Should I start Chris Rodriguez Jr. or T.J. Hockenson in Week 8?
Updated Oct 28, 5:21 PM ET. Week 9 answers post Tuesday.
Start T.J. Hockenson: 54 percent of the snaps and 22 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against Chris Rodriguez Jr.'s 22 percent of the snaps and 24 percent of the carries. No market projection is posted on either of them this week, so this is a usage call, and a lower confidence one than a call made on a projection. What follows is what each of them has done.
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Both players' season market-based projection, their usage this season and their last full season's numbers.
RB23 · JAX · bye 7
2026 vs carries line 3-3
- Overall rank
- 65
TE7 · MIN · bye 6
2026 vs anytime td line 2-4
- Market-based projection
- 10.4 pts a game
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The gap
- Board size303 draftable players
Draft data is not current for these two, so the figures that depend on it are left out. The call above comes from each player's usage.
Where the draft room stands
Live drafts hold no current pick on Chris Rodriguez Jr., and the board ranks him 65th overall on the rest of his evidence.
Live drafts hold no current pick on T.J. Hockenson, and the board ranks him 66th overall on the rest of his evidence.
The market-based projections
The market has Chris Rodriguez Jr. at 7.2 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 13 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.
T.J. Hockenson's market-based projection is 10.4 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 72nd highest figure of the 207 players with a market-based projection.
Chris Rodriguez Jr.'s projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.
This season so far
Through Week 6, Chris Rodriguez Jr. has been on the field for 25 percent of JAX snaps, taken 24 percent of the carries, drawn 1 percent of the targets and had 16 percent of the red zone chances.
He has taken 0 of the offence's 43 third down targets, had 4 of its 16 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 23 two minute targets.
His 2 targets have averaged 2.0 air yards.
In Week 4 against CIN he carried 6 times for 35 yards and scored 1 touchdown.
In Week 5 against PHI he carried 2 times for 5 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 6 yards and did not score.
In Week 6 against HOU he carried 11 times for 55 yards, caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.
Through Week 7, T.J. Hockenson has been on the field for 63 percent of MIN snaps, drawn 21 percent of the targets and had 18 percent of the red zone chances.
He has taken 11 of the offence's 59 third down targets, had 1 of its 3 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 14 two minute targets.
His 32 targets have averaged 6.8 air yards.
In Week 4 against MIA he caught 13 of 13 targets for 119 yards and did not score.
In Week 5 against NO he caught 1 of 1 target for 7 yards and did not score.
In Week 7 against IND he caught 4 of 5 targets for 35 yards and scored 1 touchdown.
Their 2025 seasons
In 2025 Chris Rodriguez Jr. played 13 games and scored 92.0 PPR points, 7.1 a game, finishing RB51.
He carried 112 times for 500 yards and 6 touchdowns, and caught 3 of 4 targets for 30 more yards.
That came to 8.6 carries a game at 5 yards a carry and 0.2 catches a game.
He was on the field for 30 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
In 2025 T.J. Hockenson played 15 games and scored 112.8 PPR points, 7.5 a game, finishing TE26.
He caught 51 of 66 targets for 438 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets.
That came to 4.4 targets a game, a 77 percent catch rate and 8.6 yards a catch.
He was on the field for 79 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
T.J. Hockenson was available for 2 games more.
Side by side
In 2025 T.J. Hockenson scored 7.5 PPR points a game and Chris Rodriguez Jr. 7.1, 0.4 a game between them.
Chris Rodriguez Jr. finished RB51 and T.J. Hockenson TE26, which are two different ladders.
Chris Rodriguez Jr. is a running back and T.J. Hockenson a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.
Byes and availability
Chris Rodriguez Jr. is off in Week 7 and T.J. Hockenson in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.
What would change the answer
Chris Rodriguez Jr. has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.
Both players in full
Week 8 on the board
- Is Chris Rodriguez Jr. playing Week 8?
- Is T.J. Hockenson playing Week 8?
- Jaguars depth chart
- Vikings depth chart
- Week 8 RB rankings
- Week 8 TE rankings
- Week 8 fantasy rankings
- Week 8 start or sit
- Week 8 waiver wire
- Week 8 trade value chart
- Trade deadline buy low, sell high
- Fantasy football rankings
- Start 'em sit 'em Week 8
- Waiver wire pickups
- Fantasy sleepers
- Rest of season rankings
- Week 8 kicker rankings
- Week 8 defense rankings
