Should I start Darnell Washington or Austin Ekeler in Week 10?

The market-based projections

Darnell Washington's market-based projection is 7.4 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 106th highest figure of the 217 players with a market-based projection.

Austin Ekeler's market-based projection is 6.9 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 115th highest figure of the 217 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darnell Washington, and the board ranks him 117th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Austin Ekeler, and the board ranks him 118th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season so far

Through Week 8, Darnell Washington has been on the field for 65 percent of PIT snaps, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 12 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 61 third down targets, had 3 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 44 two minute targets.

His 28 targets have averaged 5.4 air yards.

In Week 6 against TB he caught 4 of 6 targets for 25 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against NO he caught 1 of 1 target for 4 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against CLE he caught 3 of 5 targets for 94 yards and did not score.

Through Week 9, Austin Ekeler has been on the field for 25 percent of WAS snaps, taken 21 percent of the carries, drawn 5 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 42 third down targets, had 0 of its 4 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 24 two minute targets.

His 8 targets have come 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 6 against SF he carried 1 time for 3 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 4 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against PHI he carried 8 times for 36 yards and did not score.

In Week 9 against LAR he carried 8 times for 16 yards, caught 2 of 3 targets for 18 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Darnell Washington played 16 games and scored 73.4 PPR points, 4.6 a game, finishing TE39.

He caught 31 of 43 targets for 364 yards and 1 touchdown, with 8 red zone targets.

That came to 2.7 targets a game, a 72 percent catch rate and 11.7 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 57 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Austin Ekeler played 2 games and scored 13.1 PPR points, 6.6 a game, finishing RB103.

He carried 14 times for 43 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 5 of 7 targets for 38 more yards.

That came to 7.0 carries a game at 3.1 yards a carry and 2-3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 50 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Darnell Washington was available for 14 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Austin Ekeler scored 6.6 PPR points a game and Darnell Washington 4.6, 2.0 a game between them.

Darnell Washington finished TE39 and Austin Ekeler RB103, which are two different ladders.

Darnell Washington is a tight end and Austin Ekeler a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Darnell Washington is off in Week 9 and Austin Ekeler in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

0.5 points a game is the entire case. The market restates it every week, and a line that moves moves the order with it.

The draft market is the half that is missing: when live drafts hold these two again they can order them differently from the projection, and this page will follow the drafts rather than the market-based projection when they do.