Start Elijah Higgins or Tommy Tremble? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Tommy Tremble over Elijah Higgins in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Tommy Tremble at 4.3 points and Elijah Higgins at 4.1, a gap of 0.3. 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 4.3 fantasy points for Tommy Tremble, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market-based projection for Tommy Tremble is 16 receiving yards, 1-2 receptions and 0.2 touchdowns (8, 8 and 10 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 Tommy Tremble 0.3 points ahead of Elijah Higgins on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Tommy Tremble and CAR host DEN on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

DEN allowed 16.8 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 8 games, the 7th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 68 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against DEN.

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, Tommy Tremble has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Tommy Tremble is not on the injury report.

Elijah Higgins is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Tommy Tremble played 56 percent of CAR snaps, drew 10 percent of the targets, earned 5 percent of the air yards and had 5 percent of the red zone chances.

Tommy Tremble, Week 4 against DET: 38 of 75 snaps, 4 targets and 4 catches for 12 yards.

Tommy Tremble, Week 6 against PHI: 54 of 79 snaps, 4 targets and 4 catches for 46 yards, 2 touchdowns.

Tommy Tremble, Week 7 against TB: 27 of 56 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 8 yards.

Tommy Tremble, Week 8 against GB: 44 of 73 snaps, 3 targets and 1 catch for 19 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, Tommy Tremble played 17 games for CAR and scored 63.9 PPR points, 3.8 a game, finishing TE42.

He caught 27 of 37 targets for 249 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 5 red zone targets and 85 air yards.

He was on the field for 60 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 Tommy Tremble.
• Start Charlie Kolar over Tommy Tremble.
• Start Chig Okonkwo over Tommy Tremble.
• Start Darren Waller over Elijah Higgins.
• Start Evan Engram over Elijah Higgins.