Start Josh Cuevas or Jonnu Smith? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Josh Cuevas over Jonnu Smith in Week 9.

Jonnu Smith is listed out on the injury report, so this is not a close call: start Josh Cuevas.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 2.7 fantasy points for Josh Cuevas, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market-based projection for Josh Cuevas is 9 receiving yards, 1-2 receptions and 0.1 touchdowns (5, 5 and 10 market sources).

No Week 9 player market is posted for Jonnu Smith yet. His market-based projections were 1.9 and 1.3 points in Weeks 6 and 8, an average of 1.6, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

The market-based projection for Jonnu Smith is 0.1 touchdowns (6 market sources).

That puts Josh Cuevas 1.1 points ahead of Jonnu Smith on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Josh Cuevas and BAL host JAX on Thursday at 8:15 PM ET.

JAX allowed 11.0 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 8th fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 32 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against JAX.

Jonnu Smith and GB visit NE on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

NE allowed 11.9 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 8 games, the 9th fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 52 yards and 0.3 touchdowns a game against NE.

By points allowed to the position, Jonnu Smith has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Josh Cuevas is not on the injury report.

Jonnu Smith is listed as out with a coach's decision injury.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Josh Cuevas played 23 percent of BAL snaps, drew 6 percent of the targets, earned 4 percent of the air yards and had 2 percent of the red zone chances.

Josh Cuevas, Week 5 against ATL: 19 of 76 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 26 yards.

Josh Cuevas, Week 6 against CLE: 23 of 57 snaps, 5 targets and 4 catches for 44 yards, 1 touchdown.

Josh Cuevas, Week 7 against CIN: 15 of 67 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 35 yards.

Josh Cuevas, Week 8 against BUF: 13 of 51 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 15 yards.

Through Week 7, Jonnu Smith played 28 percent of GB snaps, drew 3 percent of the targets, earned 3 percent of the air yards and had 1 percent of the red zone chances.

Jonnu Smith, Week 4 against TB: 13 of 60 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 19 yards.

Jonnu Smith, Week 5 against CHI: 21 of 61 snaps, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Jonnu Smith, Week 6 against DAL: 9 of 75 snaps, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Jonnu Smith, Week 7 against DET: 17 of 67 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 9 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Jonnu Smith played 17 games for PIT and scored 85.2 PPR points, 5.0 a game, finishing TE35.

He caught 38 of 54 targets for 222 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets and 43 air yards.

He was on the field for 53 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Brevyn Spann-Ford over Josh Cuevas.
• Start Josh Cuevas over Davis Allen.
• Start Dawson Knox over Josh Cuevas.
• Start Nate Boerkircher over Jonnu Smith.