Should I start T.J. Hockenson or Tyler Higbee in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on T.J. Hockenson, and the board ranks him 129th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Tyler Higbee, and the board ranks him 138th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market has T.J. Hockenson at 2.0 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 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.

The market-based projection for Tyler Higbee is 1.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 3 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.

T.J. Hockenson's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

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.

Through Week 6, Tyler Higbee has been on the field for 57 percent of LAR snaps, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 53 third down targets, had 1 of its 16 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 33 two minute targets.

His 29 targets have averaged 7.6 air yards.

In Week 4 against PHI he caught 5 of 6 targets for 67 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against BUF he caught 5 of 6 targets for 83 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against ARI he caught 4 of 4 targets for 22 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025 Tyler Higbee played 10 games and scored 71.1 PPR points, 7.1 a game, finishing TE40.

He caught 25 of 36 targets for 281 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets.

That came to 3.6 targets a game, a 69 percent catch rate and 11.2 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 54 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

T.J. Hockenson was available for 5 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 T.J. Hockenson scored 7.5 PPR points a game and Tyler Higbee 7.1, 0.4 a game between them.

T.J. Hockenson finished TE26 that year and Tyler Higbee TE40.

T.J. Hockenson had 30 more targets than Tyler Higbee, 66 to 36.

T.J. Hockenson had 157 more receiving yards than Tyler Higbee, 438 to 281.

This season T.J. Hockenson holds the bigger snap share, 60 percent against 57 percent.

This season T.J. Hockenson holds the bigger target share, 21 percent against 12 percent.

Byes and availability

T.J. Hockenson is off in Week 6 and Tyler Higbee in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.

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