Start Josh Downs or Tee Higgins? Week 7

Our Week 7 call

Start Tee Higgins over Josh Downs in Week 7.

Market-based projections have Tee Higgins at 12.9 points and Josh Downs at 14.2, a gap of 1.2. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. Tee Higgins still gets the call because it also weighs where drafters take each player, ADP 37 against 96, and that outweighs a gap this size. No player market is posted for Tee Higgins this week yet, so his 12.9 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 4 and 5 (14.3 and 11.6); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for Josh Downs this week yet, so his 14.2 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 4 and 5 (16.3 and 12.0); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 7 player market is posted for Josh Downs yet. His market-based projections were 16.3 and 12.0 points in Weeks 4 and 5, an average of 14.2, which stands in until his Week 7 market posts.

No Week 7 player market is posted for Tee Higgins yet. His market-based projections were 14.3 and 11.6 points in Weeks 4 and 5, an average of 13.0, which stands in until his Week 7 market posts.

That puts Josh Downs 1.2 points ahead of Tee Higgins on these projections.

Week 7 matchups

Josh Downs and IND visit MIN on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

MIN allowed 27.1 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 5 games, the 5th fewest in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 133 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against MIN.

Tee Higgins and CIN visit BAL on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

BAL allowed 36.2 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 5 games, the 9th most in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 184 yards and 0.4 touchdowns a game against BAL.

By points allowed to the position, Tee Higgins has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Josh Downs is not on the injury report.

Tee Higgins is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 7

Through Week 6, Josh Downs played 80 percent of IND snaps, drew 21 percent of the targets, earned 26 percent of the air yards and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

Josh Downs, Week 3 against HOU: 48 of 71 snaps, 11 targets and 5 catches for 77 yards.

Josh Downs, Week 4 against WAS: 51 of 66 snaps, 4 targets and 3 catches for 16 yards.

Josh Downs, Week 5 against PIT: 60 of 71 snaps, 6 targets and 3 catches for 47 yards.

Josh Downs, Week 6 against TEN: 1 carry for 7 yards, 8 targets and 4 catches for 40 yards.

Through Week 5, Tee Higgins played 77 percent of CIN snaps, drew 23 percent of the targets, earned 42 percent of the air yards and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

Tee Higgins, Week 2 against HOU: 43 of 60 snaps, 10 targets and 5 catches for 95 yards.

Tee Higgins, Week 3 against PIT: 53 of 57 snaps, 7 targets and 6 catches for 90 yards, 1 touchdown.

Tee Higgins, Week 4 against JAX: 60 of 76 snaps, 16 targets and 11 catches for 157 yards.

Tee Higgins, Week 5 against MIA: 45 of 65 snaps, 4 targets and 2 catches for 22 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Josh Downs played 16 games for IND and scored 136.4 PPR points, 8.5 a game, finishing WR44.

He caught 58 of 88 targets for 566 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets and 422 air yards.

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

In 2025, Tee Higgins played 15 games for CIN and scored 211.6 PPR points, 14.1 a game, finishing WR15.

He caught 59 of 98 targets for 846 yards and 11 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets and 680 air yards.

He was on the field for 80 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 7 calls

• Start Carnell Tate over Josh Downs.
• Start Christian Watson over Josh Downs.
• Start Davante Adams over Josh Downs.
• Start Tee Higgins over Carnell Tate.
• Start Tee Higgins over Christian Watson.
• Start Tee Higgins over Davante Adams.