Should I start T.J. Hockenson or Ja'Kobi Lane in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on T.J. Hockenson, and the board ranks him 128th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Ja'Kobi Lane, and the board ranks him 130th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market has T.J. Hockenson at 2.0 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 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 Ja'Kobi Lane is 1.7 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.

T.J. Hockenson's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 5, T.J. Hockenson has been on the field for 60 percent of MIN snaps, drawn 21 percent of the targets and had 15 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 10 of the offence's 51 third down targets, had 0 of its 2 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 13 two minute targets.

His 27 targets have averaged 6.6 air yards.

In Week 3 against TB he caught 2 of 4 targets for 11 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against MIA he caught 13 of 13 targets for 119 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against NO he caught 1 of 1 target for 7 yards and did not score.

Through Week 6, Ja'Kobi Lane has been on the field for 46 percent of BAL snaps, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 15 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 5 of the offence's 19 third down targets, had 1 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 10 two minute targets.

His 8 targets have averaged 10.8 air yards.

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

In Week 6 against CLE he caught 4 of 5 targets for 40 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 T.J. Hockenson played 15 games and scored 112.8 PPR points, 7.5 a game, finishing TE26.

He caught 51 of 66 targets for 438 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets.

That came to 4.4 targets a game, a 77 percent catch rate and 8.6 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 79 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Ja'Kobi Lane is a rookie, so there is no NFL season behind him to price him against.

Side by side

T.J. Hockenson is a tight end and Ja'Kobi Lane a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

T.J. Hockenson is off in Week 6 and Ja'Kobi Lane in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

T.J. Hockenson is listed as out on the injury report.