Chris Brooks · Emari Demercado · 2026 week 9

Chris Brooks or Emari Demercado?

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

Start Chris Brooks — barelyThis one is a coin flip — the projections are within 0.5 points. The matchup leans Chris Brooks (LAR allow the 28th-most RB points), but you can defend either call.

Player	Wk 9	Proj (PPR)	Matchup	Form L3	Trade value	Status
Chris Brooks START	@ LAR	2.2	28th · tough	3.2	–	IR
Emari Demercado	@ LAC	1.7	9th	0.8	–	healthy

RBs vs LAR recently: Zonovan Knight 9.8 pts (W6) · Ashton Jeanty 13.6 pts (W7) · Kimani Vidal 3 pts (W8).

RBs vs LAC recently: J.K. Dobbins 13.4 pts (W5) · Kenneth Walker III 25.9 pts (W6) · Blake Corum 13.3 pts (W8).

🎓 The coach's read

Projections are 0.5 apart — too close to call on projection alone.
Chris Brooks faces LAR, 28th most generous to RBs.
Chris Brooks is flagged OUT.
Emari Demercado faces LAC, 9th most generous to RBs.

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 RB decisions

All numbers are the 2026 season, refreshed nightly.