Start Joe Fagnano or Deshaun Watson? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Deshaun Watson over Joe Fagnano in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Deshaun Watson at 15.2 points and Joe Fagnano at 8.9, a gap of 6.3. Joe Fagnano's number is scaled up from a partial market: not every stat the position needs is posted yet, so the rest is estimated from what is. 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 8.9 fantasy points for Joe Fagnano, with 80 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Joe Fagnano is 160 passing yards and 0.1 rushing touchdowns (13 and 14 market sources).

That puts Deshaun Watson 6.3 points ahead of Joe Fagnano 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.

Joe Fagnano and BAL host JAX on Thursday at 8:15 PM ET.

JAX allowed 15.6 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 7 games, the 9th fewest in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 262 yards and 1.1 touchdowns a game against JAX, with 1.3 interceptions 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.

Joe Fagnano 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, Joe Fagnano played 78 percent of BAL snaps, dropped back 25 times and threw an average of 4.3 air yards per attempt.

Joe Fagnano, Week 8 against BUF: 40 of 51 snaps, 10 of 21 passes for 91 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception, 2 carries for 4 yards.

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 Joe Fagnano.
• Start Daniel Jones over Joe Fagnano.
• Start Drew Lock over Joe Fagnano.