Start Brenton Strange or Michael Mayer? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Brenton Strange over Michael Mayer in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Brenton Strange at 8.9 points and Michael Mayer at 7.2, a gap of 1.7. No player market is posted for Michael Mayer this week yet, so his 7.2 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (6.9, 8.1 and 6.5); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

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, 11 and 11 market sources).

No Week 9 player market is posted for Michael Mayer yet. His market-based projections were 6.9, 8.1 and 6.5 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 7.2, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts Brenton Strange 1.7 points ahead of Michael Mayer on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

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.

Michael Mayer and LV visit SF on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

SF allowed 12.0 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 12th fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 44 yards and 0.3 touchdowns a game against SF.

By points allowed to the position, Brenton Strange has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Brenton Strange is not on the injury report.

Michael Mayer is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

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.

Through Week 8, Michael Mayer played 81 percent of LV snaps, drew 15 percent of the targets, earned 9 percent of the air yards and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

Michael Mayer, Week 5 against NE: 39 of 60 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 2 yards.

Michael Mayer, Week 6 against BUF: 52 of 66 snaps, 9 targets and 7 catches for 95 yards.

Michael Mayer, Week 7 against LAR: 56 of 68 snaps, 3 targets and 3 catches for 32 yards.

Michael Mayer, Week 8 against NYJ: 6 targets and 5 catches for 53 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025, Michael Mayer played 13 games for LV and scored 73.8 PPR points, 5.7 a game, finishing TE38.

He caught 35 of 50 targets for 328 yards and 1 touchdown, with 6 red zone targets and 132 air yards.

He was on the field for 57 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Brenton Strange over AJ Barner.
• Start Brenton Strange over Cade Otton.
• Start Brenton Strange over Chig Okonkwo.
• Start AJ Barner over Michael Mayer.
• Start Cade Otton over Michael Mayer.
• Start Michael Mayer over Charlie Kolar.