Should I start Tyjae Spears or Nico Collins in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Tyjae Spears, and the board ranks him 135th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Nico Collins, and the board ranks him 136th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Tyjae Spears is 1.1 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 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-based projection for Nico Collins is 3.5 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.

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

This season through Week 6

Through Week 6, Tyjae Spears has been on the field for 42 percent of TEN snaps, taken 14 percent of the carries, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 48 third down targets, had 0 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 30 two minute targets.

His 17 targets have come 2.7 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 4 against BAL he carried 2 times for 7 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for -1 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against HOU he carried 2 times for 0 yards, caught 9 of 9 targets for 28 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against IND he carried 1 time for 1 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 7 yards and did not score.

Through Week 6, Nico Collins has been on the field for 71 percent of HOU snaps, drawn 23 percent of the targets and had 16 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 26 third down targets, had 0 of its 8 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 20 two minute targets.

His 30 targets have averaged 12.9 air yards.

In Week 4 against DAL he caught 7 of 8 targets for 118 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 5 against TEN he caught 5 of 7 targets for 56 yards and did not score.

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

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Tyjae Spears played 13 games and scored 111.7 PPR points, 8.6 a game, finishing RB44.

He carried 72 times for 283 yards and 2 touchdowns, and caught 45 of 50 targets for 264 more yards.

That came to 5-6 carries a game at 3.9 yards a carry and 3-4 catches a game.

He was on the field for 46 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 Tyjae Spears 8.6, 6.5 a game between them.

Tyjae Spears finished RB44 and Nico Collins WR8, which are two different ladders.

Tyjae Spears is a running back 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

Tyjae Spears is off in Week 9 and Nico Collins in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.