Austin Hooper · Evan Engram · 2026 week 9

Austin Hooper or Evan Engram?

Wondering who you should start this week — Austin Hooper or Evan Engram? The start/sit call and the numbers behind it are below, plus who wins a straight-up trade. Rebuilt nightly.

Start Evan Engram — barelyThis one is a coin flip — the projections are within 1.1 points. The matchup leans Evan Engram (CAR allow the 13th-most TE points), but you can defend either call.

Player	Wk 9	Proj (PPR)	Matchup	Form L3	Trade value	Status
Austin Hooper	vs CIN	3.8	10th	2.5	–	healthy
Evan Engram START	@ CAR	4.9	13th	4.7	–	healthy

TEs vs CIN recently: Greg Dulcich 5.7 pts (W5) · Josh Cuevas 3.5 pts (W7) · Gunnar Helm 9.6 pts (W8).

TEs vs CAR recently: Dallas Goedert 6.1 pts (W6) · Ko Kieft 1 pts (W7) · Tucker Kraft 11.3 pts (W8).

🎓 The coach's read

Evan Engram projects 1.1 points higher in PPR.
Austin Hooper faces CIN, 10th most generous to TEs.
Evan Engram faces CAR, 13th most generous to TEs.

Who wins a straight-up trade?

Their trade values are effectively even — a one-for-one is a fair swap on the numbers.

Open in Start/Sit (any scoring) Open in the Trade Analyzer

More TE decisions

Evan Engram or Tommy Tremble?Evan Engram or Oronde Gadsden?Evan Engram or Eli Raridon?

All numbers are the 2026 season, refreshed nightly.