Start Courtland Sutton or Tez Johnson? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Courtland Sutton over Tez Johnson in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Courtland Sutton at 8.8 points and Tez Johnson at 6.8, a gap of 1.9. No player market is posted for Courtland Sutton this week yet, so his 8.8 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (8.3, 8.9 and 9.1); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for Tez Johnson this week yet, so his 6.8 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 7 and 8 (6.6 and 7.1); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 9 player market is posted for Courtland Sutton yet. His market-based projections were 8.3, 8.9 and 9.1 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 8.8, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

No Week 9 player market is posted for Tez Johnson yet. His market-based projections were 6.6 and 7.1 points in Weeks 7 and 8, an average of 6.8, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts Courtland Sutton 1.9 points ahead of Tez Johnson on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Courtland Sutton and DEN visit CAR on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CAR allowed 29.8 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 7 games, the 13th fewest in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 144 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against CAR.

Tez Johnson and TB visit CHI on Sunday at 8:20 PM ET.

CHI allowed 30.5 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 8 games, the 16th most in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 150 yards and a touchdown a game against CHI.

By points allowed to the position, Tez Johnson has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Courtland Sutton is not on the injury report.

Tez Johnson is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Courtland Sutton played 77 percent of DEN snaps, drew 16 percent of the targets, earned 31 percent of the air yards and had 12 percent of the red zone chances.

Courtland Sutton, Week 5 against LAC: 50 of 62 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 18 yards, 1 touchdown.

Courtland Sutton, Week 6 against SEA: 46 of 60 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 19 yards.

Courtland Sutton, Week 7 against ARI: 43 of 61 snaps, 5 targets and 3 catches for 45 yards.

Courtland Sutton, Week 8 against KC: 50 of 62 snaps, 4 targets and 4 catches for 53 yards.

Through Week 8, Tez Johnson played 39 percent of TB snaps, drew 7 percent of the targets, earned 19 percent of the air yards and had 5 percent of the red zone chances.

Tez Johnson, Week 5 against DAL: 28 of 72 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 64 yards.

Tez Johnson, Week 6 against PIT: 25 of 74 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 7 yards.

Tez Johnson, Week 7 against CAR: 41 of 63 snaps, 1 carry for 14 yards, 2 targets and 2 catches for 33 yards, 1 touchdown.

Tez Johnson, Week 8 against ATL: 25 of 60 snaps, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Courtland Sutton played 17 games for DEN and scored 219.7 PPR points, 12.9 a game, finishing WR13.

He caught 74 of 124 targets for 1017 yards and 7 touchdowns, with 17 red zone targets and 795 air yards.

He was on the field for 86 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Tez Johnson played 16 games for TB and scored 92.4 PPR points, 5.8 a game, finishing WR67.

He caught 28 of 44 targets for 322 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 4 red zone targets and 212 air yards.

He was on the field for 47 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Courtland Sutton over Chris Godwin Jr..
• Start Courtland Sutton over Darius Cooper.
• Start Courtland Sutton over DeMario Douglas.
• Start Tez Johnson over Adonai Mitchell.
• Start Tez Johnson over Cooper Kupp.
• Start Darius Cooper over Tez Johnson.