Start Evan Engram or Elijah Higgins? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Evan Engram over Elijah Higgins in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Evan Engram at 4.7 points and Elijah Higgins at 4.1, 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 Elijah Higgins this week yet, so his 4.1 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (3.6, 3.4 and 5.2); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 4.7 fantasy points for Evan Engram, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market-based projection for Evan Engram is 19 receiving yards, 1-2 receptions and 0.2 touchdowns (10, 10 and 11 market sources).

No Week 9 player market is posted for Elijah Higgins yet. His market-based projections were 3.6, 3.4 and 5.2 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 4.1, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts Evan Engram 0.6 points ahead of Elijah Higgins on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Evan Engram and DEN visit CAR on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CAR allowed 14.0 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 14th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 47 yards and 0.7 touchdowns a game against CAR.

Elijah Higgins and ARI visit SEA on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

SEA allowed 10.2 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 8 games, the 5th fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 38 yards and 0.3 touchdowns a game against SEA.

By points allowed to the position, Evan Engram has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Evan Engram is not on the injury report.

Elijah Higgins is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Evan Engram played 54 percent of DEN snaps, drew 11 percent of the targets, earned 10 percent of the air yards and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

Evan Engram, Week 5 against LAC: 30 of 62 snaps, 4 targets and 4 catches for 55 yards.

Evan Engram, Week 6 against SEA: 31 of 60 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 13 yards.

Evan Engram, Week 7 against ARI: 24 of 61 snaps, 3 targets and 1 catch for 2 yards.

Evan Engram, Week 8 against KC: 30 of 62 snaps, 3 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Through Week 8, Elijah Higgins played 39 percent of ARI snaps, drew 6 percent of the targets, earned 2 percent of the air yards and had 2 percent of the red zone chances.

Elijah Higgins, Week 5 against DET: 39 of 73 snaps, 3 targets and 3 catches for 57 yards.

Elijah Higgins, Week 6 against LAR: 32 of 72 snaps, 3 targets and 3 catches for 28 yards.

Elijah Higgins, Week 7 against DEN: 39 of 81 snaps, 3 targets and 3 catches for 17 yards.

Elijah Higgins, Week 8 against DAL: 26 of 81 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 10 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Evan Engram played 16 games for DEN and scored 102.8 PPR points, 6.4 a game, finishing TE29.

He caught 50 of 76 targets for 461 yards and 1 touchdown, with 10 red zone targets and 159 air yards.

He was on the field for 42 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Elijah Higgins played 17 games for ARI and scored 58.1 PPR points, 3.4 a game, finishing TE48.

He caught 30 of 37 targets for 301 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 4 red zone targets and 92 air yards.

He was on the field for 41 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start AJ Barner over Evan Engram.
• Start Cade Otton over Evan Engram.
• Start Charlie Kolar over Evan Engram.
• Start Darren Waller over Elijah Higgins.
• Start Tommy Tremble over Elijah Higgins.