Start Gunnar Helm or Austin Hooper? Week 7

Our Week 7 call

Start Gunnar Helm over Austin Hooper in Week 7.

Market-based projections have Gunnar Helm at 4.9 points and Austin Hooper at 2.7, a gap of 2.2. No player market is posted for Gunnar Helm this week yet, so his 4.9 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 4 and 5 (4.9 and 5.0); 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 Gunnar Helm yet. His market-based projections were 4.9 and 5.0 points in Weeks 4 and 5, an average of 4.9, 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 Gunnar Helm 2.2 points ahead of Austin Hooper on these projections.

Week 7 matchups

Gunnar Helm and TEN host CLE on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CLE allowed 14.6 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 5 games, the 13th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 54 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against CLE.

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, Gunnar Helm has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Gunnar Helm is not on the injury report.

Austin Hooper is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 7

Through Week 5, Gunnar Helm played 77 percent of TEN snaps, drew 9 percent of the targets, earned 5 percent of the air yards and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

Gunnar Helm, Week 2 against PHI: 46 of 53 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 13 yards.

Gunnar Helm, Week 3 against NYG: 49 of 60 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 14 yards.

Gunnar Helm, Week 4 against BAL: 46 of 64 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 5 yards.

Gunnar Helm, Week 5 against HOU: 45 of 63 snaps, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 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, Gunnar Helm played 16 games for TEN and scored 91.7 PPR points, 5.7 a game, finishing TE31.

He caught 44 of 55 targets for 357 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets and 198 air yards.

He was on the field for 53 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 Gunnar Helm.
• Start Gunnar Helm over Cole Kmet.
• Start Darnell Washington over Gunnar Helm.
• Start Cole Kmet over Austin Hooper.
• Start Darnell Washington over Austin Hooper.
• Start Austin Hooper over Davis Allen.