Should I start Tyler Higbee or Eli Raridon in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Tyler Higbee, and the board ranks him 115th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Eli Raridon, and the board ranks him 117th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Tyler Higbee is 2.4 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a tight end's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Eli Raridon is 2.4 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 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.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Tyler Higbee has been on the field for 62 percent of LAR snaps, drawn 11 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 66 third down targets, had 1 of its 21 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 39 two minute targets.

His 34 targets have averaged 7.9 air yards.

In Week 6 against ARI he caught 4 of 4 targets for 22 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against LV he caught 2 of 3 targets for 14 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against LAC he caught 1 of 2 targets for 14 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, Eli Raridon has been on the field for 56 percent of NE snaps, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 10 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 50 third down targets, had 2 of its 8 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 30 two minute targets.

His 20 targets have averaged 7.2 air yards.

In Week 6 against NYJ he caught 1 of 3 targets for 11 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CHI he caught 3 of 4 targets for 56 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against MIA he caught 1 of 4 targets for 5 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Tyler Higbee played 10 games and scored 71.1 PPR points, 7.1 a game, finishing TE40.

He caught 25 of 36 targets for 281 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets.

That came to 3.6 targets a game, a 69 percent catch rate and 11.2 yards a catch.

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

Eli Raridon is a rookie, so there is no NFL season behind him to price him against.

Head to head

This season Tyler Higbee holds the bigger snap share, 62 percent against 56 percent.

This season Tyler Higbee holds the bigger target share, 11 percent against 10 percent.

Byes and availability

Both are off in Week 11, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.