Start Gardner Minshew II or Deshaun Watson? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Deshaun Watson over Gardner Minshew II in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Deshaun Watson at 15.2 points and Gardner Minshew II at 9.4, a gap of 5.8. No player market is posted for Deshaun Watson this week yet, so his 15.2 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (16.9, 13.5 and 15.3); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 9 player market is posted for Deshaun Watson yet. His market-based projections were 16.9, 13.5 and 15.3 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 15.2, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

Player markets imply 9.4 fantasy points for Gardner Minshew II, with 100 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Gardner Minshew II is 200 passing yards, 0-1 passing touchdowns, 6 rushing yards and 0.1 rushing touchdowns (10, 12, 10 and 12 market sources).

That puts Deshaun Watson 5.8 points ahead of Gardner Minshew II on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Deshaun Watson and CLE visit NO on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

NO allowed 17.8 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 7 games, the 16th fewest in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 250 yards and 1.6 touchdowns a game against NO, with 0.6 interceptions a game.

Gardner Minshew II and ARI visit SEA on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

SEA allowed 11.9 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 8 games, the 2nd fewest in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 169 yards and 1.1 touchdowns a game against SEA, with an interception a game.

By points allowed to the position, Deshaun Watson has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Deshaun Watson is listed as questionable with a concussion injury.

Gardner Minshew II is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Deshaun Watson played 99 percent of CLE snaps, dropped back 306 times and threw an average of 7.2 air yards per attempt.

Deshaun Watson, Week 5 against NYJ: 68 of 68 snaps, 15 of 33 passes for 155 yards, 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions, 6 carries for 40 yards.

Deshaun Watson, Week 6 against BAL: 62 of 62 snaps, 16 of 26 passes for 164 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 8 carries for 29 yards.

Deshaun Watson, Week 7 against TEN: 70 of 70 snaps, 25 of 36 passes for 308 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception, 3 carries for 19 yards.

Deshaun Watson, Week 8 against PIT: 66 of 70 snaps, 27 of 39 passes for 324 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 2 carries for 3 yards.

Through Week 8, Gardner Minshew II played 42 percent of ARI snaps, dropped back 21 times and threw an average of 6.8 air yards per attempt.

Gardner Minshew II, Week 8 against DAL: 34 of 81 snaps, 17 of 20 passes for 188 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Gardner Minshew II played 4 games for KC and scored 0.7 PPR points, 0.2 a game, finishing QB72.

He completed 6 of 13 passes for 37 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception, and ran 6 times for 2 yards and 0 touchdowns.

He was on the field for 4 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Gardner Minshew II, Week 16 of 2025 against TEN: 14 of 45 snaps, 3 of 8 passes for 15 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 1 carry for 8 yards, 1.4 PPR points.

Gardner Minshew II, Week 15 of 2025 against LAC: 5 of 61 snaps, 3 of 5 passes for 22 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception, -0.1 PPR points.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Baker Mayfield over Deshaun Watson.
• Start Bo Nix over Deshaun Watson.
• Start Bryce Young over Deshaun Watson.
• Start Baker Mayfield over Gardner Minshew II.
• Start Bryce Young over Gardner Minshew II.
• Start Daniel Jones over Gardner Minshew II.