Start Khalil Shakir or Darius Cooper? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Khalil Shakir over Darius Cooper in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Khalil Shakir at 8.8 points and Darius Cooper at 7.8, a gap of 1.0. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Darius Cooper this week yet, so his 7.8 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 7 and 8 (9.2 and 6.5); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 8.9 fantasy points for Khalil Shakir, with 100 percent of the markets a WR needs posted.

The market-based projection for Khalil Shakir is 37 receiving yards, 3-4 receptions and 0.3 touchdowns (6, 6 and 8 market sources).

No Week 9 player market is posted for Darius Cooper yet. His market-based projections were 9.2 and 6.5 points in Weeks 7 and 8, an average of 7.8, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts Khalil Shakir 1.0 points ahead of Darius Cooper on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Khalil Shakir and BUF visit MIN on Monday at 8:15 PM ET.

MIN allowed 25.9 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 7 games, the 4th fewest in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 123 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against MIN.

Darius Cooper and PHI host NYG on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

NYG allowed 31.3 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 7 games, the 15th most in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 127 yards and 1.3 touchdowns a game against NYG.

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

Injury status

Khalil Shakir is not on the injury report.

Darius Cooper is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Khalil Shakir played 64 percent of BUF snaps, drew 20 percent of the targets, earned 11 percent of the air yards and had 10 percent of the red zone chances.

Khalil Shakir, Week 4 against NE: 45 of 59 snaps, 8 targets and 7 catches for 82 yards.

Khalil Shakir, Week 5 against LAR: 44 of 64 snaps, 3 targets and 3 catches for 80 yards.

Khalil Shakir, Week 6 against LV: 41 of 68 snaps, 6 targets and 4 catches for 34 yards, 1 touchdown.

Khalil Shakir, Week 8 against BAL: 55 of 82 snaps, 6 targets and 5 catches for 64 yards.

Through Week 8, Darius Cooper played 64 percent of PHI snaps, drew 10 percent of the targets, earned 15 percent of the air yards and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

Darius Cooper, Week 5 against JAX: 53 of 62 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 71 yards, 1 touchdown.

Darius Cooper, Week 6 against CAR: 39 of 64 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 9 yards.

Darius Cooper, Week 7 against DAL: 61 of 62 snaps, 3 targets and 1 catch for 17 yards.

Darius Cooper, Week 8 against WAS: 66 of 69 snaps, 6 targets and 2 catches for 19 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Khalil Shakir played 16 games for BUF and scored 166.4 PPR points, 10.4 a game, finishing WR36.

He caught 72 of 95 targets for 719 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 13 red zone targets and 178 air yards.

He was on the field for 60 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Darius Cooper played 13 games for PHI and scored 18.2 PPR points, 1.4 a game.

He caught 9 of 11 targets for 92 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 0 red zone targets and 70 air yards.

He was on the field for 19 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Khalil Shakir over Caleb Douglas.
• Start Chris Godwin Jr. over Khalil Shakir.
• Start Courtland Sutton over Khalil Shakir.
• Start Caleb Douglas over Darius Cooper.
• Start Chris Godwin Jr. over Darius Cooper.
• Start Darius Cooper over Cooper Kupp.