Start Tyler Higbee or Austin Hooper? Week 5

Our Week 5 call

Start Tyler Higbee over Austin Hooper in Week 5.

Market-based projections have Tyler Higbee at 6.9 points and Austin Hooper at 1.8, a gap of 5.1.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 6.9 fantasy points for Tyler Higbee, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market has Tyler Higbee at 23.5 receiving yards and 2.5 receptions, with a 27% chance to score a touchdown (14, 15 and 16 market sources).

Player markets imply 1.8 fantasy points for Austin Hooper, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market has Austin Hooper at 6.5 receiving yards and 0.5 receptions, with a 10% chance to score a touchdown (12, 12 and 17 market sources).

That puts Tyler Higbee 5.1 points ahead of Austin Hooper on the market projections.

Injury status

Tyler Higbee is not on the injury report.

Austin Hooper is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 5

Through Week 4, Tyler Higbee played 49 percent of LAR snaps, drew 12 percent of the targets, earned 10 percent of the air yards and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

Tyler Higbee, Week 1 against SF: 12 of 61 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 12 yards.

Tyler Higbee, Week 2 against NYG: 16 of 62 snaps, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Tyler Higbee, Week 3 against DEN: 61 of 86 snaps, 11 targets and 8 catches for 62 yards, 1 touchdown.

Tyler Higbee, Week 4 against PHI: 55 of 84 snaps, 6 targets and 5 catches for 67 yards.

Through Week 4, Austin Hooper played 28 percent of ATL snaps, drew 8 percent of the targets, earned 4 percent of the air yards and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

Austin Hooper, Week 1 against PIT: 14 of 60 snaps, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Austin Hooper, Week 2 against CAR: 30 of 69 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 20 yards.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Tyler Higbee played 10 games for LAR and scored 71.1 PPR points, 7.1 a game, finishing TE40.

He caught 25 of 36 targets for 281 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets and 141 air yards.

He was on the field for 54 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 5 calls

• Start Tyler Higbee over AJ Barner.
• Start Brenton Strange over Tyler Higbee.
• Start Cade Otton over Tyler Higbee.
• Start Colby Parkinson over Austin Hooper.
• Start Davis Allen over Austin Hooper.
• Start Dawson Knox over Austin Hooper.