Should I start Rashod Bateman or Jake Ferguson in Week 8?

The market-based projections

Rashod Bateman's market-based projection is 6.5 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 113th highest figure of the 209 players with a market-based projection.

Jake Ferguson's market-based projection is 6.3 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 8 market sources. That is the 114th highest figure of the 209 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rashod Bateman, and the board ranks him 130th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Jake Ferguson, and the board ranks him 132nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Rashod Bateman has been on the field for 70 percent of BAL snaps, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 56 third down targets, had 1 of its 25 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 44 two minute targets.

His 26 targets have averaged 14.0 air yards.

In Week 5 against ATL he caught 5 of 6 targets for 62 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against CLE he caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CIN he caught 2 of 4 targets for 33 yards and did not score.

Through Week 7, Jake Ferguson has been on the field for 66 percent of DAL snaps, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 63 third down targets, had 1 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 6 of its 48 two minute targets.

His 25 targets have averaged 5.0 air yards.

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.

In Week 7 against PHI he caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Rashod Bateman played 13 games and scored 55.4 PPR points, 4.3 a game, finishing WR102.

He caught 19 of 38 targets for 224 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets.

That came to 2.9 targets a game, a 50 percent catch rate and 11.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 69 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Jake Ferguson was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Jake Ferguson scored 11.1 PPR points a game and Rashod Bateman 4.3, 6.8 a game between them.

Rashod Bateman finished WR102 and Jake Ferguson TE5, which are two different ladders.

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

Byes and availability

Rashod Bateman is off in Week 13 and Jake Ferguson in Week 14, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

0.2 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.