Baker Mayfield vs Jalen Hurts: Who Should You Start?
Two quarterbacks who will land on plenty of the same rosters in 2026. Baker Mayfield (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) finished the 2025 season averaging 16.6 fantasy points per game in 17 games. Jalen Hurts (Philadelphia Eagles) came in at 19.1 PPG over 16 games. The gap is real but not insurmountable with the right matchup.
Jalen Hurts carries a 2.5-point PPG advantage from the 2025 season. That baseline matters, but it is one input among several. Matchup difficulty, scoring trends, and injury reports move the needle week to week, which is why the best answer changes depending on when you are asking.
Jalen Hurts offers meaningful rushing upside with 421 yards on the ground in 2025, which separates his floor from a pocket passer like Baker Mayfield (3693 passing yards, 26 touchdowns). In games where the passing matchup looks ugly, that rushing production can be the entire difference on a start/sit call.
Baker Mayfield has his bye in Week 11, and Jalen Hurts rests in Week 5. Managers rostering both need waiver wire depth at quarterback for those two weeks, and that is exactly the kind of planning DraftCall's matchup engine surfaces automatically so you are not scrambling on a Sunday morning.
