Should I start Michael Mayer or Jaylin Noel in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Michael Mayer, and the board ranks him 138th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Jaylin Noel, and the board ranks him 140th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Michael Mayer is 1.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. 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 Jaylin Noel is 1.4 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 6

Through Week 6, Michael Mayer has been on the field for 82 percent of LV snaps, drawn 16 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 61 third down targets, had 1 of its 15 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 36 two minute targets.

His 34 targets have averaged 4.5 air yards.

In Week 4 against KC he caught 8 of 10 targets for 82 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against NE he caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

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

Through Week 6, Jaylin Noel has been on the field for 46 percent of HOU snaps, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 46 third down targets, had 0 of its 10 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 35 two minute targets.

His 21 targets have averaged 11.0 air yards.

In Week 4 against DAL he carried 1 time for 4 yards, caught 3 of 3 targets for 85 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against TEN he carried 1 time for 1 yards, caught 5 of 5 targets for 41 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against JAX he caught 4 of 4 targets for 107 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025 Jaylin Noel played 17 games and scored 68.4 PPR points, 4.0 a game, finishing WR91.

He caught 26 of 35 targets for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 5 red zone targets.

That came to 2.1 targets a game, a 74 percent catch rate and 11.2 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 27 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Jaylin Noel was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Michael Mayer scored 5.7 PPR points a game and Jaylin Noel 4.0, 1.7 a game between them.

Michael Mayer finished TE38 and Jaylin Noel WR91, which are two different ladders.

Michael Mayer is a tight end and Jaylin Noel a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

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