Start Travis Kelce or Brenton Strange? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Travis Kelce over Brenton Strange in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Travis Kelce at 11.6 points and Brenton Strange at 9.0, a gap of 2.6. No player market is posted for Travis Kelce this week yet, so his 11.6 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (12.7, 11.1 and 10.9); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. Drafters take Travis Kelce at ADP 113 and Brenton Strange at 202.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 9.0 fantasy points for Brenton Strange, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market-based projection for Brenton Strange is 36 receiving yards, 3-4 receptions and 0.3 touchdowns (14, 11 and 14 market sources).

No Week 9 player market is posted for Travis Kelce yet. His market-based projections were 12.7, 11.1 and 10.9 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 11.6, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

The market-based projection for Travis Kelce is 0.4 touchdowns (9 market sources).

That puts Travis Kelce 2.6 points ahead of Brenton Strange on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Brenton Strange 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.

Travis Kelce and KC host NYJ on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

NYJ allowed 13.9 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 8 games, the 15th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 60 yards and 0.4 touchdowns a game against NYJ.

By points allowed to the position, Travis Kelce has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Brenton Strange is not on the injury report.

Travis Kelce is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Brenton Strange played 75 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: 28 of 54 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 55 yards.

Through Week 8, Travis Kelce played 78 percent of KC snaps, drew 19 percent of the targets, earned 20 percent of the air yards and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

Travis Kelce, Week 4 against LV: 50 of 60 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 15 yards.

Travis Kelce, Week 6 against LAC: 40 of 61 snaps, 5 targets and 4 catches for 53 yards.

Travis Kelce, Week 7 against SEA: 44 of 53 snaps, 8 targets and 4 catches for 44 yards.

Travis Kelce, Week 8 against DEN: 54 of 69 snaps, 7 targets and 5 catches for 67 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, Travis Kelce played 17 games for KC and scored 193.2 PPR points, 11.4 a game, finishing TE3.

He caught 76 of 108 targets for 851 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets and 428 air yards.

He was on the field for 81 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 Brock Bowers over Travis Kelce.
• Start Colston Loveland over Travis Kelce.
• Start Travis Kelce over Dallas Goedert.