Start Brock Bowers or Isaiah Likely? Week 5

Our Week 5 call

Start Brock Bowers over Isaiah Likely in Week 5.

Market-based projections have Brock Bowers at 17.2 points and Isaiah Likely at 10.6, a gap of 6.6.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 17.2 fantasy points for Brock Bowers, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market has Brock Bowers at 74.5 receiving yards and 6.5 receptions, with a 41% chance to score a touchdown (18, 14 and 18 market sources).

Player markets imply 10.6 fantasy points for Isaiah Likely, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market has Isaiah Likely at 41.5 receiving yards and 4.5 receptions, with a 27% chance to score a touchdown (17, 15 and 18 market sources).

That puts Brock Bowers 6.6 points ahead of Isaiah Likely on the market projections.

Week 5 matchups

Brock Bowers and LV visit NE on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

NE allowed 5.9 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 4 games, the fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 26 yards and no touchdowns a game against NE.

Injury status

Brock Bowers is not on the injury report.

Isaiah Likely is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 5

Through Week 4, Brock Bowers played 81 percent of LV snaps, drew 31 percent of the targets, earned 35 percent of the air yards and had 24 percent of the red zone chances.

Brock Bowers, Week 3 against NO: 55 of 70 snaps, 13 targets and 10 catches for 116 yards, 1 touchdown.

Brock Bowers, Week 4 against KC: 69 of 84 snaps, 11 targets and 6 catches for 86 yards, 1 touchdown.

Through Week 4, Isaiah Likely played 67 percent of NYG snaps, drew 32 percent of the targets, earned 23 percent of the air yards and had 19 percent of the red zone chances.

Isaiah Likely, Week 1 against DAL: 34 of 69 snaps, 8 targets and 8 catches for 78 yards, 2 touchdowns.

Isaiah Likely, Week 2 against LAR: 40 of 58 snaps, 10 targets and 5 catches for 33 yards.

Isaiah Likely, Week 3 against TEN: 54 of 64 snaps, 5 targets and 2 catches for 13 yards.

Isaiah Likely, Week 4 against ARI: 44 of 67 snaps, 12 targets and 7 catches for 66 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Brock Bowers played 12 games for LV and scored 176.2 PPR points, 14.7 a game, finishing TE11.

He caught 64 of 86 targets for 680 yards and 7 touchdowns, with 16 red zone targets and 375 air yards.

He was on the field for 85 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Brock Bowers, Week 16 of 2025 against HOU: 53 of 54 snaps, 5 targets and 5 catches for 33 yards, 1 touchdown, 14.3 PPR points.

In 2025, Isaiah Likely played 14 games for BAL and scored 61.7 PPR points, 4.4 a game, finishing TE45.

He caught 27 of 36 targets for 307 yards and 1 touchdown, with 6 red zone targets and 190 air yards.

He was on the field for 58 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

How Week 5 went

Brock Bowers scored 23.0 PPR points and Isaiah Likely scored 32.4.

The call was wrong: Isaiah Likely outscored Brock Bowers by 9.4.

Brock Bowers finished 5.8 points above the 17.2 the market projected.

Brock Bowers, Week 5 against NE: 10 targets and 8 catches for 110 yards, 1 touchdown, 23.0 PPR points.

Brock Bowers finished as the week's TE2 in PPR scoring.

Isaiah Likely finished 21.8 points above the 10.6 the market projected.

Isaiah Likely, Week 5 against WAS: 13 targets and 11 catches for 94 yards, 2 touchdowns, 32.4 PPR points.

Isaiah Likely finished as the week's TE1 in PPR scoring.

Their other Week 5 calls

• Start Brock Bowers over AJ Barner.
• Start Brock Bowers over Cade Otton.
• Start Brock Bowers over Colston Loveland.
• Start Isaiah Likely over Brenton Strange.
• Start Isaiah Likely over Colston Loveland.
• Start Isaiah Likely over Dallas Goedert.