Should I start Darren Waller or Braelon Allen in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darren Waller, and the board ranks him 72nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Braelon Allen, and the board ranks him 73rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Darren Waller's market-based projection is 5.9 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 69th highest figure of the 200 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Braelon Allen is 4.6 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 7

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.

Through Week 7, Braelon Allen has been on the field for 64 percent of NYJ snaps, taken 53 percent of the carries, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 30 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 52 third down targets, had 2 of its 11 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 31 two minute targets.

His 20 targets have averaged 0.2 air yards.

In Week 5 against CLE he carried 24 times for 116 yards, caught 1 of 4 targets for 0 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against NE he carried 17 times for 78 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 26 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against MIA he carried 17 times for 104 yards, caught 6 of 7 targets for 30 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025 Braelon Allen played 4 games and scored 15.3 PPR points, 3.8 a game, finishing RB100.

He carried 18 times for 76 yards and 1 touchdown, and caught 2 of 3 targets for 17 more yards.

That came to 4-5 carries a game at 4.2 yards a carry and 0-1 catches a game.

He was on the field for 24 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Darren Waller was available for 5 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Darren Waller scored 9.9 PPR points a game and Braelon Allen 3.8, 6.0 a game between them.

Darren Waller finished TE33 and Braelon Allen RB100, which are two different ladders.

Darren Waller is a tight end and Braelon Allen a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Darren Waller is off in Week 5 and Braelon Allen in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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