Start Rashid Shaheed or Jalen Royals? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Jalen Royals over Rashid Shaheed in Week 9.

Rashid Shaheed is listed out on the injury report, so this is not a close call: start Jalen Royals.

What the market projects

No Week 9 player market is posted for Jalen Royals yet. His market-based projections were 6.2 and 5.7 points in Weeks 6 and 7, an average of 6.0, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

No Week 9 player market is posted for Rashid Shaheed yet. His market-based projections were 5.3 and 6.3 points in Weeks 6 and 7, an average of 5.8, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts Jalen Royals 0.1 points ahead of Rashid Shaheed on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Jalen Royals and KC host NYJ on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

NYJ allowed 30.6 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 7 games, the 15th fewest in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 133 yards and 1.1 touchdowns a game against NYJ.

Rashid Shaheed and SEA host ARI on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

ARI allowed 33.6 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 7 games, the 12th most in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 153 yards and 1.4 touchdowns a game against ARI.

By points allowed to the position, Rashid Shaheed has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Jalen Royals is not on the injury report.

Rashid Shaheed is listed as out with a knee injury.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Jalen Royals played 46 percent of KC snaps, drew 6 percent of the targets, earned 6 percent of the air yards and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

Jalen Royals, Week 4 against LV: 38 of 60 snaps, 2 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Jalen Royals, Week 6 against LAC: 45 of 61 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 24 yards.

Jalen Royals, Week 7 against SEA: 36 of 53 snaps, 2 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Jalen Royals, Week 8 against DEN: 1 target and 1 catch for 4 yards.

Through Week 7, Rashid Shaheed played 49 percent of SEA snaps, drew 14 percent of the targets, earned 21 percent of the air yards and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

Rashid Shaheed, Week 4 against LAC: 36 of 60 snaps, 2 carries for 33 yards, 3 targets and 1 catch for 20 yards, 1 touchdown.

Rashid Shaheed, Week 5 against SF: 29 of 63 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 23 yards.

Rashid Shaheed, Week 6 against DEN: 39 of 85 snaps, 1 carry for 2 yards, 8 targets and 5 catches for 66 yards.

Rashid Shaheed, Week 7 against KC: 22 of 69 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 1 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Jalen Royals played 7 games for KC and scored 2.4 PPR points, 0.3 a game.

He caught 2 of 3 targets for 4 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 0 red zone targets and 0 air yards.

He was on the field for 9 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Rashid Shaheed played 18 games for SEA and scored 156.6 PPR points, 8.7 a game, finishing WR39.

He caught 59 of 92 targets for 687 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 6 red zone targets and 510 air yards.

He was on the field for 61 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Jalen Royals over Adonai Mitchell.
• Start Cooper Kupp over Jalen Royals.
• Start DeMario Douglas over Jalen Royals.
• Start Adonai Mitchell over Rashid Shaheed.
• Start Isaac TeSlaa over Rashid Shaheed.
• Start Jahan Dotson over Rashid Shaheed.