Start Darnell Washington or Austin Hooper? Week 7

Our Week 7 call

Start Darnell Washington over Austin Hooper in Week 7.

Market-based projections have Darnell Washington at 5.9 points and Austin Hooper at 2.7, a gap of 3.1. No player market is posted for Darnell Washington this week yet, so his 5.9 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 4 and 5 (5.6 and 6.2); 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 Darnell Washington yet. His market-based projections were 5.6 and 6.2 points in Weeks 4 and 5, an average of 5.9, 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 Darnell Washington 3.1 points ahead of Austin Hooper on these projections.

Week 7 matchups

Darnell Washington and PIT visit NO on Sunday at 9:30 AM ET.

NO allowed 16.7 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 5 games, the 7th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 71 yards and 0.4 touchdowns a game against NO.

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, Darnell Washington has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Darnell Washington is not on the injury report.

Austin Hooper is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 7

Through Week 6, Darnell Washington played 65 percent of PIT snaps, drew 10 percent of the targets, earned 6 percent of the air yards and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

Darnell Washington, Week 3 against CIN: 47 of 62 snaps, 4 targets and 3 catches for 67 yards.

Darnell Washington, Week 4 against CLE: 51 of 72 snaps, 5 targets and 3 catches for 27 yards, 1 touchdown.

Darnell Washington, Week 5 against IND: 38 of 60 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 12 yards.

Darnell Washington, Week 6 against TB: 6 targets and 4 catches for 25 yards, 1 touchdown.

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, Darnell Washington played 16 games for PIT and scored 73.4 PPR points, 4.6 a game, finishing TE39.

He caught 31 of 43 targets for 364 yards and 1 touchdown, with 8 red zone targets and 135 air yards.

He was on the field for 57 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 AJ Barner over Darnell Washington.
• Start Cade Otton over Darnell Washington.
• Start Darnell Washington over Cole Kmet.
• Start Cole Kmet over Austin Hooper.
• Start Austin Hooper over Davis Allen.
• Start Eli Raridon over Austin Hooper.