Start Brenton Strange or Tyler Higbee? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Brenton Strange over Tyler Higbee in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Brenton Strange at 8.9 points and Tyler Higbee at 8.8, a gap of 0.1. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Tyler Higbee this week yet, so his 8.8 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (7.7, 9.4 and 9.3); 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, 10 and 11 market sources).

No Week 9 player market is posted for Tyler Higbee yet. His market-based projections were 7.7, 9.4 and 9.3 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 8.8, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts Brenton Strange 0.1 points ahead of Tyler Higbee 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.

Tyler Higbee and LAR visit WAS on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

WAS allowed 21.5 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 6 games, the 2nd most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 74 yards and 1.3 touchdowns a game against WAS.

By points allowed to the position, Tyler Higbee has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Brenton Strange is not on the injury report.

Tyler Higbee 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, Tyler Higbee played 59 percent of LAR snaps, drew 11 percent of the targets, earned 12 percent of the air yards and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

Tyler Higbee, Week 5 against BUF: 55 of 82 snaps, 6 targets and 5 catches for 83 yards.

Tyler Higbee, Week 6 against ARI: 48 of 58 snaps, 4 targets and 4 catches for 22 yards.

Tyler Higbee, Week 7 against LV: 53 of 72 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 14 yards.

Tyler Higbee, Week 8 against LAC: 2 targets and 1 catch for 14 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, Tyler Higbee played 10 games for LAR and scored 71.1 PPR points, 7.1 a game, finishing TE40.

He caught 25 of 36 targets for 281 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets and 141 air yards.

He was on the field for 54 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 Tyler Higbee over AJ Barner.
• Start Tyler Higbee over Cade Otton.
• Start Tyler Higbee over Chig Okonkwo.