Should I start Michael Penix Jr. or AJ Barner in Week 7?

The market-based projections

Michael Penix Jr.'s market-based projection is 15.0 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 43rd highest figure of the 207 players with a market-based projection.

AJ Barner's market-based projection is 6.8 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 98th highest figure of the 207 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Michael Penix Jr., and the board ranks him 117th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on AJ Barner, and the board ranks him 118th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 6

Through Week 6, Michael Penix Jr. has been on the field for 99 percent of ATL snaps, dropped back 122 times and thrown 7.4 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 15 of 122 dropbacks and scrambled 3 times.

In Week 4 against NO he completed 15 of 20 passes for 223 yards and threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions.

In Week 5 against BAL he completed 19 of 32 passes for 240 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 8 yards.

In Week 6 against CHI he completed 19 of 33 passes for 225 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

Through Week 6, AJ Barner has been on the field for 90 percent of SEA snaps, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 52 third down targets, had 3 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 6 of its 32 two minute targets.

His 24 targets have averaged 2.5 air yards.

In Week 4 against LAC he caught 1 of 3 targets for 12 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against SF he caught 3 of 5 targets for 20 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against DEN he caught 3 of 4 targets for 16 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Michael Penix Jr. played 9 games and scored 123.3 PPR points, 13.7 a game, finishing QB33.

He threw for 1982 yards on 276 attempts with 9 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, and ran for 70 yards and 1 touchdown.

That came to 30.7 attempts a game at 7.2 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 93 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 AJ Barner played 17 games and scored 147.3 PPR points, 8.7 a game, finishing TE14.

He caught 52 of 68 targets for 519 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 12 red zone targets.

That came to 4.0 targets a game, a 76 percent catch rate and 10.0 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 78 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

AJ Barner was available for 8 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Michael Penix Jr. scored 13.7 PPR points a game and AJ Barner 8.7, 5.0 a game between them.

Michael Penix Jr. finished QB33 and AJ Barner TE14, which are two different ladders.

Michael Penix Jr. is a quarterback and AJ Barner a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Both are off in Week 11, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.

What would change the answer

8.2 points a game is the entire case. The market restates it every week, and a line that moves moves the order with it.

The draft market is the half that is missing: when live drafts hold these two again they can order them differently from the projection, and this page will follow the drafts rather than the market-based projection when they do.