Should I start Isaiah Likely or Chig Okonkwo in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Isaiah Likely, and the board ranks him 121st overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Chig Okonkwo, and the board ranks him 154th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Isaiah Likely is 2.2 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.

The market-based projection for Chig Okonkwo is 1.5 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.

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

This season so far

Through Week 7, Isaiah Likely has been on the field for 76 percent of NYG snaps, drawn 27 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 16 of the offence's 61 third down targets, had 2 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 32 two minute targets.

His 63 targets have averaged 8.0 air yards.

In Week 5 against WAS he caught 11 of 13 targets for 94 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 6 against NO he caught 6 of 11 targets for 99 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against HOU he caught 2 of 4 targets for 12 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, Chig Okonkwo has been on the field for 67 percent of WAS snaps, drawn 16 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 42 third down targets, had 0 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 19 two minute targets.

His 24 targets have averaged 7.9 air yards.

In Week 5 against NYG he caught 4 of 6 targets for 60 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against SF he caught 7 of 7 targets for 69 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against PHI he caught 2 of 4 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Isaiah Likely played 14 games and scored 61.7 PPR points, 4.4 a game, finishing TE45.

He caught 27 of 36 targets for 307 yards and 1 touchdown, with 6 red zone targets.

That came to 2.6 targets a game, a 75 percent catch rate and 11.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 58 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Chig Okonkwo played 17 games and scored 124.0 PPR points, 7.3 a game, finishing TE21.

He caught 56 of 79 targets for 560 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 5 red zone targets.

That came to 4.6 targets a game, a 71 percent catch rate and 10.0 yards a catch.

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

Chig Okonkwo was available for 3 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Chig Okonkwo scored 7.3 PPR points a game and Isaiah Likely 4.4, 2.9 a game between them.

Isaiah Likely finished TE45 that year and Chig Okonkwo TE21.

Chig Okonkwo had 43 more targets than Isaiah Likely, 79 to 36.

Chig Okonkwo had 253 more receiving yards than Isaiah Likely, 560 to 307.

This season Isaiah Likely holds the bigger snap share, 76 percent against 67 percent.

This season Isaiah Likely holds the bigger target share, 27 percent against 16 percent.

Byes and availability

Isaiah Likely is off in Week 8 and Chig Okonkwo in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.