Should I start Denzel Boston or Michael Mayer in Week 10?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Denzel Boston, and the board ranks him 114th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Michael Mayer, and the board ranks him 131st overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Denzel Boston is 1.8 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.

Michael Mayer's market-based projection is 5.8 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 10 market sources. That is the 71st highest figure of the 210 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season through Week 9

Through Week 9, Denzel Boston has been on the field for 91 percent of CLE snaps, drawn 22 percent of the targets and had 16 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 20 of the offence's 69 third down targets, had 2 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 12 of its 56 two minute targets.

His 60 targets have averaged 14.5 air yards.

In Week 7 against TEN he caught 3 of 8 targets for 27 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against PIT he caught 6 of 11 targets for 37 yards and did not score.

In Week 9 against NO he caught 6 of 7 targets for 98 yards and did not score.

Through Week 9, Michael Mayer has been on the field for 81 percent of LV snaps, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 8 of the offence's 84 third down targets, had 2 of its 27 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 43 two minute targets.

His 46 targets have averaged 5.2 air yards.

In Week 7 against LAR he caught 3 of 3 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against NYJ he caught 5 of 6 targets for 53 yards and did not score.

In Week 9 against SF he caught 3 of 3 targets for 37 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

Denzel Boston is a rookie, so there is no NFL season behind him to price him against.

In 2025 Michael Mayer played 13 games and scored 73.8 PPR points, 5.7 a game, finishing TE38.

He caught 35 of 50 targets for 328 yards and 1 touchdown, with 6 red zone targets.

That came to 3.8 targets a game, a 70 percent catch rate and 9.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 57 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Side by side

Denzel Boston is a wide receiver and Michael Mayer a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Denzel Boston is off in Week 11 and Michael Mayer in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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