Should I start Sam Darnold or Braelon Allen in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Sam Darnold, and the board ranks him 119th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Braelon Allen, and the board ranks him 120th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Sam Darnold's market-based projection is 15.5 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 36th highest figure of the 224 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Braelon Allen is 3.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 3 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.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 90 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 235 times and thrown 6.9 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 45 of 235 dropbacks and scrambled 9 times.

In Week 6 against DEN he completed 27 of 49 passes for 278 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and ran 2 times for 19 yards.

In Week 7 against KC he completed 20 of 28 passes for 257 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 17 yards.

In Week 8 against CHI he completed 17 of 34 passes for 188 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 20 yards.

Through Week 8, Braelon Allen has been on the field for 66 percent of NYJ snaps, taken 56 percent of the carries, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 32 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 61 third down targets, had 3 of its 14 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 34 two minute targets.

His 22 targets have come 0.1 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 6 against NE he carried 17 times for 78 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 26 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against MIA he carried 17 times for 104 yards, caught 6 of 7 targets for 30 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against LV he carried 21 times for 147 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 6 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Sam Darnold played 17 games and scored 249.4 PPR points, 14.7 a game, finishing QB13.

He threw for 4048 yards on 477 attempts with 25 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, and ran for 95 yards and 0 touchdowns.

That came to 28.1 attempts a game at 9 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 96 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Braelon Allen played 4 games and scored 15.3 PPR points, 3.8 a game, finishing RB100.

He carried 18 times for 76 yards and 1 touchdown, and caught 2 of 3 targets for 17 more yards.

That came to 4-5 carries a game at 4.2 yards a carry and 0-1 catches a game.

He was on the field for 24 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Sam Darnold was available for 13 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Braelon Allen 3.8, 10.8 a game between them.

Sam Darnold finished QB13 and Braelon Allen RB100, which are two different ladders.

Sam Darnold is a quarterback and Braelon Allen a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Sam Darnold is off in Week 11 and Braelon Allen in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

Sam Darnold is listed as out on the injury report.

What would change the answer

Braelon Allen has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.