Start Jaylen Wright or CJ Donaldson? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start CJ Donaldson over Jaylen Wright in Week 9.

Market-based projections have CJ Donaldson at 3.2 points and Jaylen Wright at 3.0, a gap of 0.2. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. Jaylen Wright'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 CJ Donaldson this week yet, so his 3.2 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6 and 7 (3.4 and 3.0); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 9 player market is posted for CJ Donaldson yet. His market-based projections were 3.4 and 3.0 points in Weeks 6 and 7, an average of 3.2, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

Player markets imply 3.0 fantasy points for Jaylen Wright, with 70 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Jaylen Wright is 10 rushing yards and 0.2 touchdowns (12 and 12 market sources).

That puts CJ Donaldson 0.2 points ahead of Jaylen Wright on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

CJ Donaldson and NO host CLE on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CLE allowed 21.1 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 8 games, the 15th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 116 yards and 0.8 touchdowns a game against CLE and caught passes for 18 more yards.

Jaylen Wright and MIA host DET on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

DET allowed 18.2 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 7 games, the 4th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 75 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against DET and caught passes for 24 more yards.

By points allowed to the position, CJ Donaldson has the softer matchup.

Injury status

CJ Donaldson is listed as questionable with a shoulder injury.

Jaylen Wright is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 7, CJ Donaldson played 25 percent of NO snaps, took 10 percent of the carries, drew 2 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

CJ Donaldson, Week 4 against ATL: 28 of 74 snaps, 3 carries for 18 yards, 2 targets and 2 catches for 5 yards.

CJ Donaldson, Week 5 against MIN: 19 of 45 snaps, 4 carries for 13 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 7 yards.

CJ Donaldson, Week 6 against NYG: 24 of 72 snaps, 6 carries for 39 yards, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 yards.

CJ Donaldson, Week 7 against PIT: 4 of 57 snaps, 0 carries for 0 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Through Week 8, Jaylen Wright played 13 percent of MIA snaps, took 14 percent of the carries, drew 1 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

Jaylen Wright, Week 4 against MIN: 12 of 39 snaps, 5 carries for 7 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Jaylen Wright, Week 5 against CIN: 9 of 66 snaps, 6 carries for 11 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Jaylen Wright, Week 7 against NYJ: 8 of 65 snaps, 6 carries for 8 yards, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Jaylen Wright, Week 8 against NE: 8 of 65 snaps, 2 carries for 5 yards, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Jaylen Wright played 10 games for MIA and scored 48.2 PPR points, 4.8 a game, finishing RB70.

He ran 70 times for 288 yards and 2 touchdowns, and caught 5 of 9 targets for 44 yards.

He was on the field for 14 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Corey Kiner over CJ Donaldson.
• Start George Holani over CJ Donaldson.
• Start CJ Donaldson over Isaiah Davis.
• Start Corey Kiner over Jaylen Wright.
• Start George Holani over Jaylen Wright.
• Start Jaylen Wright over Isaiah Davis.