Should I start Darren Waller or Brock Bowers in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darren Waller, and the board ranks him 21st overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Brock Bowers, and the board ranks him 46th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 17; 2QB: ADP 32.

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 23rd highest figure of the 198 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Brock Bowers is 3.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 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.

Brock Bowers'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, Brock Bowers has been on the field for 83 percent of LV snaps, drawn 26 percent of the targets and had 14 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 21 of the offence's 54 third down targets, had 1 of its 11 chances inside the five and seen 6 of its 36 two minute targets.

His 51 targets have averaged 10.2 air yards.

In Week 5 against NE he caught 8 of 10 targets for 110 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against BUF he caught 4 of 9 targets for 70 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against LAR he caught 6 of 8 targets for 73 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 Brock Bowers played 12 games and scored 176.2 PPR points, 14.7 a game, finishing TE11.

He caught 64 of 86 targets for 680 yards and 7 touchdowns, with 16 red zone targets.

That came to 7.2 targets a game, a 74 percent catch rate and 10.6 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 85 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Brock Bowers was available for 3 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Brock Bowers scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Darren Waller 9.9, 4.8 a game between them.

Darren Waller finished TE33 that year and Brock Bowers TE11.

Brock Bowers had 52 more targets than Darren Waller, 86 to 34.

Brock Bowers had 397 more receiving yards than Darren Waller, 680 to 283.

This season Brock Bowers holds the bigger snap share, 83 percent against 46 percent.

This season Brock Bowers holds the bigger target share, 26 percent against 11 percent.

Byes and availability

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

What would change the answer

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