Start Chig Okonkwo or Gunnar Helm? Week 8

Our Week 8 call

Start Chig Okonkwo over Gunnar Helm in Week 8.

Market-based projections have Chig Okonkwo at 6.6 points and Gunnar Helm at 4.6, a gap of 2.0. No player market is posted for Chig Okonkwo this week yet, so his 6.6 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 5 and 6 (6.6 and 6.6); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for Gunnar Helm this week yet, so his 4.6 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 5, 6 and 7 (5.0, 4.9 and 3.9); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 8 player market is posted for Chig Okonkwo yet. His market-based projections were 6.6 and 6.6 points in Weeks 5 and 6, an average of 6.6, which stands in until his Week 8 market posts.

The market-based projection for Chig Okonkwo is 0.3 touchdowns (3 market sources).

No Week 8 player market is posted for Gunnar Helm yet. His market-based projections were 5.0, 4.9 and 3.9 points in Weeks 5, 6 and 7, an average of 4.6, which stands in until his Week 8 market posts.

That puts Chig Okonkwo 2.0 points ahead of Gunnar Helm on these projections.

Week 8 matchups

Chig Okonkwo and WAS host PHI on Sunday at 8:20 PM ET.

PHI allowed 10.5 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 7th fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 43 yards and 0.3 touchdowns a game against PHI.

Gunnar Helm and TEN visit CIN on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CIN allowed 15.7 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 6 games, the 11th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 85 yards and no touchdowns a game against CIN.

By points allowed to the position, Gunnar Helm has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Chig Okonkwo is not on the injury report.

Gunnar Helm is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 8

Through Week 6, Chig Okonkwo played 65 percent of WAS snaps, drew 16 percent of the targets, earned 11 percent of the air yards and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

Chig Okonkwo, Week 1 against PHI: 39 of 70 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 16 yards.

Chig Okonkwo, Week 4 against IND: 37 of 64 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 5 yards.

Chig Okonkwo, Week 5 against NYG: 44 of 62 snaps, 6 targets and 4 catches for 60 yards.

Chig Okonkwo, Week 6 against SF: 51 of 67 snaps, 7 targets and 7 catches for 69 yards.

Through Week 7, Gunnar Helm played 78 percent of TEN snaps, drew 9 percent of the targets, earned 6 percent of the air yards and had 5 percent of the red zone chances.

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.

Gunnar Helm, Week 6 against IND: 33 of 46 snaps, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Gunnar Helm, Week 7 against CLE: 53 of 63 snaps, 4 targets and 3 catches for 24 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Chig Okonkwo played 17 games for TEN and scored 124.0 PPR points, 7.3 a game, finishing TE21.

He caught 56 of 79 targets for 560 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 5 red zone targets and 218 air yards.

He was on the field for 62 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

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.

Their other Week 8 calls

• Start AJ Barner over Chig Okonkwo.
• Start Chig Okonkwo over Colby Parkinson.
• Start Chig Okonkwo over Darnell Washington.
• Start Colby Parkinson over Gunnar Helm.
• Start Darnell Washington over Gunnar Helm.
• Start Darren Waller over Gunnar Helm.