Should I start Kenny Gainwell or T.J. Hockenson in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kenny Gainwell, and the board ranks him 132nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on T.J. Hockenson, and the board ranks him 133rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Kenny Gainwell is 1.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 2 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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.

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

This season so far

Through Week 6, Kenny Gainwell has been on the field for 36 percent of TB snaps, taken 12 percent of the carries, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 10 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 53 third down targets, had 0 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 41 two minute targets.

His 17 targets have come 2.3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 4 against GB he carried 3 times for 5 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 22 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against DAL he carried 4 times for 18 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 10 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against PIT he carried 2 times for 17 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 7 yards and did not score.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Kenny Gainwell played 17 games and scored 222.3 PPR points, 13.1 a game, finishing RB16.

He carried 114 times for 537 yards and 5 touchdowns, and caught 73 of 85 targets for 486 more yards.

That came to 6.7 carries a game at 4.7 yards a carry and 4.3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 49 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Kenny Gainwell was available for 2 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Kenny Gainwell scored 13.1 PPR points a game and T.J. Hockenson 7.5, 5.6 a game between them.

Kenny Gainwell finished RB16 and T.J. Hockenson TE26, which are two different ladders.

Kenny Gainwell is a running back and T.J. Hockenson a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Kenny Gainwell is off in Week 10 and T.J. Hockenson in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.

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