Should I start Brock Bowers or Jaylen Waddle in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Brock Bowers, and the board ranks him 97th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

Live drafts hold no current pick on Jaylen Waddle, and the board ranks him 98th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 15; 2QB: ADP 36.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Brock Bowers is 3.4 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 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 Jaylen Waddle is 3.0 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver'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 6

Through Week 6, Brock Bowers has been on the field for 83 percent of LV snaps, drawn 28 percent of the targets and had 19 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 19 of the offence's 44 third down targets, had 1 of its 11 chances inside the five and seen 6 of its 29 two minute targets.

His 43 targets have averaged 10.2 air yards.

In Week 4 against KC he caught 6 of 11 targets for 86 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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.

Through Week 6, Jaylen Waddle has been on the field for 68 percent of DEN snaps, drawn 22 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 13 of the offence's 50 third down targets, had 0 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 22 two minute targets.

His 38 targets have averaged 9.2 air yards.

In Week 4 against SF he caught 5 of 6 targets for 35 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against LAC he carried 1 time for 9 yards, caught 2 of 5 targets for 19 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against SEA he caught 4 of 7 targets for 24 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 Jaylen Waddle played 16 games and scored 194.1 PPR points, 12.1 a game, finishing WR24.

He caught 64 of 100 targets for 910 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets.

That came to 6.3 targets a game, a 64 percent catch rate and 14.2 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 78 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Jaylen Waddle was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Brock Bowers scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Jaylen Waddle 12.1, 2.6 a game between them.

Brock Bowers finished TE11 and Jaylen Waddle WR24, which are two different ladders.

Brock Bowers is a tight end and Jaylen Waddle a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Brock Bowers is off in Week 13 and Jaylen Waddle in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.

Jaylen Waddle is listed as questionable on the injury report.