Should I start Pat Freiermuth or Brock Bowers in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Pat Freiermuth, and the board ranks him 56th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Brock Bowers, and the board ranks him 59th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Pat Freiermuth is 3.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 2 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 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.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Pat Freiermuth has been on the field for 67 percent of PIT snaps, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 9 of the offence's 58 third down targets, had 2 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 10 of its 41 two minute targets.

His 33 targets have averaged 8.4 air yards.

In Week 5 against IND he carried 1 time for 1 yards, caught 5 of 7 targets for 44 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 6 against TB he caught 2 of 3 targets for 11 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against NO he caught 2 of 4 targets for 20 yards and did not score.

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 Pat Freiermuth played 17 games and scored 113.6 PPR points, 6.7 a game, finishing TE25.

He caught 41 of 54 targets for 486 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 9 red zone targets.

That came to 3.2 targets a game, a 76 percent catch rate and 11.9 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 49 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.

Pat Freiermuth was available for 5 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Brock Bowers scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Pat Freiermuth 6.7, 8.0 a game between them.

Pat Freiermuth finished TE25 that year and Brock Bowers TE11.

Brock Bowers had 32 more targets than Pat Freiermuth, 86 to 54.

Brock Bowers had 194 more receiving yards than Pat Freiermuth, 680 to 486.

This season Brock Bowers holds the bigger snap share, 83 percent against 67 percent.

This season Brock Bowers holds the bigger target share, 26 percent against 13 percent.

Byes and availability

Pat Freiermuth is off in Week 9 and Brock Bowers in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.