Darren Waller or Jalen McMillan: who to draft first

What the sportsbooks price

The player markets price Darren Waller at 5.6 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 14 books. That is the 163rd highest figure of the 182 players the books price.

The player markets price Jalen McMillan at 5.4 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 15 books. That is the 164th highest figure of the 182 players the books price.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Darren Waller: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 145th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Jalen McMillan: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 144th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 164.

This season through Week 1

Through Week 1, Darren Waller has been on the field for 35 percent of CAR snaps, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 5 third down targets, had 0 of its 3 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 3 two minute targets.

His 2 targets have averaged 4.0 air yards.

In Week 1 against CHI he caught 2 of 2 targets for 28 yards and did not score.

The usage feed holds no snap or target counts for Jalen McMillan this season.

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 Jalen McMillan played 4 games and scored 29.9 PPR points, 7.5 a game, finishing WR137.

He caught 12 of 15 targets for 178 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 0 red zone targets.

That came to 3.8 targets a game, a 80 percent catch rate and 14.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 52 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Darren Waller was available for 5 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Darren Waller scored 9.9 PPR points a game and Jalen McMillan 7.5, 2.4 a game between them.

Darren Waller finished TE33 and Jalen McMillan WR137, which are two different ladders.

Darren Waller is a tight end and Jalen McMillan 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 Jalen McMillan in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.

Jalen McMillan is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

0.2 points a game is the entire case. The books restate it every week, and a line that moves moves the order with it.

The draft market is the half that is missing: when the consensus sample holds these two again it can order them differently from the price, and this page will follow the sample rather than the books when it does.