Start John Metchie III or Darnell Mooney? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Darnell Mooney over John Metchie III in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Darnell Mooney at 4.3 points and John Metchie III at 3.6, a gap of 0.6. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Darnell Mooney this week yet, so his 4.3 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6 and 7 (4.5 and 4.0); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for John Metchie III this week yet, so his 3.6 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 7 and 8 (3.3 and 3.9); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 9 player market is posted for Darnell Mooney yet. His market-based projections were 4.5 and 4.0 points in Weeks 6 and 7, an average of 4.3, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

No Week 9 player market is posted for John Metchie III yet. His market-based projections were 3.3 and 3.9 points in Weeks 7 and 8, an average of 3.6, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts Darnell Mooney 0.6 points ahead of John Metchie III on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Darnell Mooney and NYG visit PHI on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

PHI allowed 39.4 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 8 games, the 2nd most in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 183 yards and 1.3 touchdowns a game against PHI.

John Metchie III and CAR host DEN on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

DEN allowed 27.9 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 8 games, the 7th fewest in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 130 yards and 0-1 touchdowns a game against DEN.

By points allowed to the position, Darnell Mooney has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Darnell Mooney is not on the injury report.

John Metchie III is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 7, Darnell Mooney played 55 percent of NYG snaps, drew 9 percent of the targets, earned 13 percent of the air yards and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

Darnell Mooney, Week 4 against ARI: 37 of 67 snaps, 2 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Darnell Mooney, Week 5 against WAS: 58 of 89 snaps, 7 targets and 2 catches for 14 yards.

Darnell Mooney, Week 6 against NO: 28 of 77 snaps, 1 carry for 20 yards, 2 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Darnell Mooney, Week 7 against HOU: 36 of 66 snaps, 1 carry for 3 yards, 3 targets and 1 catch for 4 yards.

Through Week 8, John Metchie III played 46 percent of CAR snaps, drew 11 percent of the targets, earned 9 percent of the air yards and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

John Metchie III, Week 7 against TB: 26 of 56 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 20 yards.

John Metchie III, Week 8 against GB: 33 of 73 snaps, 3 targets and 3 catches for 14 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Darnell Mooney played 15 games for ATL and scored 82.3 PPR points, 5.5 a game, finishing WR79.

He caught 32 of 72 targets for 443 yards and 1 touchdown, with 7 red zone targets and 370 air yards.

He was on the field for 82 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, John Metchie III played 16 games for NYJ and scored 71.9 PPR points, 4.5 a game, finishing WR87.

He caught 33 of 48 targets for 274 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 5 red zone targets and 134 air yards.

He was on the field for 43 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

John Metchie III, Week 18 of 2025 against BUF: 4 targets and 3 catches for 20 yards, 5.0 PPR points.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Darnell Mooney over Brian Thomas Jr..
• Start Efton Chism III over Darnell Mooney.
• Start Isaac TeSlaa over Darnell Mooney.
• Start John Metchie III over Brian Thomas Jr..
• Start Ja'Kobi Lane over John Metchie III.
• Start Jordan Watkins over John Metchie III.