Should I start Saquon Barkley or Brock Bowers in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Saquon Barkley, and the board ranks him 88th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 3; 2QB: ADP 14.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Brock Bowers, and the board ranks him 89th 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 Saquon Barkley is 3.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 3 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Brock Bowers is 3.6 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 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.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Saquon Barkley has been on the field for 33 percent of PHI snaps, taken 34 percent of the carries, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 44 third down targets, had 2 of its 11 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 32 two minute targets.

His 9 targets have come 0.6 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 3 against CHI he carried 15 times for 82 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for -2 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against LAR he carried 2 times for 8 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against DAL he carried 7 times for 62 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 9 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 Saquon Barkley played 16 games and scored 232.3 PPR points, 14.5 a game, finishing RB14.

He carried 280 times for 1140 yards and 7 touchdowns, and caught 37 of 50 targets for 273 more yards.

That came to 17-18 carries a game at 4.1 yards a carry and 2.3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 78 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.

Saquon Barkley was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Brock Bowers scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Saquon Barkley 14.5, 0.2 a game between them.

Saquon Barkley finished RB14 and Brock Bowers TE11, which are two different ladders.

Saquon Barkley is a running back and Brock Bowers a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

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

Saquon Barkley is listed as questionable on the injury report.