Start Zay Flowers or Malik Washington? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Zay Flowers over Malik Washington in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Zay Flowers at 10.4 points and Malik Washington at 10.6, a gap of 0.2. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. Zay Flowers still gets the call because it also weighs where drafters take each player, ADP 23 against 165, and that outweighs a gap this size.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 10.6 fantasy points for Malik Washington, with 100 percent of the markets a WR needs posted.

The market-based projection for Malik Washington is 42 receiving yards, 4-5 receptions and 0.4 touchdowns (12, 9 and 12 market sources).

Player markets imply 10.4 fantasy points for Zay Flowers, with 100 percent of the markets a WR needs posted.

The market-based projection for Zay Flowers is 47 receiving yards, 4-5 receptions and 0.2 touchdowns (13, 10 and 14 market sources).

That puts Malik Washington 0.2 points ahead of Zay Flowers on the market projections.

Week 9 matchups

Malik Washington and MIA host DET on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

DET allowed 37.7 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 7 games, the 3rd most in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 176 yards and 0.9 touchdowns a game against DET.

Zay Flowers and BAL host JAX on Thursday at 8:15 PM ET.

JAX allowed 36.9 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 7 games, the 6th most in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 196 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against JAX.

By points allowed to the position, Malik Washington has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Malik Washington is not on the injury report.

Zay Flowers is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Malik Washington played 82 percent of MIA snaps, drew 25 percent of the targets, earned 27 percent of the air yards and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

Malik Washington, Week 4 against MIN: 34 of 39 snaps, 2 carries for 3 yards, 5 targets and 5 catches for 67 yards.

Malik Washington, Week 5 against CIN: 53 of 66 snaps, 1 carry for 18 yards, 8 targets and 6 catches for 43 yards.

Malik Washington, Week 7 against NYJ: 52 of 65 snaps, 2 carries for 8 yards, 3 targets and 3 catches for 27 yards.

Malik Washington, Week 8 against NE: 48 of 65 snaps, 6 targets and 5 catches for 40 yards, 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, Zay Flowers played 67 percent of BAL snaps, drew 30 percent of the targets, earned 33 percent of the air yards and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

Zay Flowers, Week 5 against ATL: 62 of 76 snaps, 1 carry for 13 yards, 9 targets and 8 catches for 53 yards.

Zay Flowers, Week 6 against CLE: 50 of 57 snaps, 1 carry for 1 yards, 11 targets and 6 catches for 66 yards.

Zay Flowers, Week 7 against CIN: 57 of 67 snaps, 11 targets and 8 catches for 137 yards, 1 touchdown.

Zay Flowers, Week 8 against BUF: 42 of 51 snaps, 5 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Malik Washington played 17 games for MIA and scored 116.7 PPR points, 6.9 a game, finishing WR54.

He caught 46 of 65 targets for 317 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets and 64 air yards.

He was on the field for 56 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Zay Flowers played 17 games for BAL and scored 243.3 PPR points, 14.3 a game, finishing WR7.

He caught 86 of 118 targets for 1211 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 10 red zone targets and 753 air yards.

He was on the field for 86 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start A.J. Brown over Malik Washington.
• Start Malik Washington over Caleb Douglas.
• Start Chris Godwin Jr. over Malik Washington.
• Start A.J. Brown over Zay Flowers.
• Start Zay Flowers over Chris Godwin Jr..
• Start Zay Flowers over Courtland Sutton.