Start Nate Boerkircher or Jonnu Smith? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Nate Boerkircher over Jonnu Smith in Week 9.

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

What the market projects

Player markets imply 2.3 fantasy points for Nate Boerkircher, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market-based projection for Nate Boerkircher is 8 receiving yards, 0-1 receptions and 0.2 touchdowns (8, 7 and 11 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 Nate Boerkircher 0.7 points ahead of Jonnu Smith on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Nate Boerkircher and JAX visit BAL on Thursday at 8:15 PM ET.

BAL allowed 13.5 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 8 games, the 15th fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 47 yards and 0.8 touchdowns a game against BAL.

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, Nate Boerkircher has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Nate Boerkircher 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, Nate Boerkircher played 48 percent of JAX snaps, drew 5 percent of the targets, earned 4 percent of the air yards and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

Nate Boerkircher, Week 4 against CIN: 21 of 61 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 15 yards.

Nate Boerkircher, Week 5 against PHI: 35 of 72 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 20 yards.

Nate Boerkircher, Week 6 against HOU: 39 of 71 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 8 yards, 1 touchdown.

Nate Boerkircher, Week 8 against IND: 26 of 54 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 31 yards, 1 touchdown.

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