Two players, one answer.
Dont'e Thornton Jr. vs Jalen Royals
Any league · this week start/sit · PPR
Stats through week 8 of 2026 (in progress)
This week
No call this week: one of them has no game or a projection under 4 points
Rest of season
Jalen Royals by 8% (Redraft PPR)Dynasty
About even (Dynasty Superflex)
Week 8 · PPR · 54% held up in 2025
A toss-up
On Sleeper's projections, Jalen Royals is projected 0.9 points ahead of Dont'e Thornton Jr.. In the 2025 season, a player projected that far ahead outscored the other 54% of the time. That's close to a coin flip: on these projections neither is the better start, and an injury report or a projection update before kickoff can tip it.
WR · KC
Jalen Royals
1.9 projected
@ DEN · Sun 4:25 PM ET
2.5 a game this season · last 3: 0, 4.4, 0
WR · LV
Dont'e Thornton Jr.
1.0 projected
@ NYJ · Sun 1:00 PM ET
No games this season
What the call rests on
- Jalen Royals: Sleeper's projection, last changed Sat, Oct 31, 1:20 PM ET
- Dont'e Thornton Jr.: Sleeper's projection, last changed Sat, Oct 31, 1:20 PM ET
- Sleeper's projections read Sat, Oct 31, 1:28 PM ET.
- Injury statuses read Sat, Oct 31, 1:28 PM ET, with the projections (hourly). A fresh projection time doesn't mean every status is: game-day inactives, about 90 minutes before kickoff, can come after it.
| Same projections, scored | Royals | Jr. |
|---|---|---|
| PPR | 1.9 | 1 |
| Half PPR | 1.5 | 0.8 |
| Standard | 1.1 | 0.7 |
What could change it before kickoff
- A projection update of 0.9 points or more in the other direction flips the call; Sleeper keeps adjusting its projections until kickoff, and this page reads them again at most an hour after it last did.
- Dont'e Thornton Jr. plays first (Sun 1:00 PM ET); once his game starts most platforms lock him in or out, before Jalen Royals's late news is known.
Open in Who should I start (your league, more players)
This week’s projections are Sleeper’s, scored with PPR settings. The percentage is how often a projected gap like this held up across the 2025 season; checked against 2026 games (not used to fit it), the stated chances so far run a few points high, so read a 60% call as nearer 55%.