Should I start Darren Waller or Derrick Henry in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darren Waller, and the board ranks him 21st overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Derrick Henry, and the board ranks him 23rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Darren Waller's market-based projection is 5.9 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 23rd highest figure of the 198 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Derrick Henry is 6.4 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.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Darren Waller has been on the field for 46 percent of CAR snaps, drawn 11 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 43 third down targets, had 0 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 30 two minute targets.

His 23 targets have averaged 10.0 air yards.

In Week 4 against DET he caught 3 of 6 targets for 36 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against PHI he caught 0 of 2 targets for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against TB he caught 1 of 2 targets for 50 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 7, Derrick Henry has been on the field for 57 percent of BAL snaps, taken 71 percent of the carries, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 51 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 56 third down targets, had 15 of its 25 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 44 two minute targets.

His 12 targets have come 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 5 against ATL he carried 24 times for 102 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 18 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against CLE he carried 17 times for 58 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CIN he carried 17 times for 45 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 4 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Darren Waller played 9 games and scored 88.7 PPR points, 9.9 a game, finishing TE33.

He caught 24 of 34 targets for 283 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets.

That came to 3.8 targets a game, a 71 percent catch rate and 11.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 45 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Derrick Henry played 17 games and scored 279.5 PPR points, 16.4 a game, finishing RB8.

He carried 307 times for 1595 yards and 16 touchdowns, and caught 15 of 21 targets for 150 more yards.

That came to 18.1 carries a game at 5.2 yards a carry and 0.9 catches a game.

He was on the field for 54 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Derrick Henry was available for 8 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Derrick Henry scored 16.4 PPR points a game and Darren Waller 9.9, 6.6 a game between them.

Darren Waller finished TE33 and Derrick Henry RB8, which are two different ladders.

Darren Waller is a tight end and Derrick Henry a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Darren Waller is off in Week 5 and Derrick Henry in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

Derrick Henry has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.