Start Cole Kmet or Austin Hooper? Week 7

Our Week 7 call

Start Cole Kmet over Austin Hooper in Week 7.

Market-based projections have Cole Kmet at 3.2 points and Austin Hooper at 2.7, a gap of 0.5. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Cole Kmet this week yet, so his 3.2 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 4 and 5 (3.1 and 3.3); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for Austin Hooper this week yet, so his 2.7 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 4 and 5 (3.6 and 1.9); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 7 player market is posted for Cole Kmet yet. His market-based projections were 3.1 and 3.3 points in Weeks 4 and 5, an average of 3.2, which stands in until his Week 7 market posts.

No Week 7 player market is posted for Austin Hooper yet. His market-based projections were 3.6 and 1.9 points in Weeks 4 and 5, an average of 2.7, which stands in until his Week 7 market posts.

That puts Cole Kmet 0.5 points ahead of Austin Hooper on these projections.

Week 7 matchups

Cole Kmet and CHI host NE on Thursday at 8:15 PM ET.

NE allowed 9.9 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 5 games, the 11th fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 45 yards and 0.2 touchdowns a game against NE.

Austin Hooper and ATL host SF on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

SF allowed 8.2 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 5 games, the 4th fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 36 yards and no touchdowns a game against SF.

By points allowed to the position, Cole Kmet has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Cole Kmet is not on the injury report.

Austin Hooper is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 7

Through Week 6, Cole Kmet played 61 percent of CHI snaps, drew 6 percent of the targets, earned 5 percent of the air yards and had 1 percent of the red zone chances.

Cole Kmet, Week 3 against PHI: 43 of 72 snaps, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Cole Kmet, Week 4 against NYJ: 68 of 93 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 13 yards.

Cole Kmet, Week 5 against GB: 29 of 69 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 8 yards.

Cole Kmet, Week 6 against ATL: 2 targets and 2 catches for 3 yards.

Through Week 6, Austin Hooper played 26 percent of ATL snaps, drew 5 percent of the targets, earned 2 percent of the air yards and had 2 percent of the red zone chances.

Austin Hooper, Week 3 against GB: 16 of 71 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 11 yards, 1 touchdown.

Austin Hooper, Week 4 against NO: 13 of 57 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 9 yards.

Austin Hooper, Week 5 against BAL: 10 of 64 snaps, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Austin Hooper, Week 6 against CHI: 1 target and 1 catch for 6 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Cole Kmet played 16 games for CHI and scored 78.7 PPR points, 4.9 a game, finishing TE36.

He caught 30 of 48 targets for 347 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 6 red zone targets and 198 air yards.

He was on the field for 69 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Austin Hooper played 16 games for NE and scored 59.3 PPR points, 3.7 a game, finishing TE47.

He caught 21 of 26 targets for 263 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 5 red zone targets and 177 air yards.

He was on the field for 50 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 7 calls

• Start Darnell Washington over Cole Kmet.
• Start Cole Kmet over Davis Allen.
• Start Eli Raridon over Cole Kmet.
• Start Darnell Washington over Austin Hooper.
• Start Austin Hooper over Davis Allen.
• Start Eli Raridon over Austin Hooper.