Should I start Jaylin Noel or Darren Waller in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Jaylin Noel, and the board ranks him 145th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darren Waller, and the board ranks him 147th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Jaylin Noel is 1.4 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Darren Waller is 1.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 3 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.

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

This season through Week 6

Through Week 6, Jaylin Noel has been on the field for 46 percent of HOU snaps, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 46 third down targets, had 0 of its 10 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 35 two minute targets.

His 21 targets have averaged 11.0 air yards.

In Week 4 against DAL he carried 1 time for 4 yards, caught 3 of 3 targets for 85 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against TEN he carried 1 time for 1 yards, caught 5 of 5 targets for 41 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against JAX he caught 4 of 4 targets for 107 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 6, Darren Waller has been on the field for 46 percent of CAR snaps, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 40 third down targets, had 0 of its 11 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 29 two minute targets.

His 21 targets have averaged 8.8 air yards.

In Week 3 against CLE he caught 5 of 8 targets for 51 yards and did not score.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Jaylin Noel played 17 games and scored 68.4 PPR points, 4.0 a game, finishing WR91.

He caught 26 of 35 targets for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 5 red zone targets.

That came to 2.1 targets a game, a 74 percent catch rate and 11.2 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 27 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Jaylin Noel was available for 8 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Darren Waller scored 9.9 PPR points a game and Jaylin Noel 4.0, 5.8 a game between them.

Jaylin Noel finished WR91 and Darren Waller TE33, which are two different ladders.

Jaylin Noel is a wide receiver and Darren Waller a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Jaylin Noel is off in Week 8 and Darren Waller in Week 5, so either can cover the other's bye.