Start Xavier Hutchinson or John Metchie III? Week 9
Updated Nov 3, 8:51 AM ET. Locks at kickoff, graded after. Week 10 answer posts Tuesday.
Start Xavier Hutchinson over John Metchie III
- Market projects
- 3.7
- recent weeks avg
- LAC D vs WR
- 30.3
- 16th fewest to WRs (2026)
- Snap share
- 55%
- Through Week 7
- Target share
- 17%
- Through Week 7
- Market projects
- 3.6
- recent weeks avg
- DEN D vs WR
- 27.9
- 7th fewest to WRs (2026)
- Snap share
- 46%
- Through Week 8
- Target share
- 11%
- Through Week 8
Should I drop John Metchie III for Xavier Hutchinson?
Not on these numbers alone. John Metchie III projects 33 market-implied PPR points from Week 9 through Week 17 (3.7 a game over 9 games) and Xavier Hutchinson 34 (3.8 a game over 9 games), too close to separate, so the roster spot decides it. For Week 9 the call starts Xavier Hutchinson over John Metchie III.
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Our Week 9 call
Start Xavier Hutchinson over John Metchie III in Week 9.
Market-based projections have Xavier Hutchinson at 3.7 points and John Metchie III at 3.6, a gap of 0.1. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Xavier Hutchinson this week yet, so his 3.7 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6 and 7 (3.7 and 3.7); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for John Metchie III this week yet, so his 3.6 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 7 and 8 (3.3 and 3.9); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.
What the market projects
No Week 9 player market is posted for Xavier Hutchinson yet. His market-based projections were 3.7 and 3.7 points in Weeks 6 and 7, an average of 3.7, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.
No Week 9 player market is posted for John Metchie III yet. His market-based projections were 3.3 and 3.9 points in Weeks 7 and 8, an average of 3.6, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.
That puts Xavier Hutchinson 0.1 points ahead of John Metchie III on these projections.
Week 9 matchups
Xavier Hutchinson and HOU visit LAC on Sunday at 4:05 PM ET.
LAC allowed 30.3 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 7 games, the 16th fewest in the league.
Receivers caught passes for 133 yards and 0.9 touchdowns a game against LAC.
John Metchie III and CAR host DEN on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.
DEN allowed 27.9 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 8 games, the 7th fewest in the league.
Receivers caught passes for 130 yards and 0-1 touchdowns a game against DEN.
By points allowed to the position, Xavier Hutchinson has the softer matchup.
Injury status
Xavier Hutchinson is not on the injury report.
John Metchie III is not on the injury report.
Usage before Week 9
Through Week 7, Xavier Hutchinson played 55 percent of HOU snaps, drew 17 percent of the targets, earned 20 percent of the air yards and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.
Xavier Hutchinson, Week 4 against DAL: 17 of 55 snaps, 5 targets and 3 catches for 46 yards.
Xavier Hutchinson, Week 5 against TEN: 27 of 66 snaps, 5 targets and 4 catches for 65 yards.
Xavier Hutchinson, Week 6 against JAX: 34 of 63 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 10 yards.
Xavier Hutchinson, Week 7 against NYG: 34 of 61 snaps, 2 carries for 12 yards, 6 targets and 3 catches for 17 yards, 1 touchdown.
Through Week 8, John Metchie III played 46 percent of CAR snaps, drew 11 percent of the targets, earned 9 percent of the air yards and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.
John Metchie III, Week 7 against TB: 26 of 56 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 20 yards.
John Metchie III, Week 8 against GB: 33 of 73 snaps, 3 targets and 3 catches for 14 yards.
Their 2025 seasons
In 2025, Xavier Hutchinson played 17 games for HOU and scored 98.0 PPR points, 5.8 a game, finishing WR64.
He caught 35 of 57 targets for 428 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 6 red zone targets and 282 air yards.
He was on the field for 57 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.
In 2025, John Metchie III played 16 games for NYJ and scored 71.9 PPR points, 4.5 a game, finishing WR87.
He caught 33 of 48 targets for 274 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 5 red zone targets and 134 air yards.
He was on the field for 43 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.
John Metchie III, Week 18 of 2025 against BUF: 4 targets and 3 catches for 20 yards, 5.0 PPR points.
Their other Week 9 calls
Locks at kickoff, graded after. When the start/sit engine grades week 9, the call and the result appear on the public record, wrong ones included.
Drop or keep
Should I drop John Metchie III for Xavier Hutchinson?
Not on these numbers alone. John Metchie III projects 33 market-implied PPR points from Week 9 through Week 17 (3.7 a game over 9 games) and Xavier Hutchinson 34 (3.8 a game over 9 games), too close to separate, so the roster spot decides it. For Week 9 the call starts Xavier Hutchinson over John Metchie III.
Should I drop Xavier Hutchinson for John Metchie III?
Not on these numbers alone. Xavier Hutchinson projects 34 market-implied PPR points from Week 9 through Week 17 (3.8 a game over 9 games) and John Metchie III 33 (3.7 a game over 9 games), too close to separate, so the roster spot decides it. For Week 9 the call starts Xavier Hutchinson over John Metchie III.
Week 9 on the board
- Is Xavier Hutchinson playing Week 9?
- Is John Metchie III playing Week 9?
- Texans depth chart
- Panthers depth chart
- Week 9 WR rankings
- Week 9 fantasy rankings
- Week 9 start or sit
- Week 9 waiver wire
- Week 9 trade value chart
- Trade deadline buy low, sell high
- Fantasy football rankings
- Start 'em sit 'em Week 9
- Waiver wire pickups
- Fantasy sleepers
- Rest of season rankings
- Week 9 kicker rankings
- Week 9 defense rankings