Start Cooper Kupp or Jalen Royals? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Cooper Kupp over Jalen Royals in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Cooper Kupp at 6.5 points and Jalen Royals at 6.0, a gap of 0.5. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Cooper Kupp this week yet, so his 6.5 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (6.0, 6.3 and 7.1); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for Jalen Royals this week yet, so his 6.0 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6 and 7 (6.2 and 5.7); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 9 player market is posted for Cooper Kupp yet. His market-based projections were 6.0, 6.3 and 7.1 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 6.5, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

No Week 9 player market is posted for Jalen Royals yet. His market-based projections were 6.2 and 5.7 points in Weeks 6 and 7, an average of 6.0, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts Cooper Kupp 0.5 points ahead of Jalen Royals on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Cooper Kupp and SEA host ARI on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

ARI allowed 33.5 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 8 games, the 13th most in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 152 yards and 1.4 touchdowns a game against ARI.

Jalen Royals and KC host NYJ on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

NYJ allowed 28.5 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 8 games, the 9th fewest in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 121 yards and 1.1 touchdowns a game against NYJ.

By points allowed to the position, Cooper Kupp has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Cooper Kupp is not on the injury report.

Jalen Royals is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Cooper Kupp played 68 percent of SEA snaps, drew 12 percent of the targets, earned 14 percent of the air yards and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

Cooper Kupp, Week 5 against SF: 51 of 63 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 15 yards.

Cooper Kupp, Week 6 against DEN: 72 of 85 snaps, 10 targets and 5 catches for 50 yards.

Cooper Kupp, Week 7 against KC: 45 of 69 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 20 yards.

Cooper Kupp, Week 8 against CHI: 3 targets and 1 catch for 7 yards, 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, Jalen Royals played 43 percent of KC snaps, drew 6 percent of the targets, earned 6 percent of the air yards and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

Jalen Royals, Week 4 against LV: 38 of 60 snaps, 2 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Jalen Royals, Week 6 against LAC: 45 of 61 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 24 yards.

Jalen Royals, Week 7 against SEA: 36 of 53 snaps, 2 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Jalen Royals, Week 8 against DEN: 22 of 69 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 4 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Cooper Kupp played 16 games for SEA and scored 117.3 PPR points, 7.3 a game, finishing WR53.

He caught 47 of 70 targets for 593 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 12 red zone targets and 300 air yards.

He was on the field for 76 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Jalen Royals played 7 games for KC and scored 2.4 PPR points, 0.3 a game.

He caught 2 of 3 targets for 4 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 0 red zone targets and 0 air yards.

He was on the field for 9 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Cooper Kupp over Adonai Mitchell.
• Start Darius Cooper over Cooper Kupp.
• Start DeMario Douglas over Cooper Kupp.
• Start Jalen Royals over Adonai Mitchell.
• Start DeMario Douglas over Jalen Royals.
• Start Jalen Royals over Efton Chism III.