Start Brenton Strange or Juwan Johnson? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Brenton Strange over Juwan Johnson in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Brenton Strange at 8.9 points and Juwan Johnson at 9.3, a gap of 0.4. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. Brenton Strange still gets the call because it also weighs where drafters take each player, ADP 202 against 173, and that outweighs a gap this size. 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.

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.

Player markets imply 8.9 fantasy points for Brenton Strange, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market-based projection for Brenton Strange is 35 receiving yards, 3-4 receptions and 0.3 touchdowns (12, 10 and 11 market sources).

That puts Juwan Johnson 0.4 points ahead of Brenton Strange 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.

Brenton Strange and JAX visit BAL on Thursday at 8:15 PM ET.

BAL allowed 12.3 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 13th fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 39 yards and 0.7 touchdowns a game against BAL.

By points allowed to the position, Juwan Johnson has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Juwan Johnson is not on the injury report.

Brenton Strange 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 8, Brenton Strange played 79 percent of JAX snaps, drew 18 percent of the targets, earned 16 percent of the air yards and had 5 percent of the red zone chances.

Brenton Strange, Week 4 against CIN: 53 of 61 snaps, 8 targets and 7 catches for 95 yards.

Brenton Strange, Week 5 against PHI: 58 of 72 snaps, 8 targets and 7 catches for 68 yards.

Brenton Strange, Week 6 against HOU: 54 of 71 snaps, 7 targets and 5 catches for 44 yards.

Brenton Strange, Week 8 against IND: 2 targets and 2 catches for 55 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, Brenton Strange played 12 games for JAX and scored 118.0 PPR points, 9.8 a game, finishing TE23.

He caught 46 of 60 targets for 540 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 9 red zone targets and 293 air yards.

He was on the field for 76 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Juwan Johnson over AJ Barner.
• Start Juwan Johnson over Cade Otton.
• Start Juwan Johnson over Chig Okonkwo.
• Start Brenton Strange over AJ Barner.
• Start Brenton Strange over Cade Otton.
• Start Brenton Strange over Chig Okonkwo.