Start Carnell Tate or Alec Pierce? Week 1

Our Week 1 call

Start Carnell Tate over Alec Pierce in Week 1.

De-vigged player props project Carnell Tate at 5.3 points and Alec Pierce at 4.3, a gap of 1.0. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. Drafters take Carnell Tate at ADP 75 and Alec Pierce at 71. Market coverage on Carnell Tate is 70 percent of what his position needs, so the market side of this carries proportionally less weight.

What the books imply

Player prop markets imply 4.3 fantasy points for Alec Pierce, with 40 percent of the markets a WR needs posted.

Player prop markets imply 5.3 fantasy points for Carnell Tate, with 70 percent of the markets a WR needs posted.

That puts Carnell Tate 1.0 points ahead of Alec Pierce on the books.

Week 1 matchups

Alec Pierce and IND host BAL on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

BAL allowed 25.0 fantasy points to WRs in its one game this season, the 12th fewest in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 130 yards and no touchdowns against BAL.

Carnell Tate and TEN host NYJ on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

NYJ allowed 24.4 fantasy points to WRs in its one game this season, the 11th fewest in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 94 yards and a touchdown against NYJ.

By points allowed to the position, Alec Pierce has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Alec Pierce was not on the injury report when the call was made.

Carnell Tate was not on the injury report when the call was made.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Alec Pierce played 15 games for IND and scored 183.3 PPR points, 12.2 a game, finishing WR28.

He caught 47 of 84 targets for 1003 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets and 829 air yards.

He was on the field for 87 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Alec Pierce, Week 18 of 2025 against HOU: 7 targets and 4 catches for 132 yards, 2 touchdowns, 29.2 PPR points.

Alec Pierce, Week 17 of 2025 against JAX: 52 of 57 snaps, 5 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Alec Pierce, Week 16 of 2025 against SF: 58 of 60 snaps, 4 targets and 4 catches for 86 yards, 2 touchdowns, 24.6 PPR points.

How Week 1 went

Carnell Tate scored 7.8 PPR points and Alec Pierce scored 10.1.

The call was wrong: Alec Pierce outscored Carnell Tate by 2.3.

Carnell Tate finished 2.5 points above the 5.3 the props implied.

Carnell Tate, Week 1 against NYJ: 44 of 50 snaps, 6 targets and 4 catches for 38 yards, 7.8 PPR points.

Carnell Tate finished as the week's WR52 in PPR scoring.

Alec Pierce finished 5.9 points above the 4.3 the props implied.

Alec Pierce, Week 1 against BAL: 32 of 54 snaps, 6 targets and 4 catches for 61 yards, 10.1 PPR points.

Alec Pierce finished as the week's WR34 in PPR scoring.

Their other Week 1 calls

• Start Alec Pierce over Brian Thomas Jr..
• Start Alec Pierce over Brian Thomas Jr..
• Start Christian Watson over Alec Pierce.
• Start Carnell Tate over Brian Thomas Jr..
• Start Brian Thomas Jr. over Carnell Tate.
• Start Carnell Tate over Chris Godwin Jr..