Should I start Matthew Golden or Ja'Marr Chase in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Matthew Golden, and the board ranks him 16th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Ja'Marr Chase, and the board ranks him 72nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 5.

The market-based projections

Matthew Golden's market-based projection is 15.1 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 19th highest figure of the 182 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Ja'Marr Chase is 3.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 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.

Ja'Marr Chase's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 6, Matthew Golden has been on the field for 83 percent of GB snaps, drawn 26 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 22 of the offence's 64 third down targets, had 1 of its 15 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 32 two minute targets.

His 57 targets have averaged 14.3 air yards.

In Week 4 against TB he carried 1 time for 6 yards, caught 3 of 7 targets for 21 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against CHI he caught 6 of 7 targets for 123 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against DAL he caught 6 of 13 targets for 104 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 5, Ja'Marr Chase has been on the field for 75 percent of CIN snaps, drawn 20 percent of the targets and had 14 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 9 of the offence's 46 third down targets, had 2 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 33 two minute targets.

His 38 targets have averaged 9.2 air yards.

In Week 3 against PIT he caught 9 of 12 targets for 98 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 4 against JAX he caught 3 of 3 targets for 27 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against MIA he caught 6 of 10 targets for 77 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Matthew Golden played 14 games and scored 70.0 PPR points, 5.0 a game, finishing WR89.

He caught 29 of 44 targets for 361 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 2 red zone targets.

That came to 3.1 targets a game, a 66 percent catch rate and 12.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 50 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Ja'Marr Chase played 16 games and scored 313.6 PPR points, 19.6 a game, finishing WR4.

He caught 125 of 185 targets for 1412 yards and 8 touchdowns, with 21 red zone targets.

That came to 11.6 targets a game, a 68 percent catch rate and 11.3 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 94 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Ja'Marr Chase was available for 2 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Ja'Marr Chase scored 19.6 PPR points a game and Matthew Golden 5.0, 14.6 a game between them.

Matthew Golden finished WR89 that year and Ja'Marr Chase WR4.

Ja'Marr Chase had 141 more targets than Matthew Golden, 185 to 44.

Ja'Marr Chase had 1051 more receiving yards than Matthew Golden, 1412 to 361.

This season Matthew Golden holds the bigger snap share, 83 percent against 75 percent.

This season Matthew Golden holds the bigger target share, 26 percent against 20 percent.

Byes and availability

Matthew Golden is off in Week 11 and Ja'Marr Chase in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

Ja'Marr Chase has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.