Should I start Travis Kelce or AJ Barner in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Travis Kelce, and the board ranks him 107th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on AJ Barner, and the board ranks him 114th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Travis Kelce is 2.3 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a tight end's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for AJ Barner is 2.2 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a tight end's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Travis Kelce has been on the field for 78 percent of KC snaps, drawn 20 percent of the targets and had 5 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 11 of the offence's 49 third down targets, had 0 of its 19 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 22 two minute targets.

His 35 targets have averaged 6.3 air yards.

In Week 4 against LV he caught 2 of 4 targets for 15 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against LAC he caught 4 of 5 targets for 53 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against SEA he caught 4 of 8 targets for 44 yards and did not score.

Through Week 7, AJ Barner has been on the field for 88 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 62 third down targets, had 3 of its 19 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 38 two minute targets.

His 29 targets have averaged 2.1 air yards.

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.

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

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Travis Kelce played 17 games and scored 193.2 PPR points, 11.4 a game, finishing TE3.

He caught 76 of 108 targets for 851 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets.

That came to 6.4 targets a game, a 70 percent catch rate and 11.2 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 81 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.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Head to head

In 2025 Travis Kelce scored 11.4 PPR points a game and AJ Barner 8.7, 2.7 a game between them.

Travis Kelce finished TE3 that year and AJ Barner TE14.

Travis Kelce had 40 more targets than AJ Barner, 108 to 68.

Travis Kelce had 332 more receiving yards than AJ Barner, 851 to 519.

This season AJ Barner holds the bigger snap share, 88 percent against 78 percent.

This season Travis Kelce holds the bigger target share, 20 percent against 13 percent.

Byes and availability

Travis Kelce is off in Week 5 and AJ Barner in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.