Should I start AJ Barner or Nico Collins in Week 10?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on AJ Barner, and the board ranks him 85th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Nico Collins, and the board ranks him 86th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

AJ Barner's market-based projection is 6.8 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 7 market sources. That is the 56th highest figure of the 211 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Nico Collins is 2.5 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Nico Collins's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season through Week 9

Through Week 9, AJ Barner has been on the field for 87 percent of SEA snaps, drawn 14 percent of the targets and had 15 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 78 third down targets, had 5 of its 21 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 49 two minute targets.

His 38 targets have averaged 2.6 air yards.

In Week 7 against KC he carried 3 times for 4 yards, caught 4 of 5 targets for 42 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against CHI he caught 2 of 5 targets for 23 yards and did not score.

In Week 9 against ARI he carried 3 times for 3 yards, caught 2 of 4 targets for 7 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

Through Week 9, Nico Collins has been on the field for 71 percent of HOU snaps, drawn 20 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 9 of the offence's 45 third down targets, had 0 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 36 two minute targets.

His 39 targets have averaged 12.0 air yards.

In Week 6 against JAX he carried 1 time for 5 yards, caught 3 of 5 targets for 74 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against NYG he caught 2 of 5 targets for 6 yards and did not score.

In Week 9 against LAC he caught 4 of 4 targets for 55 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025 Nico Collins played 15 games and scored 226.2 PPR points, 15.1 a game, finishing WR8.

He caught 71 of 120 targets for 1117 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 16 red zone targets.

That came to 8.0 targets a game, a 59 percent catch rate and 15.7 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 77 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

AJ Barner was available for 2 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Nico Collins scored 15.1 PPR points a game and AJ Barner 8.7, 6.4 a game between them.

AJ Barner finished TE14 and Nico Collins WR8, which are two different ladders.

AJ Barner is a tight end and Nico Collins a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

AJ Barner is off in Week 11 and Nico Collins in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

Nico Collins has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.