Start Chig Okonkwo or Darren Waller? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Chig Okonkwo over Darren Waller in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Chig Okonkwo at 7.5 points and Darren Waller at 6.3, a gap of 1.2. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Chig Okonkwo this week yet, so his 7.5 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6 and 8 (6.6 and 8.3); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for Darren Waller this week yet, so his 6.3 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (6.5, 6.4 and 6.0); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 9 player market is posted for Chig Okonkwo yet. His market-based projections were 6.6 and 8.3 points in Weeks 6 and 8, an average of 7.5, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

No Week 9 player market is posted for Darren Waller yet. His market-based projections were 6.5, 6.4 and 6.0 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 6.3, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts Chig Okonkwo 1.2 points ahead of Darren Waller on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

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

LAR allowed 10.2 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 5th fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 42 yards and 0.1 touchdowns a game against LAR.

Darren Waller and CAR host DEN on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

DEN allowed 16.0 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 9th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 65 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against DEN.

By points allowed to the position, Darren Waller has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Chig Okonkwo is not on the injury report.

Darren Waller is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Chig Okonkwo played 65 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: 4 targets and 2 catches for 32 yards.

Through Week 8, Darren Waller played 48 percent of CAR snaps, drew 10 percent of the targets, earned 11 percent of the air yards and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

Darren Waller, Week 4 against DET: 40 of 75 snaps, 6 targets and 3 catches for 36 yards.

Darren Waller, Week 6 against PHI: 36 of 79 snaps, 2 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Darren Waller, Week 7 against TB: 25 of 56 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 50 yards, 1 touchdown.

Darren Waller, Week 8 against GB: 45 of 73 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 11 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, Darren Waller played 9 games for MIA and scored 88.7 PPR points, 9.9 a game, finishing TE33.

He caught 24 of 34 targets for 283 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets and 210 air yards.

He was on the field for 45 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 Darren Waller.
• Start Cade Otton over Darren Waller.
• Start Darren Waller over Charlie Kolar.