AJ Barner · Chig Okonkwo · 2026 week 1

AJ Barner or Chig Okonkwo?

Wondering who you should start this week — AJ Barner or Chig Okonkwo? The start/sit call and the numbers behind it are below, plus who wins a straight-up trade. Rebuilt nightly.

Start AJ Barner — barelyThis one is a coin flip — the projections are within 0.2 points. The matchup leans AJ Barner (NE allow the 13th-most TE points), but you can defend either call.

Player	Wk 1	Proj (PPR)	Matchup	Form L3	Trade value	Status
AJ Barner START	vs NE	9.3	13th	10.6	127	healthy
Chig Okonkwo	@ PHI	9.1	32nd · tough	11	189	healthy

TEs vs NE recently: Mark Andrews 2.4 pts (W16) · Stone Smartt 1.8 pts (W17) · Greg Dulcich 3.1 pts (W18).

TEs vs PHI recently: Ben Sinnott 0.5 pts (W16) · Dawson Knox 3 pts (W17) · John Bates 7.3 pts (W18).

Who wins a straight-up trade?

Chig Okonkwo carries the higher trade value — 189 against 127 (a 33% gap). In a one-for-one, the side receiving Chig Okonkwo gets the most. Momentum: AJ Barner -8 and Chig Okonkwo -170 over the last 30 days.

Open in Start/Sit (any scoring) Open in the Trade Analyzer

More TE decisions

AJ Barner or Kenyon Sadiq?AJ Barner or Oronde Gadsden?AJ Barner or Dalton Schultz?Chig Okonkwo or Juwan Johnson?Chig Okonkwo or Hunter Henry?Chig Okonkwo or Brenton Strange?

Game logs, matchup ranks and form are the 2025 season — 2026 hasn’t kicked off. Projections, schedule and trade values are current 2026 numbers, refreshed nightly.