Should I start AJ Barner or Tyjae Spears in Week 7?

The market-based projections

AJ Barner's market-based projection is 6.9 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 118th highest figure of the 211 players with a market-based projection.

Tyjae Spears's market-based projection is 5.5 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 11 market sources. That is the 141st highest figure of the 211 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on AJ Barner, and the board ranks him 138th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Tyjae Spears, and the board ranks him 139th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 6

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.

Through Week 6, Tyjae Spears has been on the field for 42 percent of TEN snaps, taken 14 percent of the carries, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 48 third down targets, had 0 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 30 two minute targets.

His 17 targets have come 2.7 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 4 against BAL he carried 2 times for 7 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for -1 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against HOU he carried 2 times for 0 yards, caught 9 of 9 targets for 28 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against IND he carried 1 time for 1 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 7 yards and did not score.

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 Tyjae Spears played 13 games and scored 111.7 PPR points, 8.6 a game, finishing RB44.

He carried 72 times for 283 yards and 2 touchdowns, and caught 45 of 50 targets for 264 more yards.

That came to 5-6 carries a game at 3.9 yards a carry and 3-4 catches a game.

He was on the field for 46 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

AJ Barner was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 AJ Barner scored 8.7 PPR points a game and Tyjae Spears 8.6, 0.1 a game between them.

AJ Barner finished TE14 and Tyjae Spears RB44, which are two different ladders.

AJ Barner is a tight end and Tyjae Spears a running back, 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 Tyjae Spears in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.

Tyjae Spears is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

1.4 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.