Should I start Denzel Boston or Patrick Mahomes in Week 6?

Updated Oct 18, 9:51 PM ET. Week 7 answers post Tuesday.

Start Patrick Mahomes: 100 percent of the snaps and 0 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against Denzel Boston's 92 percent of the snaps and 19 percent of the targets. No market projection is posted on either of them this week, so this is a usage call, and a lower confidence one than a call made on a projection. What follows is what each of them has done.

Your next move

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Both players' season market-based projection, their usage this season and their last full season's numbers.

Denzel Boston

WR32 · CLE · bye 11

2026 vs anytime td line 3-3

Market-based projection: 10.6 pts a game Wk 6 price
Overall rank: 79

Patrick Mahomes

QB10 · KC · bye 5

2026 vs pass yds line 3-2

Market-based projection: 16.8 pts a game

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The gap

Board size330 draftable players

Draft data is not current for these two, so the figures that depend on it are left out. The call above comes from each player's usage.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Denzel Boston, and the board ranks him 79th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Patrick Mahomes, and the board ranks him 80th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

No season market is posted for Denzel Boston, so the only market valuing him on this page is the draft room.

Patrick Mahomes's market-based projection is 16.8 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 16th highest figure of the 77 players with a market-based projection.

This season so far

Through Week 5, Denzel Boston has been on the field for 92 percent of CLE snaps, drawn 20 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 11 of the offence's 35 third down targets, had 0 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 22 two minute targets.

His 29 targets have averaged 16.4 air yards.

In Week 3 against CAR he caught 2 of 4 targets for 41 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against PIT he caught 4 of 7 targets for 89 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against NYJ he caught 3 of 7 targets for 46 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 4, Patrick Mahomes has been on the field for 100 percent of KC snaps, dropped back 142 times and thrown 7.0 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 21 of 142 dropbacks and scrambled 8 times.

In Week 2 against IND he completed 32 of 47 passes for 382 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 17 yards.

In Week 3 against MIA he completed 20 of 24 passes for 246 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

In Week 4 against LV he completed 15 of 30 passes for 225 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

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

In 2025 Patrick Mahomes played 14 games and scored 296.7 PPR points, 21.2 a game, finishing QB11.

He threw for 3587 yards on 502 attempts with 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and ran for 422 yards and 5 touchdowns.

That came to 35.9 attempts a game at 7.1 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 97 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Side by side

Denzel Boston is a wide receiver and Patrick Mahomes a quarterback, 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 Patrick Mahomes in Week 5, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

Denzel Boston has no posted market, so one half of the evidence on this page exists for only one of them.