Should I start Dylan Sampson or A.J. Brown in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Dylan Sampson, and the board ranks him 140th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on A.J. Brown, and the board ranks him 141st overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 23.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Dylan Sampson is 1.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market has A.J. Brown at 2.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 3 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Dylan Sampson's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 8, Dylan Sampson has been on the field for 51 percent of CLE snaps, taken 16 percent of the carries, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 18 third down targets, had 0 of its 6 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 19 two minute targets.

His 11 targets have come 0.3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 7 against TEN he carried 6 times for 45 yards, caught 3 of 3 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against PIT he carried 1 time for 7 yards, caught 6 of 8 targets for 62 yards and did not score.

Through Week 7, A.J. Brown has been on the field for 68 percent of NE snaps, drawn 22 percent of the targets and had 15 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 26 third down targets, had 0 of its 1 chance inside the five and seen 7 of its 21 two minute targets.

His 20 targets have averaged 13.4 air yards.

In Week 1 against SEA he caught 3 of 4 targets for 26 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against NYJ he caught 3 of 10 targets for 27 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CHI he caught 3 of 6 targets for 48 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Dylan Sampson played 15 games and scored 87.6 PPR points, 5.8 a game, finishing RB55.

He carried 65 times for 175 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 33 of 40 targets for 271 more yards.

That came to 4.3 carries a game at 2.7 yards a carry and 2.2 catches a game.

He was on the field for 25 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 A.J. Brown played 15 games and scored 220.3 PPR points, 14.7 a game, finishing WR11.

He caught 78 of 121 targets for 1003 yards and 7 touchdowns, with 12 red zone targets.

That came to 8.1 targets a game, a 64 percent catch rate and 12.9 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 91 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 15 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 A.J. Brown scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Dylan Sampson 5.8, 8.8 a game between them.

Dylan Sampson finished RB55 and A.J. Brown WR11, which are two different ladders.

Dylan Sampson is a running back and A.J. Brown a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Both are off in Week 11, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.

A.J. Brown is listed as questionable on the injury report.