Should I start Darren Waller or DK Metcalf in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darren Waller, and the board ranks him 57th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on DK Metcalf, and the board ranks him 158th 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 68th highest figure of the 200 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for DK Metcalf is 1.2 PPR points a game off 1 market across 2 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

DK Metcalf'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, DK Metcalf has been on the field for 95 percent of PIT snaps, drawn 24 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 19 of the offence's 58 third down targets, had 1 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 41 two minute targets.

His 58 targets have averaged 12.7 air yards.

In Week 5 against IND he carried 1 time for 11 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 12 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against TB he caught 11 of 15 targets for 93 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against NO he caught 2 of 6 targets for 56 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 DK Metcalf played 15 games and scored 187.2 PPR points, 12.5 a game, finishing WR26.

He caught 59 of 99 targets for 850 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 13 red zone targets.

That came to 6.6 targets a game, a 60 percent catch rate and 14.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 87 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

DK Metcalf was available for 6 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 DK Metcalf scored 12.5 PPR points a game and Darren Waller 9.9, 2.6 a game between them.

Darren Waller finished TE33 and DK Metcalf WR26, which are two different ladders.

Darren Waller is a tight end and DK Metcalf a wide receiver, 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 DK Metcalf in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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