Start Darnell Washington or Mason Taylor? Week 10

Our Week 10 call

Start Darnell Washington over Mason Taylor in Week 10.

Market-based projections have Darnell Washington at 7.2 points and Mason Taylor at 6.4, a gap of 0.8. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Mason Taylor this week yet, so his 6.4 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 7, 8 and 9 (5.5, 6.3 and 7.3); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 7.2 fantasy points for Darnell Washington, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market-based projection for Darnell Washington is 28 receiving yards, 2-3 receptions and 0.3 touchdowns (10, 10 and 11 market sources).

No Week 10 player market is posted for Mason Taylor yet. His market-based projections were 5.5, 6.3 and 7.3 points in Weeks 7, 8 and 9, an average of 6.4, which stands in until his Week 10 market posts.

That puts Darnell Washington 0.8 points ahead of Mason Taylor on these projections.

Week 10 matchups

Darnell Washington and PIT visit CIN on Sunday at 8:20 PM ET.

CIN allowed 16.5 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 7th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 89 yards and no touchdowns a game against CIN.

Mason Taylor and NYJ host BUF on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

BUF allowed 14.1 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 13th most in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 71 yards and 0.1 touchdowns a game against BUF.

By points allowed to the position, Darnell Washington has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Darnell Washington is not on the injury report.

Mason Taylor is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 10

Through Week 8, Darnell Washington played 65 percent of PIT snaps, drew 10 percent of the targets, earned 7 percent of the air yards and had 12 percent of the red zone chances.

Darnell Washington, Week 5 against IND: 38 of 60 snaps, 3 targets and 2 catches for 12 yards.

Darnell Washington, Week 6 against TB: 56 of 79 snaps, 6 targets and 4 catches for 25 yards, 1 touchdown.

Darnell Washington, Week 7 against NO: 36 of 64 snaps, 1 target and 1 catch for 4 yards, 1 touchdown.

Darnell Washington, Week 8 against CLE: 37 of 59 snaps, 5 targets and 3 catches for 94 yards.

Through Week 9, Mason Taylor played 59 percent of NYJ snaps, drew 12 percent of the targets, earned 13 percent of the air yards and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

Mason Taylor, Week 6 against NE: 34 of 62 snaps, 6 targets and 4 catches for 33 yards.

Mason Taylor, Week 7 against MIA: 37 of 59 snaps, 6 targets and 5 catches for 62 yards, 2 touchdowns.

Mason Taylor, Week 8 against LV: 39 of 64 snaps, 5 targets and 3 catches for 19 yards.

Mason Taylor, Week 9 against KC: 40 of 63 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 11 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Darnell Washington played 16 games for PIT and scored 73.4 PPR points, 4.6 a game, finishing TE39.

He caught 31 of 43 targets for 364 yards and 1 touchdown, with 8 red zone targets and 135 air yards.

He was on the field for 57 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Mason Taylor played 13 games for NYJ and scored 88.9 PPR points, 6.8 a game, finishing TE32.

He caught 44 of 65 targets for 369 yards and 1 touchdown, with 7 red zone targets and 235 air yards.

He was on the field for 81 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 10 calls

• Start AJ Barner over Darnell Washington.
• Start Darnell Washington over Colby Parkinson.
• Start Dalton Schultz over Darnell Washington.
• Start AJ Barner over Mason Taylor.
• Start Colby Parkinson over Mason Taylor.
• Start Mason Taylor over Darren Waller.