Start Bryce Young or Drew Lock? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Bryce Young over Drew Lock in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Bryce Young at 15.6 points and Drew Lock at 13.3, a gap of 2.2.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 15.6 fantasy points for Bryce Young, with 100 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Bryce Young is 235 passing yards, 1-2 passing touchdowns, 7 rushing yards and 0.1 rushing touchdowns (14, 15, 12 and 12 market sources).

Player markets imply 13.4 fantasy points for Drew Lock, with 100 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Drew Lock is 213 passing yards, 6 rushing yards and 0.2 rushing touchdowns (8, 8 and 12 market sources).

That puts Bryce Young 2.2 points ahead of Drew Lock on the market projections.

Week 9 matchups

Bryce Young and CAR host DEN on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

DEN allowed 17.3 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 8 games, the 14th fewest in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 247 yards and 1.4 touchdowns a game against DEN, with 0.9 interceptions a game.

Drew Lock and SEA host ARI on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

ARI allowed 22.4 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 8 games, the 2nd most in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 238 yards and 2.3 touchdowns a game against ARI, with 0.4 interceptions a game.

By points allowed to the position, Drew Lock has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Bryce Young is not on the injury report.

Drew Lock is listed as questionable with a elbow injury.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Bryce Young played 95 percent of CAR snaps, dropped back 296 times and threw an average of 8.1 air yards per attempt.

Bryce Young, Week 4 against DET: 75 of 75 snaps, 29 of 41 passes for 329 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 1 carry for 7 yards.

Bryce Young, Week 6 against PHI: 79 of 79 snaps, 20 of 39 passes for 281 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 1 carry for 8 yards.

Bryce Young, Week 7 against TB: 43 of 56 snaps, 14 of 27 passes for 163 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, 1 carry for 9 yards.

Bryce Young, Week 8 against GB: 73 of 73 snaps, 23 of 40 passes for 209 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

Through Week 2, Drew Lock played 96 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 51 times and threw an average of 7.6 air yards per attempt.

Drew Lock, Week 1 against NE: 45 of 50 snaps, 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards, 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions, 1 carry for 14 yards.

Drew Lock, Week 2 against ARI: 70 of 70 snaps, 19 of 26 passes for 235 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Bryce Young played 16 games for CAR and scored 229.0 PPR points, 14.3 a game, finishing QB19.

He completed 304 of 478 passes for 3011 yards, 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and ran 54 times for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns.

He was on the field for 96 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Drew Lock played 5 games for SEA and scored 0.1 PPR points, 0.0 a game, finishing QB73.

He completed 2 of 3 passes for 15 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, and ran 6 times for -5 yards and 0 touchdowns.

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

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Baker Mayfield over Bryce Young.
• Start Bo Nix over Bryce Young.
• Start Caleb Williams over Bryce Young.
• Start Baker Mayfield over Drew Lock.
• Start Bo Nix over Drew Lock.
• Start C.J. Stroud over Drew Lock.