Should I start Baker Mayfield or Darren Waller in Week 8?

Updated Oct 28, 5:17 AM ET. Week 9 answers post Tuesday.

Latest

Oct 22, 4:48 PM ET: Barring setbacks, Bucs QB Baker Mayfield expected to start vs. Panthers (ESPN)

Start Baker Mayfield: 95 percent of the snaps and 0 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against Darren Waller's 48 percent of the snaps and 10 percent of the targets. No market projection is posted on either of them this week, so this is a usage call, and a lower confidence one than a call made on a projection. What follows is what each of them has done.

Should I drop Darren Waller for Baker Mayfield?

Yes, on the rest of the season. Baker Mayfield projects 144 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (16.0 a game over 9 games), Darren Waller 63 (6.3 a game over 10 games).

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Your next move

More fantasy football tools and rankings, all built from the same board.

Both players' season market-based projection, their usage this season and their last full season's numbers.

Baker Mayfield

QB12 · TB · bye 10

2026 vs pass yds line 1-3

Overall rank: 87

Darren Waller

TE12 · CAR · bye 5

2026 vs anytime td line 2-4

Market-based projection: 5.9 pts a game

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The gap

Board size295 draftable players

Draft data is not current for these two, so the figures that depend on it are left out. The call above comes from each player's usage.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Baker Mayfield, and the board ranks him 87th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 20.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darren Waller, and the board ranks him 88th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Baker Mayfield is 16.4 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 6 market sources. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Darren Waller's market-based projection is 5.9 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 73rd highest figure of the 200 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Baker Mayfield has been on the field for 96 percent of TB snaps, dropped back 129 times and thrown 8.2 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 22 of 129 dropbacks and scrambled 9 times.

In Week 2 against CLE he completed 21 of 34 passes for 182 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 4 times for 29 yards.

In Week 3 against MIN he completed 17 of 34 passes for 217 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 6 yards.

In Week 7 against CAR he completed 7 of 11 passes for 64 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

Through Week 7, Darren Waller has been on the field for 46 percent of CAR snaps, drawn 11 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 43 third down targets, had 0 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 30 two minute targets.

His 23 targets have averaged 10.0 air yards.

In Week 4 against DET he caught 3 of 6 targets for 36 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against PHI he caught 0 of 2 targets for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against TB he caught 1 of 2 targets for 50 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Baker Mayfield played 17 games and scored 282.9 PPR points, 16.6 a game, finishing QB12.

He threw for 3693 yards on 543 attempts with 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and ran for 382 yards and 1 touchdown.

That came to 31.9 attempts a game at 6.8 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 97 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Darren Waller played 9 games and scored 88.7 PPR points, 9.9 a game, finishing TE33.

He caught 24 of 34 targets for 283 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets.

That came to 3.8 targets a game, a 71 percent catch rate and 11.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 45 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Baker Mayfield was available for 8 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Baker Mayfield scored 16.6 PPR points a game and Darren Waller 9.9, 6.8 a game between them.

Baker Mayfield finished QB12 and Darren Waller TE33, which are two different ladders.

Baker Mayfield is a quarterback and Darren Waller a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Baker Mayfield is off in Week 10 and Darren Waller in Week 5, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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

Drop or keep

Should I drop Darren Waller for Baker Mayfield?
Yes, on the rest of the season. Baker Mayfield projects 144 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (16.0 a game over 9 games), Darren Waller 63 (6.3 a game over 10 games).
Should I drop Baker Mayfield for Darren Waller?
No. Keep Baker Mayfield: he projects 144 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (16.0 a game over 9 games), Darren Waller 63 (6.3 a game over 10 games).

Should I drop Darren Waller?