Start Daniel Bellinger or Drew Sample? Week 7

Our Week 7 call

Start Drew Sample over Daniel Bellinger in Week 7.

Market-based projections have Drew Sample at 2.2 points and Daniel Bellinger at 1.5, a gap of 0.7. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Drew Sample this week yet, so his 2.2 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 4 and 5 (2.7 and 1.7); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for Daniel Bellinger this week yet, so his 1.5 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 4 and 5 (1.4 and 1.6); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 7 player market is posted for Daniel Bellinger yet. His market-based projections were 1.4 and 1.6 points in Weeks 4 and 5, an average of 1.5, which stands in until his Week 7 market posts.

No Week 7 player market is posted for Drew Sample yet. His market-based projections were 2.7 and 1.7 points in Weeks 4 and 5, an average of 2.2, which stands in until his Week 7 market posts.

That puts Drew Sample 0.7 points ahead of Daniel Bellinger on these projections.

Injury status

Daniel Bellinger is not on the injury report.

Drew Sample is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 7

Through Week 6, Daniel Bellinger played 42 percent of TEN snaps, drew 5 percent of the targets, earned 1 percent of the air yards and had 2 percent of the red zone chances.

Daniel Bellinger, Week 3 against NYG: 24 of 60 snaps, 2 targets and 2 catches for 16 yards.

Daniel Bellinger, Week 4 against BAL: 33 of 64 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 2 yards.

Daniel Bellinger, Week 5 against HOU: 28 of 63 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 5 yards.

Daniel Bellinger, Week 6 against IND: 2 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Through Week 5, Drew Sample played 50 percent of CIN snaps, drew 3 percent of the targets, earned 0 percent of the air yards and had 2 percent of the red zone chances.

Drew Sample, Week 2 against HOU: 36 of 60 snaps, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Drew Sample, Week 3 against PIT: 29 of 57 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 0 yards.

Drew Sample, Week 4 against JAX: 20 of 76 snaps, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Drew Sample, Week 5 against MIA: 34 of 65 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 5 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Daniel Bellinger played 16 games for NYG and scored 59.6 PPR points, 3.7 a game, finishing TE46.

He caught 19 of 26 targets for 286 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 6 red zone targets and 154 air yards.

He was on the field for 48 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Drew Sample played 17 games for CIN and scored 31.9 PPR points, 1.9 a game, finishing TE64.

He caught 15 of 20 targets for 106 yards and 1 touchdown, with 1 red zone target and -3 air yards.

He was on the field for 52 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 7 calls

• Start Daniel Bellinger over Theo Johnson.
• Start Davis Allen over Drew Sample.
• Start Elijah Higgins over Drew Sample.
• Start Drew Sample over Foster Moreau.