Start Bryce Young or Kirk Cousins? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Bryce Young over Kirk Cousins in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Bryce Young at 16.9 points and Kirk Cousins at 15.2, a gap of 1.7. No player market is posted for Bryce Young this week yet, so his 16.9 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (16.3, 17.4 and 17.0); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for Kirk Cousins this week yet, so his 15.2 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (15.6, 15.1 and 14.8); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 9 player market is posted for Bryce Young yet. His market-based projections were 16.3, 17.4 and 17.0 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 16.9, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

No Week 9 player market is posted for Kirk Cousins yet. His market-based projections were 15.6, 15.1 and 14.8 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 15.2, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts Bryce Young 1.7 points ahead of Kirk Cousins on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

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

DEN allowed 16.2 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 7 games, the 12th fewest in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 236 yards and 1.1 touchdowns a game against DEN, with an interception a game.

Kirk Cousins and LV visit SF on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

SF allowed 15.7 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 7 games, the 10th fewest in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 224 yards and 1.4 touchdowns a game against SF, with 0.4 interceptions a game.

By points allowed to the position, Bryce Young has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Bryce Young is not on the injury report.

Kirk Cousins is not on the injury report.

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 8, Kirk Cousins played 98 percent of LV snaps, dropped back 296 times and threw an average of 8.1 air yards per attempt.

Kirk Cousins, Week 5 against NE: 50 of 60 snaps, 19 of 28 passes for 243 yards, 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions.

Kirk Cousins, Week 6 against BUF: 66 of 66 snaps, 23 of 41 passes for 313 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.

Kirk Cousins, Week 7 against LAR: 68 of 68 snaps, 26 of 44 passes for 295 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 3 carries for 6 yards.

Kirk Cousins, Week 8 against NYJ: 19 of 26 passes for 247 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 3 carries for 5 yards.

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, Kirk Cousins played 10 games for ATL and scored 108.5 PPR points, 10.9 a game, finishing QB35.

He completed 166 of 269 passes for 1721 yards, 10 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, and ran 14 times for 7 yards and 1 touchdown.

He was on the field for 46 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 Kirk Cousins.
• Start Bo Nix over Kirk Cousins.
• Start Kirk Cousins over Daniel Jones.