Should I start Deshaun Watson or Troy Franklin in Week 7?

Updated Oct 21, 2:36 PM ET. Week 8 answers post Tuesday.

Start Deshaun Watson: 100 percent of the snaps and 0 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against Troy Franklin's 55 percent of the snaps and 4 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.

Should I drop Troy Franklin for Deshaun Watson?

Yes, on the rest of the season. Deshaun Watson projects 161 market-implied PPR points from Week 7 through Week 17 (16.1 a game over 10 games), Troy Franklin 42 (4.2 a game over 10 games).

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Your next move

More fantasy football tools and rankings, all built from the same board.

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

Deshaun Watson

QB24 · CLE · bye 11

2026 vs pass yds line 3-3

Overall rank: 143

Troy Franklin

WR48 · DEN · bye 10

2026 vs anytime td line 0-6

Market-based projection: 4.0 pts a game

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The gap

Board size309 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 Deshaun Watson, and the board ranks him 143rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Troy Franklin, and the board ranks him 144th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Deshaun Watson is 13.1 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 14 market sources. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Troy Franklin's market-based projection is 4.0 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 9 market sources. That is the 123rd highest figure of the 207 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season through Week 6

Through Week 6, Deshaun Watson has been on the field for 100 percent of CLE snaps, dropped back 220 times and thrown 7.3 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 46 of 220 dropbacks and scrambled 22 times.

In Week 4 against PIT he completed 24 of 33 passes for 268 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 5 times for 24 yards.

In Week 5 against NYJ he completed 15 of 33 passes for 155 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 6 times for 40 yards.

In Week 6 against BAL he completed 16 of 26 passes for 164 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 8 times for 29 yards.

Through Week 6, Troy Franklin has been on the field for 39 percent of DEN snaps, drawn 4 percent of the targets and had 5 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 50 third down targets, had 0 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 22 two minute targets.

His 7 targets have averaged 12.1 air yards.

In Week 4 against SF he was not given the ball.

In Week 5 against LAC he caught 2 of 2 targets for 16 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against SEA he caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

The season feed carries no line for Deshaun Watson in the last completed season.

In 2025 Troy Franklin played 17 games and scored 177.1 PPR points, 10.4 a game, finishing WR31.

He caught 65 of 104 targets for 709 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 18 red zone targets.

That came to 6.1 targets a game, a 63 percent catch rate and 10.9 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 60 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Side by side

Deshaun Watson is a quarterback and Troy Franklin a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Deshaun Watson is off in Week 11 and Troy Franklin in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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

Drop or keep

Should I drop Troy Franklin for Deshaun Watson?
Yes, on the rest of the season. Deshaun Watson projects 161 market-implied PPR points from Week 7 through Week 17 (16.1 a game over 10 games), Troy Franklin 42 (4.2 a game over 10 games).
Should I drop Deshaun Watson for Troy Franklin?
No. Keep Deshaun Watson: he projects 161 market-implied PPR points from Week 7 through Week 17 (16.1 a game over 10 games), Troy Franklin 42 (4.2 a game over 10 games).