Start Nico Collins or Zay Flowers? Week 7

Our Week 7 call

Start Nico Collins over Zay Flowers in Week 7.

Market-based projections have Nico Collins at 15.0 points and Zay Flowers at 15.6, a gap of 0.7. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. Nico Collins still gets the call because it also weighs where drafters take each player, ADP 21 against 24, and that outweighs a gap this size. No player market is posted for Zay Flowers this week yet, so his 15.6 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 4, 5 and 6 (18.8, 14.6 and 13.4); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 7 player market is posted for Zay Flowers yet. His market-based projections were 18.8, 14.6 and 13.5 points in Weeks 4, 5 and 6, an average of 15.6, which stands in until his Week 7 market posts.

The market-based projection for Zay Flowers is 0-1 touchdowns (10 market sources).

Player markets imply 15.0 fantasy points for Nico Collins, with 100 percent of the markets a WR needs posted.

The market-based projection for Nico Collins is 69 receiving yards, 4-5 receptions and 0.6 touchdowns (10, 10 and 13 market sources).

That puts Zay Flowers 0.7 points ahead of Nico Collins on these projections.

Week 7 matchups

Zay Flowers and BAL host CIN on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CIN allowed 29.5 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 5 games, the 9th fewest in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 123 yards and a touchdown a game against CIN.

Nico Collins and HOU host NYG on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

NYG allowed 31.1 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 6 games, the 14th fewest in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 132 yards and 1.2 touchdowns a game against NYG.

By points allowed to the position, Nico Collins has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Zay Flowers is not on the injury report.

Nico Collins is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 7

Through Week 6, Zay Flowers played 61 percent of BAL snaps, drew 31 percent of the targets, earned 35 percent of the air yards and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

Zay Flowers, Week 3 against DAL: 21 of 64 snaps, 1 carry for 20 yards, 6 targets and 5 catches for 84 yards.

Zay Flowers, Week 4 against TEN: 47 of 64 snaps, 10 targets and 8 catches for 118 yards, 1 touchdown.

Zay Flowers, Week 5 against ATL: 62 of 76 snaps, 1 carry for 13 yards, 9 targets and 8 catches for 53 yards.

Zay Flowers, Week 6 against CLE: 50 of 57 snaps, 1 carry for 1 yards, 11 targets and 6 catches for 66 yards.

Through Week 6, Nico Collins played 71 percent of HOU snaps, drew 23 percent of the targets, earned 31 percent of the air yards and had 16 percent of the red zone chances.

Nico Collins, Week 1 against BUF: 57 of 79 snaps, 1 carry for 7 yards, 10 targets and 7 catches for 75 yards, 1 touchdown.

Nico Collins, Week 4 against DAL: 38 of 55 snaps, 8 targets and 7 catches for 118 yards, 2 touchdowns.

Nico Collins, Week 5 against TEN: 47 of 66 snaps, 7 targets and 5 catches for 56 yards.

Nico Collins, Week 6 against JAX: 46 of 63 snaps, 1 carry for 5 yards, 5 targets and 3 catches for 74 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Zay Flowers played 17 games for BAL and scored 243.3 PPR points, 14.3 a game, finishing WR7.

He caught 86 of 118 targets for 1211 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 10 red zone targets and 753 air yards.

He was on the field for 86 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Nico Collins played 15 games for HOU and scored 226.2 PPR points, 15.1 a game, finishing WR8.

He caught 71 of 120 targets for 1117 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 16 red zone targets and 793 air yards.

He was on the field for 77 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 7 calls

• Start A.J. Brown over Zay Flowers.
• Start Amon-Ra St. Brown over Zay Flowers.
• Start CeeDee Lamb over Zay Flowers.
• Start A.J. Brown over Nico Collins.
• Start Amon-Ra St. Brown over Nico Collins.
• Start CeeDee Lamb over Nico Collins.