Start Matthew Golden or George Pickens? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start George Pickens over Matthew Golden in Week 9.

Market-based projections have George Pickens at 14.6 points and Matthew Golden at 15.0, a gap of 0.4. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. George Pickens still gets the call because it also weighs where drafters take each player, ADP 20 against 108, and that outweighs a gap this size. No player market is posted for George Pickens this week yet, so his 14.6 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (15.4, 13.6 and 14.8); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 15.0 fantasy points for Matthew Golden, with 100 percent of the markets a WR needs posted.

The market-based projection for Matthew Golden is 68 receiving yards, 5-6 receptions and 0-1 touchdowns (10, 8 and 7 market sources).

No Week 9 player market is posted for George Pickens yet. His market-based projections were 15.4, 13.6 and 14.8 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 14.6, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

The market-based projection for George Pickens is 0.7 touchdowns (5 market sources).

That puts Matthew Golden 0.4 points ahead of George Pickens on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Matthew Golden and GB visit NE on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

NE allowed 33.8 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 8 games, the 10th most in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 152 yards and 1.1 touchdowns a game against NE.

George Pickens and DAL visit IND on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

IND allowed 27.4 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 8 games, the 6th fewest in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 130 yards and 0.8 touchdowns a game against IND.

By points allowed to the position, Matthew Golden has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Matthew Golden is not on the injury report.

George Pickens is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Matthew Golden played 84 percent of GB snaps, drew 27 percent of the targets, earned 41 percent of the air yards and had 16 percent of the red zone chances.

Matthew Golden, Week 5 against CHI: 47 of 61 snaps, 7 targets and 6 catches for 123 yards.

Matthew Golden, Week 6 against DAL: 63 of 75 snaps, 13 targets and 6 catches for 104 yards, 1 touchdown.

Matthew Golden, Week 7 against DET: 57 of 67 snaps, 12 targets and 6 catches for 39 yards.

Matthew Golden, Week 8 against CAR: 59 of 69 snaps, 13 targets and 7 catches for 79 yards, 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, George Pickens played 78 percent of DAL snaps, drew 21 percent of the targets, earned 31 percent of the air yards and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

George Pickens, Week 5 against TB: 53 of 60 snaps, 13 targets and 9 catches for 130 yards, 1 touchdown.

George Pickens, Week 6 against GB: 69 of 78 snaps, 11 targets and 6 catches for 73 yards.

George Pickens, Week 7 against PHI: 41 of 68 snaps, 6 targets and 4 catches for 57 yards, 1 touchdown.

George Pickens, Week 8 against ARI: 42 of 74 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 48 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Matthew Golden played 14 games for GB and scored 70.0 PPR points, 5.0 a game, finishing WR89.

He caught 29 of 44 targets for 361 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 2 red zone targets and 260 air yards.

He was on the field for 50 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, George Pickens played 17 games for DAL and scored 291.9 PPR points, 17.2 a game, finishing WR5.

He caught 93 of 137 targets for 1429 yards and 9 touchdowns, with 21 red zone targets and 950 air yards.

He was on the field for 83 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start CeeDee Lamb over Matthew Golden.
• Start Chris Olave over Matthew Golden.
• Start Christian Watson over Matthew Golden.
• Start George Pickens over A.J. Brown.
• Start George Pickens over Chris Olave.
• Start George Pickens over Christian Watson.