Jonathon Brooks or Darren Waller: who should I start?

What the sportsbooks price

The player markets price Jonathon Brooks at 5.8 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 16 books. That is the 162nd highest figure of the 183 players the books 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 183 players the books price.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Jonathon Brooks: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 143rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 108.

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

This season through Week 1

Through Week 1, Jonathon Brooks has been on the field for 19 percent of CAR snaps, taken 18 percent of the carries, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

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

His 2 targets have averaged 15.0 air yards.

In Week 1 against CHI he carried 4 times for 14 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 48 yards and did not score.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

The season feed carries no line for Jonathon Brooks in the last completed season.

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.

Side by side

Jonathon Brooks is a running back 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

Both are off in Week 5, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.

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.