Start Darren Waller or Gunnar Helm? Week 8

Our Week 8 call

Start Darren Waller over Gunnar Helm in Week 8.

Market-based projections have Darren Waller at 5.9 points and Gunnar Helm at 4.6, a gap of 1.3. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. 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

Player markets imply 5.9 fantasy points for Darren Waller, with 100 percent of the markets a TE needs posted.

The market-based projection for Darren Waller is 20 receiving yards, 2-3 receptions and 0.2 touchdowns (12, 13 and 13 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 Darren Waller 1.3 points ahead of Gunnar Helm on these projections.

Week 8 matchups

Darren Waller and CAR visit GB on Thursday at 8:15 PM ET.

GB allowed 9.0 fantasy points a game to TEs this season over 7 games, the 2nd fewest in the league.

Tight ends caught passes for 33 yards and 0.3 touchdowns a game against GB.

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

Darren Waller is not on the injury report.

Gunnar Helm is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 8

Through Week 7, Darren Waller played 46 percent of CAR snaps, drew 11 percent of the targets, earned 11 percent of the air yards and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

Darren Waller, Week 3 against CLE: 39 of 77 snaps, 8 targets and 5 catches for 51 yards.

Darren Waller, Week 4 against DET: 40 of 75 snaps, 6 targets and 3 catches for 36 yards.

Darren Waller, Week 6 against PHI: 36 of 79 snaps, 2 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Darren Waller, Week 7 against TB: 25 of 56 snaps, 2 targets and 1 catch for 50 yards, 1 touchdown.

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, Darren Waller played 9 games for MIA and scored 88.7 PPR points, 9.9 a game, finishing TE33.

He caught 24 of 34 targets for 283 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets and 210 air yards.

He was on the field for 45 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 Darren Waller.
• Start Chig Okonkwo over Darren Waller.
• Start Darren Waller over Colby Parkinson.
• Start Chig Okonkwo over Gunnar Helm.
• Start Colby Parkinson over Gunnar Helm.
• Start Darnell Washington over Gunnar Helm.