Start Chig Okonkwo or Colby Parkinson? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Chig Okonkwo over Colby Parkinson in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Chig Okonkwo at 8.0 points and Colby Parkinson at 5.3, a gap of 2.6. No player market is posted for Colby Parkinson this week yet, so his 5.3 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6 and 7 (4.0 and 6.7); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 8.0 fantasy points for Chig Okonkwo, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market-based projection for Chig Okonkwo is 31 receiving yards, 3-4 receptions and 0.2 touchdowns (9, 10 and 9 market sources).

No Week 9 player market is posted for Colby Parkinson yet. His market-based projections were 4.0 and 6.7 points in Weeks 6 and 7, an average of 5.4, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

The market-based projection for Colby Parkinson is 0.3 touchdowns (9 market sources).

That puts Chig Okonkwo 2.6 points ahead of Colby Parkinson on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Chig Okonkwo and WAS host LAR on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

LAR allowed 10.6 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 8 games, the 7th fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 46 yards and 0.1 touchdowns a game against LAR.

Colby Parkinson and LAR visit WAS on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

WAS allowed 20.7 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 2nd most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 75 yards and 1.1 touchdowns a game against WAS.

By points allowed to the position, Colby Parkinson has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Chig Okonkwo is not on the injury report.

Colby Parkinson is listed as questionable with a ribs injury.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Chig Okonkwo played 67 percent of WAS snaps, drew 16 percent of the targets, earned 13 percent of the air yards and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

Chig Okonkwo, Week 4 against IND: 37 of 64 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 5 yards.

Chig Okonkwo, Week 5 against NYG: 44 of 62 snaps, 6 targets and 4 catches for 60 yards.

Chig Okonkwo, Week 6 against SF: 51 of 67 snaps, 7 targets and 7 catches for 69 yards.

Chig Okonkwo, Week 8 against PHI: 46 of 60 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 32 yards.

Through Week 7, Colby Parkinson played 63 percent of LAR snaps, drew 9 percent of the targets, earned 2 percent of the air yards and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

Colby Parkinson, Week 3 against DEN: 37 of 86 snaps, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Colby Parkinson, Week 5 against BUF: 53 of 82 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 3 yards.

Colby Parkinson, Week 6 against ARI: 36 of 58 snaps, 6 targets and 5 catches for 31 yards, 1 touchdown.

Colby Parkinson, Week 7 against LV: 50 of 72 snaps, 6 targets and 5 catches for 48 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Chig Okonkwo played 17 games for TEN and scored 124.0 PPR points, 7.3 a game, finishing TE21.

He caught 56 of 79 targets for 560 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 5 red zone targets and 218 air yards.

He was on the field for 62 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Colby Parkinson played 15 games for LAR and scored 129.8 PPR points, 8.7 a game, finishing TE17.

He caught 43 of 56 targets for 408 yards and 8 touchdowns, with 20 red zone targets and 137 air yards.

He was on the field for 59 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Chig Okonkwo over AJ Barner.
• Start Brenton Strange over Chig Okonkwo.
• Start Cade Otton over Chig Okonkwo.
• Start AJ Barner over Colby Parkinson.
• Start Charlie Kolar over Colby Parkinson.
• Start Colby Parkinson over Eli Raridon.