Should I start Patrick Mahomes or Michael Mayer in Week 7?

The market-based projections

Patrick Mahomes's market-based projection is 16.3 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 28th highest figure of the 201 players with a market-based projection.

Michael Mayer's market-based projection is 7.9 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 9 market sources. That is the 91st highest figure of the 201 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Patrick Mahomes, and the board ranks him 104th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Michael Mayer, and the board ranks him 103rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 6

Through Week 6, Patrick Mahomes has been on the field for 100 percent of KC snaps, dropped back 174 times and thrown 6.3 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 24 of 174 dropbacks and scrambled 10 times.

In Week 3 against MIA he completed 20 of 24 passes for 246 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

In Week 4 against LV he completed 15 of 30 passes for 225 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

In Week 6 against LAC he completed 23 of 30 passes for 272 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 3 times for 19 yards.

Through Week 6, Michael Mayer has been on the field for 81 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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Patrick Mahomes played 14 games and scored 296.7 PPR points, 21.2 a game, finishing QB11.

He threw for 3587 yards on 502 attempts with 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and ran for 422 yards and 5 touchdowns.

That came to 35.9 attempts a game at 7.1 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 97 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Patrick Mahomes was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Patrick Mahomes scored 21.2 PPR points a game and Michael Mayer 5.7, 15.5 a game between them.

Patrick Mahomes finished QB11 and Michael Mayer TE38, which are two different ladders.

Patrick Mahomes is a quarterback and Michael Mayer a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Patrick Mahomes is off in Week 5 and Michael Mayer in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

8.4 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.