Should I start Kenny Gainwell or Bijan Robinson in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kenny Gainwell, and the board ranks him 45th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Bijan Robinson, and the board ranks him 52nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Kenny Gainwell is 6.6 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 4 market sources. That is 40 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Bijan Robinson is 5.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Kenny Gainwell has been on the field for 35 percent of TB snaps, taken 16 percent of the carries, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 57 third down targets, had 0 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 44 two minute targets.

His 17 targets have come 2.3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 5 against DAL he carried 4 times for 18 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 10 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against PIT he carried 2 times for 17 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 7 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CAR he carried 14 times for 88 yards and did not score.

Through Week 7, Bijan Robinson has been on the field for 71 percent of ATL snaps, taken 66 percent of the carries, drawn 17 percent of the targets and had 46 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 55 third down targets, had 7 of its 15 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 25 two minute targets.

His 32 targets have come 1.3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 5 against BAL he carried 17 times for 86 yards, caught 4 of 7 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against CHI he carried 9 times for 61 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for -8 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against SF he carried 20 times for 63 yards, caught 5 of 5 targets for 45 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Kenny Gainwell played 17 games and scored 222.3 PPR points, 13.1 a game, finishing RB16.

He carried 114 times for 537 yards and 5 touchdowns, and caught 73 of 85 targets for 486 more yards.

That came to 6.7 carries a game at 4.7 yards a carry and 4.3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 49 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Bijan Robinson played 17 games and scored 370.8 PPR points, 21.8 a game, finishing RB2.

He carried 287 times for 1478 yards and 7 touchdowns, and caught 79 of 103 targets for 820 more yards.

That came to 16.9 carries a game at 5.1 yards a carry and 4.6 catches a game.

He was on the field for 78 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Head to head

In 2025 Bijan Robinson scored 21.8 PPR points a game and Kenny Gainwell 13.1, 8.7 a game between them.

Kenny Gainwell finished RB16 that year and Bijan Robinson RB2.

Bijan Robinson had 173 more carries than Kenny Gainwell, 287 to 114.

Bijan Robinson had 6 more catches than Kenny Gainwell, 79 to 73.

This season Bijan Robinson holds the bigger snap share, 71 percent against 35 percent.

This season Bijan Robinson holds the bigger share of the carries, 66 percent against 16 percent.

Byes and availability

Kenny Gainwell is off in Week 10 and Bijan Robinson in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.

Kenny Gainwell is listed as questionable on the injury report.