Should I start Brock Bowers or Isaiah Likely in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Brock Bowers, and the board ranks him 76th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

Live drafts hold no current pick on Isaiah Likely, and the board ranks him 111th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Brock Bowers is 3.2 PPR points a game off 1 market across 4 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 Isaiah Likely is 2.3 PPR points a game off 1 market across 4 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 so far

Through Week 8, Brock Bowers has been on the field for 83 percent of LV snaps, drawn 28 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 23 of the offence's 60 third down targets, had 2 of its 21 chances inside the five and seen 6 of its 36 two minute targets.

His 61 targets have averaged 10.0 air yards.

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.

In Week 8 against NYJ he caught 7 of 10 targets for 92 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

Through Week 7, Isaiah Likely has been on the field for 76 percent of NYG snaps, drawn 27 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 16 of the offence's 61 third down targets, had 2 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 32 two minute targets.

His 63 targets have averaged 8.0 air yards.

In Week 5 against WAS he caught 11 of 13 targets for 94 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 6 against NO he caught 6 of 11 targets for 99 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against HOU he caught 2 of 4 targets for 12 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025 Isaiah Likely played 14 games and scored 61.7 PPR points, 4.4 a game, finishing TE45.

He caught 27 of 36 targets for 307 yards and 1 touchdown, with 6 red zone targets.

That came to 2.6 targets a game, a 75 percent catch rate and 11.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 58 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Isaiah Likely was available for 2 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Brock Bowers scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Isaiah Likely 4.4, 10.3 a game between them.

Brock Bowers finished TE11 that year and Isaiah Likely TE45.

Brock Bowers had 50 more targets than Isaiah Likely, 86 to 36.

Brock Bowers had 373 more receiving yards than Isaiah Likely, 680 to 307.

This season Brock Bowers holds the bigger snap share, 83 percent against 76 percent.

This season Brock Bowers holds the bigger target share, 28 percent against 27 percent.

Byes and availability

Brock Bowers is off in Week 13 and Isaiah Likely in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.