Tate
WR · TEN vs BAL
Proj pts
12.6pts
market
Sutton
WR · DEN vs SF
Proj pts
11.9pts
market
Carnell Tate or Courtland Sutton: who should I start in Week 4?
Start Carnell Tate. Bench Courtland Sutton. Carnell Tate leads at 12.6. Courtland Sutton is the first one out, 0.7 short.
Crowd: started Tate 42%
Highlights
Pros
- Alpha target share25% target share
- Favorable matchupFavorable · A+ vs WR
- Reliable70% consistency
Cons
- Low team total16.0 team total
Pros
- Every-down role85% of snaps
Some recent form, opportunity and matchup figures still lean on the 2025 season (not enough games played this season yet).
Week 4 · Updated Tue 6:00 AM ET
Why Carnell Tate
Start Carnell Tate — projects 12.6, a favorable matchup vs BAL.
Carnell Tate projects 12.6 points. The matchup grades as favorable against BAL. Usage: targets / game at 6.7. Net: Carnell Tate is start this week.
Working for Tate: Alpha target share (25% target share), Favorable matchup (Favorable · A+ vs WR), Reliable (70% consistency).
Working against Tate: Low team total (16.0 team total).
Where Tate leads the head-to-head: Projection (12.6 vs 11.9); Target share (25% vs 21%); Matchup grade (recency weighted) (A+ vs B-); Last 3 avg (8.4 vs 5.4); Last 5 avg (8.4 vs 5.1); vs season (+0.0 vs -5.9); Consistency (70% vs 45%); Bust rate (0% vs 24%); Grade vs WR (recency weighted) (A+ vs B-).
Why Courtland Sutton
Sit Courtland Sutton — projects 11.9, an even matchup vs SF, but the role is cooling.
Courtland Sutton projects 11.9 points on a 7.0–19.4 range. The matchup grades as neutral against SF. Usage: targets / game at 7.3. Net: Courtland Sutton is a bench this week.
Working for Sutton: Every-down role (85% of snaps).
Where Sutton leads the head-to-head: Implied team total (22.3 vs 16.0); Boom rate (18% vs 0%); Targets / game (7.3 vs 6.7); Snap share (85% vs 84%); Red zone targets (21 vs 1); Implied total (22.3 vs 16.0).
Recent form
Carnell Tate's last 3 games: PPR points 5.7, 7.8, 11.8 (low to high; the card does not say which came first).
Courtland Sutton's last 5 games: PPR points 8, 1.5, 3.1, 5.5, 7.6 (oldest to newest).
Tate has already beaten Sutton's 11.9 projection in 0 of his 3; Sutton has beaten Tate's 12.6 in 0 of his 5.
At least 1 of these 5 were played before the 2026 season — the card does not date them.
Matchup
Carnell Tate (TEN) faces BAL, kickoff Sun 1:00 PM ET. The matchup is rated favorable. Betting line: implied team total 16.0, spread +11.5.
Courtland Sutton (DEN) faces SF, kickoff Sun 4:25 PM ET. The matchup is rated neutral. Betting line: implied team total 22.3, spread +3.0.
How to read these numbers
- Confidence in the call
- How clear-cut this start/sit call is — how decisively the player beats the alternative he competes with (for a starter, the best player on your bench; for a bench player, the last one in your lineup), on both projected points and the overlap of their likely ranges. A clear play reads high; a genuine toss-up reads lower. It rates the decision, not the player’s own volatility, and is not a measured accuracy rate.
- Floor
- The 20th percentile of the same simulated distribution.
- Ceiling
- The 90th percentile of the same simulated distribution.
- Matchup grade
- The opponent’s points allowed to this position per game, weighted toward recent games, then graded on a curve across the 32 defenses.
- Implied team total
- The points the betting market expects this team to score, derived from the game total and the spread. Market-derived, not modelled by Nuvela.
- Trend
- The direction of his scoring across the trailing window, classified as heating, steady or cooling.
- Consistency
- The share of his games that landed within a set band of his own per-game average.
- Boom rate
- The share of his games that finished inside the top 12 scorers at his position for that week.
- Bust rate
- The share of his games that came in under half of what he was projected for that week.
- Defense funnel
- Whether the opponent’s rush defense and pass defense are far enough apart to push offenses one way. A gap inside the band reads Neutral.
- Game script projection
- The expected state of the game for his team — favoured, level or trailing — taken from the closing spread.
More start/sit comparisons from this week's PPR projections. Open a pair for the call and the reasoning.