Start Kenny Gainwell or Seth McGowan? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Kenny Gainwell over Seth McGowan in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Kenny Gainwell at 6.0 points and Seth McGowan at 4.1, a gap of 1.9. No player market is posted for Kenny Gainwell this week yet, so his 6.0 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (6.5, 6.2 and 5.5); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for Seth McGowan this week yet, so his 4.1 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (3.6, 2.7 and 6.0); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 9 player market is posted for Kenny Gainwell yet. His market-based projections were 6.5, 6.2 and 5.6 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 6.1, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

No Week 9 player market is posted for Seth McGowan yet. His market-based projections were 3.6, 2.7 and 6.0 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 4.1, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts Kenny Gainwell 1.9 points ahead of Seth McGowan on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Kenny Gainwell and TB visit CHI on Sunday at 8:20 PM ET.

CHI allowed 18.6 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 7 games, the 6th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 74 yards and 0.4 touchdowns a game against CHI and caught passes for 35 more yards.

Seth McGowan and IND host DAL on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

DAL allowed 24.6 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 7 games, the 7th most in the league.

Running backs ran for 107 yards and a touchdown a game against DAL and caught passes for 25 more yards.

By points allowed to the position, Seth McGowan has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Kenny Gainwell is not on the injury report.

Seth McGowan is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Kenny Gainwell played 35 percent of TB snaps, took 22 percent of the carries, drew 9 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

Kenny Gainwell, Week 5 against DAL: 26 of 72 snaps, 4 carries for 18 yards, 4 targets and 3 catches for 10 yards.

Kenny Gainwell, Week 6 against PIT: 11 of 74 snaps, 2 carries for 17 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 7 yards.

Kenny Gainwell, Week 7 against CAR: 19 of 63 snaps, 14 carries for 88 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Kenny Gainwell, Week 8 against ATL: 25 carries for 140 yards, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Through Week 8, Seth McGowan played 21 percent of IND snaps, took 17 percent of the carries, drew 2 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

Seth McGowan, Week 5 against PIT: 19 of 71 snaps, 5 carries for 16 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 3 yards.

Seth McGowan, Week 6 against TEN: 19 of 83 snaps, 4 carries for 27 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Seth McGowan, Week 7 against MIN: 20 of 58 snaps, 11 carries for 46 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 2 yards.

Seth McGowan, Week 8 against JAX: 5 carries for 29 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Kenny Gainwell played 17 games for PIT and scored 222.3 PPR points, 13.1 a game, finishing RB16.

He ran 114 times for 537 yards and 5 touchdowns, and caught 73 of 85 targets for 486 yards.

He was on the field for 49 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Kenny Gainwell over Alvin Kamara.
• Start Kenny Gainwell over Corey Kiner.
• Start Kenny Gainwell over Dylan Sampson.
• Start Corey Kiner over Seth McGowan.
• Start George Holani over Seth McGowan.
• Start Seth McGowan over Isaiah Davis.