Should I start Jake Ferguson or Jalen Royals in Week 7?

The market-based projections

Jake Ferguson's market-based projection is 6.3 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 127th highest figure of the 206 players with a market-based projection.

Jalen Royals's market-based projection is 5.8 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 132nd highest figure of the 206 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Jake Ferguson, and the board ranks him 150th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

This season through Week 6

Through Week 6, Jake Ferguson has been on the field for 68 percent of DAL snaps, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 56 third down targets, had 1 of its 24 chances inside the five and seen 6 of its 41 two minute targets.

His 24 targets have averaged 4.9 air yards.

In Week 4 against HOU he caught 3 of 4 targets for 11 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against TB he caught 3 of 6 targets for 19 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against GB he caught 2 of 3 targets for 13 yards and did not score.

Through Week 6, Jalen Royals has been on the field for 42 percent of KC snaps, drawn 7 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 32 third down targets, had 2 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 15 two minute targets.

His 9 targets have averaged 5.3 air yards.

In Week 3 against MIA he caught 1 of 1 target for 11 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against LV he caught 0 of 2 targets for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against LAC he caught 2 of 4 targets for 24 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Jake Ferguson played 17 games and scored 188.1 PPR points, 11.1 a game, finishing TE5.

He caught 82 of 102 targets for 600 yards and 8 touchdowns, with 23 red zone targets.

That came to 6.0 targets a game, a 80 percent catch rate and 7.3 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 67 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Jalen Royals played 7 games and scored 2.4 PPR points, 0.3 a game.

He caught 2 of 3 targets for 4 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 0 red zone targets.

That came to 0.4 targets a game, a 67 percent catch rate and 2.0 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 9 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Jake Ferguson was available for 10 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Jake Ferguson scored 11.1 PPR points a game and Jalen Royals 0.3, 10.7 a game between them.

Jake Ferguson is a tight end and Jalen Royals a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Jake Ferguson is off in Week 14. No bye is listed for Jalen Royals.

What would change the answer

0.5 points a game is the entire case. The market restates it every week, and a line that moves moves the order with it.

The draft market is the half that is missing: when live drafts hold these two again they can order them differently from the projection, and this page will follow the drafts rather than the market-based projection when they do.