Should I start Rashod Bateman or DK Metcalf in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rashod Bateman, and the board ranks him 50th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on DK Metcalf, and the board ranks him 122nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Rashod Bateman's market-based projection is 6.7 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 10 market sources. That is the 67th highest figure of the 200 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for DK Metcalf is 2.0 PPR points a game off 1 market across 2 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Rashod Bateman has been on the field for 70 percent of BAL snaps, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 56 third down targets, had 1 of its 25 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 44 two minute targets.

His 26 targets have averaged 14.0 air yards.

In Week 5 against ATL he caught 5 of 6 targets for 62 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against CLE he caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CIN he caught 2 of 4 targets for 33 yards and did not score.

Through Week 7, DK Metcalf has been on the field for 95 percent of PIT snaps, drawn 24 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 19 of the offence's 58 third down targets, had 1 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 41 two minute targets.

His 58 targets have averaged 12.7 air yards.

In Week 5 against IND he carried 1 time for 11 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 12 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against TB he caught 11 of 15 targets for 93 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against NO he caught 2 of 6 targets for 56 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Rashod Bateman played 13 games and scored 55.4 PPR points, 4.3 a game, finishing WR102.

He caught 19 of 38 targets for 224 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets.

That came to 2.9 targets a game, a 50 percent catch rate and 11.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 69 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 DK Metcalf played 15 games and scored 187.2 PPR points, 12.5 a game, finishing WR26.

He caught 59 of 99 targets for 850 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 13 red zone targets.

That came to 6.6 targets a game, a 60 percent catch rate and 14.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 87 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

DK Metcalf was available for 2 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 DK Metcalf scored 12.5 PPR points a game and Rashod Bateman 4.3, 8.2 a game between them.

Rashod Bateman finished WR102 that year and DK Metcalf WR26.

DK Metcalf had 61 more targets than Rashod Bateman, 99 to 38.

DK Metcalf had 626 more receiving yards than Rashod Bateman, 850 to 224.

This season DK Metcalf holds the bigger snap share, 95 percent against 70 percent.

This season DK Metcalf holds the bigger target share, 24 percent against 13 percent.

Byes and availability

Rashod Bateman is off in Week 13 and DK Metcalf in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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