Should I start Pat Freiermuth or George Pickens in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Pat Freiermuth, and the board ranks him 88th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on George Pickens, and the board ranks him 90th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Pat Freiermuth is 5.2 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.

The market-based projection for George Pickens is 3.4 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.

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

This season through Week 7

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.

Through Week 7, George Pickens has been on the field for 82 percent of DAL snaps, drawn 22 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 22 of the offence's 63 third down targets, had 3 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 11 of its 48 two minute targets.

His 58 targets have averaged 11.1 air yards.

In Week 5 against TB he caught 9 of 13 targets for 130 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against GB he caught 6 of 11 targets for 73 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against PHI he caught 4 of 6 targets for 57 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025 George Pickens played 17 games and scored 291.9 PPR points, 17.2 a game, finishing WR5.

He caught 93 of 137 targets for 1429 yards and 9 touchdowns, with 21 red zone targets.

That came to 8.1 targets a game, a 68 percent catch rate and 15.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 83 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 George Pickens scored 17.2 PPR points a game and Pat Freiermuth 6.7, 10.5 a game between them.

Pat Freiermuth finished TE25 and George Pickens WR5, which are two different ladders.

Pat Freiermuth is a tight end and George Pickens a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Pat Freiermuth is off in Week 9 and George Pickens in Week 14, so either can cover the other's bye.