Should I start Derrick Henry or Pat Freiermuth in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Derrick Henry, and the board ranks him 38th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Pat Freiermuth, and the board ranks him 56th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Derrick Henry is 6.1 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Pat Freiermuth is 3.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 2 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.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Derrick Henry has been on the field for 57 percent of BAL snaps, taken 71 percent of the carries, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 51 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 56 third down targets, had 15 of its 25 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 44 two minute targets.

His 12 targets have come 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 5 against ATL he carried 24 times for 102 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 18 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against CLE he carried 17 times for 58 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CIN he carried 17 times for 45 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 4 yards and did not score.

Through Week 7, Pat Freiermuth has been on the field for 67 percent of PIT snaps, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 9 of the offence's 58 third down targets, had 2 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 10 of its 41 two minute targets.

His 33 targets have averaged 8.4 air yards.

In Week 5 against IND he carried 1 time for 1 yards, caught 5 of 7 targets for 44 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 6 against TB he caught 2 of 3 targets for 11 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against NO he caught 2 of 4 targets for 20 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Derrick Henry played 17 games and scored 279.5 PPR points, 16.4 a game, finishing RB8.

He carried 307 times for 1595 yards and 16 touchdowns, and caught 15 of 21 targets for 150 more yards.

That came to 18.1 carries a game at 5.2 yards a carry and 0.9 catches a game.

He was on the field for 54 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Pat Freiermuth played 17 games and scored 113.6 PPR points, 6.7 a game, finishing TE25.

He caught 41 of 54 targets for 486 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 9 red zone targets.

That came to 3.2 targets a game, a 76 percent catch rate and 11.9 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 49 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Derrick Henry scored 16.4 PPR points a game and Pat Freiermuth 6.7, 9.8 a game between them.

Derrick Henry finished RB8 and Pat Freiermuth TE25, which are two different ladders.

Derrick Henry is a running back and Pat Freiermuth a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Derrick Henry is off in Week 13 and Pat Freiermuth in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.