AJ Barner · Darren Waller · 2026 week 1

AJ Barner or Darren Waller?

Wondering who you should start this week — AJ Barner or Darren Waller? 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 1.3 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
Darren Waller	vs CHI	8.0	18th	11.8	–	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 CHI recently: Luke Musgrave 3.8 pts (W16) · Jake Tonges 12 pts (W17) · Anthony Firkser 0.2 pts (W18).

Who wins a straight-up trade?

AJ Barner carries the higher trade value — 127 against 0. In a one-for-one, the side receiving AJ Barner gets the most.

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?Darren Waller or Colby Parkinson?Darren Waller or Mike Gesicki?Darren Waller or Pat Freiermuth?

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.