Should I start Michael Mayer or Charlie Kolar in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Michael Mayer, and the board ranks him 135th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Charlie Kolar, and the board ranks him 144th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Michael Mayer is 1.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. 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 Charlie Kolar is 1.3 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a tight end's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season so far

Through Week 7, Michael Mayer has been on the field for 81 percent of LV snaps, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 71 third down targets, had 1 of its 15 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 43 two minute targets.

His 37 targets have averaged 4.9 air yards.

In Week 5 against NE he caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against BUF he caught 7 of 9 targets for 95 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against LAR he caught 3 of 3 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

Through Week 6, Charlie Kolar has been on the field for 65 percent of LAC snaps, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 35 third down targets, had 0 of its 2 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 20 two minute targets.

His 13 targets have averaged 4.8 air yards.

In Week 2 against LV he caught 3 of 3 targets for 21 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against DEN he caught 3 of 4 targets for 37 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against KC he caught 3 of 6 targets for 20 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Michael Mayer played 13 games and scored 73.8 PPR points, 5.7 a game, finishing TE38.

He caught 35 of 50 targets for 328 yards and 1 touchdown, with 6 red zone targets.

That came to 3.8 targets a game, a 70 percent catch rate and 9.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 57 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Charlie Kolar played 17 games and scored 36.2 PPR points, 2.1 a game, finishing TE62.

He caught 10 of 15 targets for 142 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 3 red zone targets.

That came to 0.9 targets a game, a 67 percent catch rate and 14.2 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 40 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Charlie Kolar was available for 4 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Michael Mayer scored 5.7 PPR points a game and Charlie Kolar 2.1, 3.5 a game between them.

Michael Mayer finished TE38 that year and Charlie Kolar TE62.

Michael Mayer had 35 more targets than Charlie Kolar, 50 to 15.

Michael Mayer had 186 more receiving yards than Charlie Kolar, 328 to 142.

This season Michael Mayer holds the bigger snap share, 81 percent against 65 percent.

This season Michael Mayer holds the bigger target share, 15 percent against 12 percent.

Byes and availability

Michael Mayer is off in Week 13 and Charlie Kolar in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.