Should I start Tee Higgins or J.J. McCarthy in Week 10?

The market-based projections

Tee Higgins's market-based projection is 17.0 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 3 market sources. That is the 7th highest figure of the 207 players with a market-based projection.

J.J. McCarthy's market-based projection is 16.0 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 9th highest figure of the 207 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Tee Higgins, and the board ranks him 10th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on J.J. McCarthy, and the board ranks him 11th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 9

Through Week 9, Tee Higgins has been on the field for 78 percent of CIN snaps, drawn 23 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 17 of the offence's 68 third down targets, had 1 of its 20 chances inside the five and seen 12 of its 47 two minute targets.

His 67 targets have averaged 13.0 air yards.

In Week 7 against BAL he caught 6 of 7 targets for 148 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against TEN he caught 10 of 11 targets for 155 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 9 against ATL he caught 5 of 6 targets for 32 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

Through Week 9, J.J. McCarthy has been on the field for 49 percent of NYG snaps, dropped back 75 times and thrown 11.5 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 15 of 75 dropbacks and scrambled 3 times.

In Week 6 against NO he completed 11 of 17 passes for 243 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 26 yards.

In Week 7 against HOU he completed 20 of 27 passes for 252 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

In Week 9 against PHI he completed 12 of 19 passes for 127 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 3 times for 23 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Tee Higgins played 15 games and scored 211.6 PPR points, 14.1 a game, finishing WR15.

He caught 59 of 98 targets for 846 yards and 11 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets.

That came to 6-7 targets a game, a 60 percent catch rate and 14.3 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 80 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 J.J. McCarthy played 10 games and scored 137.4 PPR points, 13.7 a game, finishing QB30.

He threw for 1632 yards on 243 attempts with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, and ran for 181 yards and 4 touchdowns.

That came to 24.3 attempts a game at 6.7 yards an attempt.

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

Tee Higgins was available for 5 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Tee Higgins scored 14.1 PPR points a game and J.J. McCarthy 13.7, 0.4 a game between them.

Tee Higgins finished WR15 and J.J. McCarthy QB30, which are two different ladders.

Tee Higgins is a wide receiver and J.J. McCarthy a quarterback, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Tee Higgins is off in Week 6. No bye is listed for J.J. McCarthy.

J.J. McCarthy is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

0.9 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.