Should I start Darren Waller or Josh Downs in Week 10?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darren Waller, and the board ranks him 133rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Josh Downs, and the board ranks him 134th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Darren Waller is 1.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a tight end's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Josh Downs is 1.7 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.

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

This season through Week 9

Through Week 9, Darren Waller has been on the field for 49 percent of CAR snaps, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 15 of the offence's 61 third down targets, had 0 of its 15 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 37 two minute targets.

His 35 targets have averaged 9.7 air yards.

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

In Week 8 against GB he caught 1 of 2 targets for 11 yards and did not score.

In Week 9 against DEN he caught 8 of 10 targets for 90 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 9, Josh Downs has been on the field for 81 percent of IND snaps, drawn 20 percent of the targets and had 10 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 18 of the offence's 73 third down targets, had 0 of its 22 chances inside the five and seen 6 of its 44 two minute targets.

His 57 targets have averaged 9.6 air yards.

In Week 7 against MIN he caught 2 of 4 targets for 18 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against JAX he caught 4 of 5 targets for 23 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 9 against DAL he caught 3 of 6 targets for 24 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 Josh Downs played 16 games and scored 136.4 PPR points, 8.5 a game, finishing WR44.

He caught 58 of 88 targets for 566 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets.

That came to 5-6 targets a game, a 66 percent catch rate and 9.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 58 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Josh Downs was available for 7 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Darren Waller scored 9.9 PPR points a game and Josh Downs 8.5, 1.3 a game between them.

Darren Waller finished TE33 and Josh Downs WR44, which are two different ladders.

Darren Waller is a tight end and Josh Downs 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 Josh Downs in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.