Malik Willis · Tua Tagovailoa · 2026 week 1

Malik Willis or Tua Tagovailoa?

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

Start Malik Willis — barelyThis one is a coin flip — the projections are within 0.5 points. The matchup leans Malik Willis (LV allow the 18th-most QB points), but you can defend either call.

Player	Wk 1	Proj (PPR)	Matchup	Form L3	Trade value	Status
Malik Willis START	@ LV	18.8	18th	15.1	189	healthy
Tua Tagovailoa	@ PIT	18.3	5th · soft	10.7	52	healthy

QBs vs LV recently: C.J. Stroud 11.5 pts (W16) · Jaxson Dart 25.1 pts (W17) · Shane Buechele 3.9 pts (W18).

QBs vs PIT recently: Jared Goff 26.5 pts (W16) · Shedeur Sanders 11.4 pts (W17) · Lamar Jackson 21.4 pts (W18).

Who wins a straight-up trade?

Malik Willis carries the higher trade value — 189 against 52 (a 72% gap). In a one-for-one, the side receiving Malik Willis gets the most. Momentum: Malik Willis -28 and Tua Tagovailoa -7 over the last 30 days.

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

More QB decisions

Malik Willis or Sam Darnold?Malik Willis or C.J. Stroud?Malik Willis or Cam Ward?Tua Tagovailoa or Fernando Mendoza?Tua Tagovailoa or Jacoby Brissett?Tua Tagovailoa or Geno Smith?

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.