Elijah Higgins or Jake Tonges: Who Should You Start?

Start Tonges — the availability and game script edges are too wide to ignore.

Jake Tonges is the healthier side of this call (Higgins carries a Questionable tag) and plays in the better game script (22.8 implied team points to 17.0). Higgins's edge is the projection, 2.6 to 2.1. The gap is comfortable.

Elijah Higgins

TEARIvs LAC

1.31.92.6 Projected Points

Sit· high

Jake Tonges

TE26SFvs LAR

1.21.62.1 Projected Points

Sit· high

Why Elijah Higgins

Sit· high

TE2 and converted receiver. Move-tight end role with rotational snaps behind McBride.

2.6 projected points on a 6% target share, plus a top-5 DvP matchup and a 17.0 implied total as 11.5-point dogs — unstartable TE.

Carries a Questionable tag — usually plays, but monitor the final report.
LAC ranks 5 of 32 against TEs (one of the tougher matchups, 0-game sample).
Vegas implies 17.0 team points as 11.5-point underdogs.
Listed TE on the latest depth chart with a 43% snap share in 2025.

The call

The usage isn't there: 43% snap share with just a 6% target share over 16 games means he's a blocking-first TE, not a receiving option worth a lineup spot.
Vegas paints an ugly picture — 11.5-point underdog with a 17.0 implied total, so there are few touchdowns to go around and the passing volume that does come won't funnel to him.
The Chargers rate 5 of 32 in DvP vs tight ends (softest = 32), so even the projected 2.6 points has little upside baked in.
Questionable tag adds pure downside risk to a floor that's already near zero — any waiver TE with a defined route role beats this.

Why Jake Tonges

Sit· high

TE2 with red-zone productivity. Reliable inline blocker who converted heavy snaps into scoring targets.

TE26 with a 2.1-point projection — a 52% snap share and 14% target share haven't turned into usable TE production against a middling LAR matchup.

LAR ranks 17 of 32 against TEs (a middle-of-the-road matchup, 0-game sample).
Vegas implies 22.8 team points as 3.0-point underdogs.
Listed TE on the latest depth chart with a 52% snap share in 2025.

The call

The projection is the story: 2.1 PPR points and a TE26 consensus rank put him well below any startable tight end in a 12-team league.
He's on the field for just 52% of snaps with a 14% target share — a rotational role that produces touchdown-or-bust weeks, not a floor you can trust.
The LAR matchup grades middle of the pack (17 of 32) and the 0-game sample carries zero confidence, so there's no matchup edge to bet on here.
At a 22.8 implied total with a 3.0 spread, this isn't a shootout script that would force volume his way.

Head-to-head stats

Metric	Elijah Higgins	Jake Tonges
Projected points	1.31.92.6	1.21.62.1
Consensus rank	—	TE26
Opponent vs position	LAC · 5 of 320-game sample	LAR · 17 of 320-game sample
Receptions	3 of 32	22 of 32
Receiving Yards	4 of 32	12 of 32
Receiving TDs	9 of 32	9 of 32
Targets	2 of 32	22 of 32
Anytime TD	9 of 32	20 of 32
Target share	6%(2025)	14%(2025)
Reception share	8%(2025)	15%(2025)
Implied total · spread	17.0+11.5	22.8+3.0
Depth chart	TE2	TE2
Snap share	43%(2025)	52%(2025)
Injury designation	Questionable	—