Should I start Darren Waller or Trey McBride in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darren Waller, and the board ranks him 21st overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Trey McBride, and the board ranks him 39th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 31.

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 23rd highest figure of the 198 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Trey McBride is 3.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 5 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.

Trey McBride'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, Trey McBride has been on the field for 91 percent of ARI snaps, drawn 29 percent of the targets and had 18 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 22 of the offence's 76 third down targets, had 4 of its 24 chances inside the five and seen 13 of its 45 two minute targets.

His 78 targets have averaged 5.9 air yards.

In Week 5 against DET he caught 9 of 10 targets for 66 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against LAR he caught 7 of 9 targets for 53 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against DEN he caught 10 of 13 targets for 111 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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 Trey McBride played 17 games and scored 315.9 PPR points, 18.6 a game, finishing TE1.

He caught 126 of 169 targets for 1239 yards and 11 touchdowns, with 32 red zone targets.

That came to 9.9 targets a game, a 75 percent catch rate and 9.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 91 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Trey McBride was available for 8 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Trey McBride scored 18.6 PPR points a game and Darren Waller 9.9, 8.7 a game between them.

Darren Waller finished TE33 that year and Trey McBride TE1.

Trey McBride had 135 more targets than Darren Waller, 169 to 34.

Trey McBride had 956 more receiving yards than Darren Waller, 1239 to 283.

This season Trey McBride holds the bigger snap share, 91 percent against 46 percent.

This season Trey McBride holds the bigger target share, 29 percent against 11 percent.

Byes and availability

Darren Waller is off in Week 5 and Trey McBride in Week 14, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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