Who Should I Start? Austin Hooper or Elijah Arroyo

Saturday, September 20, 2:49 AM

New England Patriots tight end Austin Hooper has seen increased usage within the team's offense, but it's not enough to justify starting him in fantasy football against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3. Hooper's snap share jumped from 32 percent in Week 1 to 62 percent in Week 2, and his pass-catching volume increased, too. The 30-year-old caught all three of his targets for 38 yards last week, out-producing Hunter Henry despite playing fewer snaps than him. Hooper remains the No. 2 tight end on the depth chart behind Henry, but he's still seeing decent playing time, especially in two-tight end sets. This week, Hooper is facing a mid-range Steelers defense that has allowed the 12th-most fantasy points to tight ends. Hooper ranks as RotoBaller's TE41 this week, and he can be benched in most leagues.

Saturday, October 4, 9:16 AM

Seattle Seahawks tight end Elijah Arroyo has seen his snap share increase in each of the first four weeks of the 2025 NFL season, and he could continue to get even more involved in Week 5 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The rookie is coming off the best week of his young career, in which he caught two of four targets for 44 yards on a 55 percent snap share. With that said, he's still the No. 2 tight end in Seattle behind AJ Barner, who has two touchdowns this season and has played at least 85 percent of the snaps in three of four games. Nevertheless, even with Barner present, Arroyo has shown that he can carve out a modest role for himself -- and perhaps start to generate some low-end fantasy appeal in deeper leagues, too. This could be a decent week for Arroyo as the Buccaneers' defense is merely near the middle of the league, allowing the 16th-most fantasy points to tight ends in 2025.