Should I start Tee Higgins or John Metchie III in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Tee Higgins, and the board ranks him 41st overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on John Metchie III, and the board ranks him 47th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Tee Higgins is 3.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 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.

John Metchie III's market-based projection is 3.7 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 56th highest figure of the 198 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Tee Higgins has been on the field for 78 percent of CIN snaps, drawn 23 percent of the targets and had 5 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 12 of the offence's 53 third down targets, had 0 of its 15 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 36 two minute targets.

His 50 targets have averaged 14.2 air yards.

In Week 4 against JAX he caught 11 of 16 targets for 157 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against MIA he caught 2 of 4 targets for 22 yards and did not score.

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

Through Week 7, John Metchie III has been on the field for 46 percent of CAR snaps, drawn 14 percent of the targets and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 3 third down targets, had 0 of its 1 chance inside the five and seen 0 of its 1 two minute target.

His 4 targets have averaged 5.3 air yards.

In Week 7 against TB he caught 2 of 4 targets for 20 yards and did not score.

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 John Metchie III played 16 games and scored 71.9 PPR points, 4.5 a game, finishing WR87.

He caught 33 of 48 targets for 274 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 5 red zone targets.

That came to 3.0 targets a game, a 69 percent catch rate and 8.3 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 43 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

John Metchie III was available for 1 game more.

Head to head

In 2025 Tee Higgins scored 14.1 PPR points a game and John Metchie III 4.5, 9.6 a game between them.

Tee Higgins finished WR15 that year and John Metchie III WR87.

Tee Higgins had 50 more targets than John Metchie III, 98 to 48.

Tee Higgins had 572 more receiving yards than John Metchie III, 846 to 274.

This season Tee Higgins holds the bigger snap share, 78 percent against 46 percent.

This season Tee Higgins holds the bigger target share, 23 percent against 14 percent.

Byes and availability

Tee Higgins is off in Week 6 and John Metchie III in Week 5, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

Tee Higgins has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.