Start Zachariah Branch or Calvin Ridley? Week 7

Our Week 7 call

Start Zachariah Branch over Calvin Ridley in Week 7.

Market-based projections have Zachariah Branch at 2.4 points and Calvin Ridley at 1.5, a gap of 0.9. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Zachariah Branch this week yet, so his 2.4 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 4 and 6 (1.5 and 3.3); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for Calvin Ridley this week yet, so his 1.5 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 4 and 5 (1.2 and 1.9); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 7 player market is posted for Zachariah Branch yet. His market-based projections were 1.5 and 3.3 points in Weeks 4 and 6, an average of 2.4, which stands in until his Week 7 market posts.

No Week 7 player market is posted for Calvin Ridley yet. His market-based projections were 1.2 and 1.9 points in Weeks 4 and 5, an average of 1.5, which stands in until his Week 7 market posts.

That puts Zachariah Branch 0.9 points ahead of Calvin Ridley on these projections.

Week 7 matchups

Zachariah Branch and ATL host SF on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

SF allowed 27.9 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 5 games, the 7th fewest in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 127 yards and 0.8 touchdowns a game against SF.

Calvin Ridley and TEN host CLE on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CLE allowed 36.0 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 5 games, the 10th most in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 165 yards and 1.4 touchdowns a game against CLE.

By points allowed to the position, Calvin Ridley has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Zachariah Branch is not on the injury report.

Calvin Ridley is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 7

Through Week 6, Zachariah Branch played 22 percent of ATL snaps, drew 6 percent of the targets, earned 1 percent of the air yards and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

Zachariah Branch, Week 3 against GB: 13 of 71 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 7 yards.

Zachariah Branch, Week 4 against NO: 13 of 57 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 10 yards.

Zachariah Branch, Week 5 against BAL: 12 of 64 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 15 yards.

Zachariah Branch, Week 6 against CHI: 2 targets and 2 catches for 9 yards.

Through Week 6, Calvin Ridley played 52 percent of TEN snaps, drew 6 percent of the targets, earned 7 percent of the air yards and had 2 percent of the red zone chances.

Calvin Ridley, Week 3 against NYG: 20 of 60 snaps, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Calvin Ridley, Week 4 against BAL: 30 of 64 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 13 yards.

Calvin Ridley, Week 5 against HOU: 35 of 63 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 33 yards.

Calvin Ridley, Week 6 against IND: 2 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Calvin Ridley played 7 games for TEN and scored 47.3 PPR points, 6.8 a game, finishing WR116.

He caught 17 of 36 targets for 303 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 1 red zone target and 219 air yards.

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

Their other Week 7 calls

• Start Zachariah Branch over Bo Melton.
• Start Jacob Cowing over Zachariah Branch.
• Start Jerry Jeudy over Zachariah Branch.
• Start Calvin Ridley over Bo Melton.
• Start Jacob Cowing over Calvin Ridley.
• Start Kyle Williams over Calvin Ridley.