Should I start Puka Nacua or Evan Engram in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Puka Nacua, and the board ranks him 51st overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 6.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Evan Engram, and the board ranks him 52nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Puka Nacua is 4.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 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.

Evan Engram's market-based projection is 4.7 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 10 market sources. That is the 52nd highest figure of the 212 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Puka Nacua has been on the field for 86 percent of LAR snaps, drawn 34 percent of the targets and had 22 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 20 of the offence's 48 third down targets, had 3 of its 18 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 74 targets have averaged 7.7 air yards.

In Week 6 against ARI he caught 6 of 7 targets for 80 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against LV he carried 2 times for 10 yards, caught 8 of 10 targets for 68 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against LAC he caught 11 of 12 targets for 80 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, Evan Engram has been on the field for 54 percent of DEN snaps, drawn 11 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 9 of the offence's 66 third down targets, had 0 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 25 targets have averaged 5.1 air yards.

In Week 6 against SEA he caught 2 of 2 targets for 13 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against ARI he caught 1 of 3 targets for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against KC he caught 0 of 3 targets for 0 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Puka Nacua played 16 games and scored 375.0 PPR points, 23.4 a game, finishing WR1.

He caught 129 of 166 targets for 1715 yards and 10 touchdowns, with 16 red zone targets.

That came to 10.4 targets a game, a 78 percent catch rate and 13.3 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 68 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Evan Engram played 16 games and scored 102.8 PPR points, 6.4 a game, finishing TE29.

He caught 50 of 76 targets for 461 yards and 1 touchdown, with 10 red zone targets.

That came to 4.8 targets a game, a 66 percent catch rate and 9.2 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 42 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 16 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Puka Nacua scored 23.4 PPR points a game and Evan Engram 6.4, 17.0 a game between them.

Puka Nacua finished WR1 and Evan Engram TE29, which are two different ladders.

Puka Nacua is a wide receiver and Evan Engram a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Puka Nacua is off in Week 11 and Evan Engram in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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