Should I start Michael Mayer or Nico Collins in Week 10?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Michael Mayer, and the board ranks him 116th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Nico Collins, and the board ranks him 117th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Michael Mayer's market-based projection is 5.7 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 10 market sources. That is the 88th highest figure of the 212 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Nico Collins is 2.4 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.

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

This season through Week 9

Through Week 9, Michael Mayer has been on the field for 81 percent of LV snaps, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 8 of the offence's 84 third down targets, had 2 of its 27 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 43 two minute targets.

His 46 targets have averaged 5.2 air yards.

In Week 7 against LAR he caught 3 of 3 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against NYJ he caught 5 of 6 targets for 53 yards and did not score.

In Week 9 against SF he caught 3 of 3 targets for 37 yards and did not score.

Through Week 9, Nico Collins has been on the field for 71 percent of HOU snaps, drawn 20 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 9 of the offence's 45 third down targets, had 0 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 36 two minute targets.

His 39 targets have averaged 12.0 air yards.

In Week 6 against JAX he carried 1 time for 5 yards, caught 3 of 5 targets for 74 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against NYG he caught 2 of 5 targets for 6 yards and did not score.

In Week 9 against LAC he caught 4 of 4 targets for 55 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 Nico Collins played 15 games and scored 226.2 PPR points, 15.1 a game, finishing WR8.

He caught 71 of 120 targets for 1117 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 16 red zone targets.

That came to 8.0 targets a game, a 59 percent catch rate and 15.7 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 77 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Nico Collins was available for 2 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Nico Collins scored 15.1 PPR points a game and Michael Mayer 5.7, 9.4 a game between them.

Michael Mayer finished TE38 and Nico Collins WR8, which are two different ladders.

Michael Mayer is a tight end and Nico Collins 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 Nico Collins in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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