Start Mike Gesicki or Tyler Higbee? Week 9
Updated Nov 3, 3:36 AM ET. Locks at kickoff, graded after. Week 10 answer posts Tuesday.
Early kickoff: 9:30 AM ET in Madrid, set your lineup before then.
Start Tyler Higbee over Mike Gesicki
- Market projects
- 8.8
- recent weeks avg
- WAS D vs TE
- 20.7
- 2nd most to TEs (2026)
- Snap share
- 62%
- Through Week 8
- Target share
- 11%
- Through Week 8
- Market projects
- 7.4
- fantasy pts
- ATL D vs TE
- 13.9
- 16th most to TEs (2026)
- Snap share
- 48%
- Through Week 8
- Target share
- 9%
- Through Week 8
Should I drop Mike Gesicki for Tyler Higbee?
Not on these numbers alone. Mike Gesicki projects 60 market-implied PPR points from Week 9 through Week 17 (6.7 a game over 9 games) and Tyler Higbee 60 (7.5 a game over 8 games), too close to separate, so the roster spot decides it. For Week 9 the call starts Tyler Higbee over Mike Gesicki.
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Our Week 9 call
Start Tyler Higbee over Mike Gesicki in Week 9.
Market-based projections have Tyler Higbee at 8.8 points and Mike Gesicki at 7.4, a gap of 1.4. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Tyler Higbee this week yet, so his 8.8 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (7.7, 9.4 and 9.3); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.
What the market projects
No Week 9 player market is posted for Tyler Higbee yet. His market-based projections were 7.7, 9.4 and 9.3 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 8.8, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.
Player markets imply 7.4 fantasy points for Mike Gesicki, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.
The market-based projection for Mike Gesicki is 28 receiving yards, 2-3 receptions and 0.4 touchdowns (7, 7 and 7 market sources).
That puts Tyler Higbee 1.4 points ahead of Mike Gesicki on these projections.
Week 9 matchups
Tyler Higbee and LAR visit WAS on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.
WAS allowed 20.7 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 2nd most in the league.
Tight ends caught passes for 75 yards and 1.1 touchdowns a game against WAS.
Mike Gesicki and CIN visit ATL on Sunday at 9:30 AM ET.
ATL allowed 13.9 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 8 games, the 16th most in the league.
Tight ends caught passes for 55 yards and 0-1 touchdowns a game against ATL.
By points allowed to the position, Tyler Higbee has the softer matchup.
Injury status
Tyler Higbee is not on the injury report.
Mike Gesicki is not on the injury report.
Usage before Week 9
Through Week 8, Tyler Higbee played 62 percent of LAR snaps, drew 11 percent of the targets, earned 12 percent of the air yards and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.
Tyler Higbee, Week 5 against BUF: 55 of 82 snaps, 6 targets and 5 catches for 83 yards.
Tyler Higbee, Week 6 against ARI: 48 of 58 snaps, 4 targets and 4 catches for 22 yards.
Tyler Higbee, Week 7 against LV: 53 of 72 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 14 yards.
Tyler Higbee, Week 8 against LAC: 45 of 54 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 14 yards.
Through Week 8, Mike Gesicki played 48 percent of CIN snaps, drew 9 percent of the targets, earned 13 percent of the air yards and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.
Mike Gesicki, Week 4 against JAX: 47 of 76 snaps, 5 targets and 3 catches for 40 yards, 1 touchdown.
Mike Gesicki, Week 5 against MIA: 29 of 65 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 4 yards, 1 touchdown.
Mike Gesicki, Week 7 against BAL: 20 of 53 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 6 yards, 1 touchdown.
Mike Gesicki, Week 8 against TEN: 50 of 74 snaps, 6 targets and 4 catches for 76 yards, 1 touchdown.
Their 2025 seasons
In 2025, Tyler Higbee played 10 games for LAR and scored 71.1 PPR points, 7.1 a game, finishing TE40.
He caught 25 of 36 targets for 281 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets and 141 air yards.
He was on the field for 54 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.
In 2025, Mike Gesicki played 13 games for CIN and scored 70.7 PPR points, 5.4 a game, finishing TE41.
He caught 28 of 42 targets for 307 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets and 244 air yards.
He was on the field for 38 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.
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 Mike Gesicki for Tyler Higbee?
Not on these numbers alone. Mike Gesicki projects 60 market-implied PPR points from Week 9 through Week 17 (6.7 a game over 9 games) and Tyler Higbee 60 (7.5 a game over 8 games), too close to separate, so the roster spot decides it. For Week 9 the call starts Tyler Higbee over Mike Gesicki.
Should I drop Tyler Higbee for Mike Gesicki?
Not on these numbers alone. Tyler Higbee projects 60 market-implied PPR points from Week 9 through Week 17 (7.5 a game over 8 games) and Mike Gesicki 60 (6.7 a game over 9 games), too close to separate, so the roster spot decides it. For Week 9 the call starts Tyler Higbee over Mike Gesicki.
Week 9 on the board
- Is Mike Gesicki playing Week 9?
- Is Tyler Higbee playing Week 9?
- Bengals depth chart
- Rams depth chart
- Week 9 TE 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