over Bryce Young.
• Start C.J. Stroud over Baker Mayfield.
• Start Bryce Young over Gardner Minshew II.
• Start Daniel Jones over Gardner Minshew II.
• Start Deshaun Watson over Gardner Minshew II.