Start Michael Penix Jr. or Bryce Young? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Bryce Young over Michael Penix Jr. in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Bryce Young at 16.9 points and Michael Penix Jr. at 16.4, a gap of 0.5. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. Michael Penix Jr.'s number is scaled up from a partial market: not every stat the position needs is posted yet, so the rest is estimated from what is. 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.

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.

Player markets imply 16.4 fantasy points for Michael Penix Jr., with 80 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Michael Penix Jr. is 222 passing yards, 1-2 passing touchdowns and 0.1 rushing touchdowns (7, 7 and 7 market sources).

That puts Bryce Young 0.5 points ahead of Michael Penix Jr. 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.

Michael Penix Jr. and ATL host CIN on Sunday at 9:30 AM ET.

CIN allowed 17.1 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 6 games, the 16th fewest in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 254 yards and a touchdown a game against CIN, with 0.7 interceptions a game.

By points allowed to the position, Michael Penix Jr. has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Bryce Young is not on the injury report.

Michael Penix Jr. 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, Michael Penix Jr. played 99 percent of ATL snaps, dropped back 59 times and threw an average of 7.2 air yards per attempt.

Michael Penix Jr., Week 7 against SF: 68 of 69 snaps, 25 of 33 passes for 213 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 2 carries for 2 yards.

Michael Penix Jr., Week 8 against TB: 8 of 24 passes for 125 yards, 0 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, 5 carries for 11 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, Michael Penix Jr. played 9 games for ATL and scored 123.3 PPR points, 13.7 a game, finishing QB33.

He completed 166 of 276 passes for 1982 yards, 9 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, and ran 21 times for 70 yards and 1 touchdown.

He was on the field for 93 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 Michael Penix Jr. over Baker Mayfield.
• Start Michael Penix Jr. over Bo Nix.
• Start Caleb Williams over Michael Penix Jr..