Should I start Isaiah Likely or Michael Mayer in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Isaiah Likely, and the board ranks him 148th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Michael Mayer, and the board ranks him 157th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Isaiah Likely is 1.6 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 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 Michael Mayer is 1.4 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.

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

This season so far

Through Week 7, Isaiah Likely has been on the field for 76 percent of NYG snaps, drawn 27 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 16 of the offence's 61 third down targets, had 2 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 32 two minute targets.

His 63 targets have averaged 8.0 air yards.

In Week 5 against WAS he caught 11 of 13 targets for 94 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 6 against NO he caught 6 of 11 targets for 99 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against HOU he caught 2 of 4 targets for 12 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, Michael Mayer has been on the field for 81 percent of LV snaps, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 77 third down targets, had 2 of its 25 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 43 two minute targets.

His 43 targets have averaged 5.1 air yards.

In Week 6 against BUF he caught 7 of 9 targets for 95 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against LAR he caught 3 of 3 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against NYJ he caught 5 of 6 targets for 53 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Isaiah Likely played 14 games and scored 61.7 PPR points, 4.4 a game, finishing TE45.

He caught 27 of 36 targets for 307 yards and 1 touchdown, with 6 red zone targets.

That came to 2.6 targets a game, a 75 percent catch rate and 11.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 58 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Michael Mayer played 13 games and scored 73.8 PPR points, 5.7 a game, finishing TE38.

He caught 35 of 50 targets for 328 yards and 1 touchdown, with 6 red zone targets.

That came to 3.8 targets a game, a 70 percent catch rate and 9.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 57 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Isaiah Likely was available for 1 game more.

Head to head

In 2025 Michael Mayer scored 5.7 PPR points a game and Isaiah Likely 4.4, 1.3 a game between them.

Isaiah Likely finished TE45 that year and Michael Mayer TE38.

Michael Mayer had 14 more targets than Isaiah Likely, 50 to 36.

Michael Mayer had 21 more receiving yards than Isaiah Likely, 328 to 307.

This season Michael Mayer holds the bigger snap share, 81 percent against 76 percent.

This season Isaiah Likely holds the bigger target share, 27 percent against 15 percent.

Byes and availability

Isaiah Likely is off in Week 8 and Michael Mayer in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.