Should I start Bucky Irving or Pat Freiermuth in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Bucky Irving, and the board ranks him 55th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Bucky Irving is 4.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 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 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.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Bucky Irving has been on the field for 64 percent of TB snaps, taken 59 percent of the carries, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 40 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 57 third down targets, had 5 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 44 two minute targets.

His 23 targets have come 2.0 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 5 against DAL he carried 21 times for 165 yards, caught 2 of 3 targets for 10 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 6 against PIT he carried 19 times for 46 yards, caught 2 of 3 targets for 3 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CAR he carried 24 times for 106 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 4 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Bucky Irving played 10 games and scored 138.5 PPR points, 13.9 a game, finishing RB34.

He carried 173 times for 588 yards and 1 touchdown, and caught 30 of 35 targets for 277 more yards.

That came to 17.3 carries a game at 3.4 yards a carry and 3.0 catches a game.

He was on the field for 62 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Pat Freiermuth was available for 7 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Bucky Irving scored 13.9 PPR points a game and Pat Freiermuth 6.7, 7.2 a game between them.

Bucky Irving finished RB34 and Pat Freiermuth TE25, which are two different ladders.

Bucky Irving is a running back and Pat Freiermuth a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Bucky Irving is off in Week 10 and Pat Freiermuth in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.