HOU

2026 depth chart · bye 8

What do these terms mean?

Depth

His spot on the team's published depth chart at his position, 1 being the starter. Comes from the team, not from Nova.

Nova Rk ★

Nova's own ranking by VORP, independent of ADP and the experts. The core opinion.

VORP ★

Value Over Replacement Player: projected points above a freely-available replacement at the same position. Nova's core measure of real value.

Tier ★

Nova's value tier at the position. A tier break marks a real cliff in value, so Tier 1 is the top group, Tier 2 the next, and so on.

Proj PPG ★

Nova's projected fantasy points per game.

Bye

His bye week, the week his NFL team does not play.

Early SOS

Strength of schedule over the early season (weeks 1-6).

Playoff SOS

Strength of schedule in the fantasy playoffs (weeks 15-17), which matters most for a title run.

★ = Nova’s own model, the secret sauce. The rest are the market reference and raw stats Nova is measured against.

bye week

players with a Nova projection

19.4

early SOS · weeks 1-6 · average

12.4

playoff SOS · weeks 15-17 · tough

Depth order comes from the current published depth charts. Nova rank, tier, VORP and projected PPR/game are PPR-scored. Players the model has not priced yet show n/a and do not link out.

Depth chart

QB3

ranktiervorpppg

1C.J. Stroud#128T6-1615.6 2Davis Mills#889T9-2008.9

3Graham Mertzn/an/an/an/a

RB7

ranktiervorpppg

1David Montgomery#79T61010.9 2Woody Marks#133T6-218.8 3Jawhar Jordan#390T6-1077.0 3Evan Hull#791T6-1402.4 4British Brooks#817T6-1441.8

5Noah Whittingtonn/an/an/an/a

7Joshua Pitsenbergern/an/an/an/a

WR12

ranktiervorpppg

1Nico Collins#27T55815.2 2Jayden Higgins#152T6-317.9 3Tank Dell#120T6-1111.3 4Jaylin Noel#302T6-884.5 5Xavier Hutchinson#346T6-984.3 6Justin Watson#470T6-1164.2 7Lewis Bond#781T6-139n/a 8Jha'Quan Jackson#816T6-1441.4 9Jared Wayne#597T6-1266.0

10Daniel Sobkowiczn/an/an/an/a

11Josh Kellyn/an/an/an/a

12Treyvhon Saundersn/an/an/an/a

TE7

ranktiervorpppg

1Dalton Schultz#100T6-18.4 2Marlin Klein#209T6-61n/a 3Foster Moreau#306T6-884.1 4Cade Stover#376T6-1043.2 5Brevin Jordan#353T6-1004.7

5Layne Pryorn/an/an/an/a

7Louis Hansenn/an/an/an/a

ranktiervorpppg

1Ka'imi Fairbairnn/an/an/an/a

Schedule strength by position

Score is 2025 PPR allowed per game by the defenses on the schedule. Higher means a softer draw for that position.

Position	Early (wk 1-6)	Playoffs (wk 15-17)
QB	20.5 · average	12.3 · tough
RB	18.8 · average	12.3 · tough
WR	19 · average	13.3 · tough
TE	19.2 · average	11.7 · tough