Start Jake Ferguson or AJ Barner? Week 8

Our Week 8 call

Start Jake Ferguson over AJ Barner in Week 8.

Market-based projections have Jake Ferguson at 6.8 points and AJ Barner at 6.6, a gap of 0.2. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Jake Ferguson this week yet, so his 6.8 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 5, 6 and 7 (6.9, 7.5 and 6.1); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for AJ Barner this week yet, so his 6.6 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 5, 6 and 7 (6.0, 7.0 and 7.0); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 8 player market is posted for Jake Ferguson yet. His market-based projections were 6.9, 7.6 and 6.1 points in Weeks 5, 6 and 7, an average of 6.8, which stands in until his Week 8 market posts.

No Week 8 player market is posted for AJ Barner yet. His market-based projections were 6.0, 7.0 and 7.0 points in Weeks 5, 6 and 7, an average of 6.6, which stands in until his Week 8 market posts.

The market-based projection for AJ Barner is 0.3 touchdowns (8 market sources).

That puts Jake Ferguson 0.2 points ahead of AJ Barner on these projections.

Week 8 matchups

Jake Ferguson and DAL host ARI on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

ARI allowed 16.6 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 7th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 60 yards and 0.7 touchdowns a game against ARI.

AJ Barner and SEA host CHI on Monday at 8:15 PM ET.

CHI allowed 13.1 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 16th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 57 yards and 0.4 touchdowns a game against CHI.

By points allowed to the position, Jake Ferguson has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Jake Ferguson is not on the injury report.

AJ Barner is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 8

Through Week 7, Jake Ferguson played 66 percent of DAL snaps, drew 9 percent of the targets, earned 6 percent of the air yards and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

Jake Ferguson, Week 4 against HOU: 55 of 78 snaps, 4 targets and 3 catches for 11 yards.

Jake Ferguson, Week 5 against TB: 50 of 60 snaps, 6 targets and 3 catches for 19 yards.

Jake Ferguson, Week 6 against GB: 42 of 78 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 13 yards.

Jake Ferguson, Week 7 against PHI: 38 of 68 snaps, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Through Week 7, AJ Barner played 88 percent of SEA snaps, drew 13 percent of the targets, earned 4 percent of the air yards and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

AJ Barner, Week 4 against LAC: 54 of 60 snaps, 3 targets and 1 catch for 12 yards.

AJ Barner, Week 5 against SF: 60 of 63 snaps, 5 targets and 3 catches for 20 yards.

AJ Barner, Week 6 against DEN: 79 of 85 snaps, 4 targets and 3 catches for 16 yards.

AJ Barner, Week 7 against KC: 55 of 69 snaps, 3 carries for 4 yards, 5 targets and 4 catches for 42 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Jake Ferguson played 17 games for DAL and scored 188.1 PPR points, 11.1 a game, finishing TE5.

He caught 82 of 102 targets for 600 yards and 8 touchdowns, with 23 red zone targets and 293 air yards.

He was on the field for 67 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, AJ Barner played 17 games for SEA and scored 147.3 PPR points, 8.7 a game, finishing TE14.

He caught 52 of 68 targets for 519 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 12 red zone targets and 248 air yards.

He was on the field for 78 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 8 calls

• Start Jake Ferguson over Brenton Strange.
• Start Cade Otton over Jake Ferguson.
• Start Jake Ferguson over Chig Okonkwo.
• Start Cade Otton over AJ Barner.
• Start AJ Barner over Chig Okonkwo.
• Start AJ Barner over Colby Parkinson.