Should I start Deebo Samuel Sr. or Brian Thomas Jr. in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Deebo Samuel Sr., and the board ranks him 130th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Brian Thomas Jr., and the board ranks him 131st overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market has Deebo Samuel Sr. at 3.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 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.

Brian Thomas Jr.'s market-based projection is 3.7 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 129th highest figure of the 219 players with a market-based projection.

Deebo Samuel Sr.'s projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 5, Deebo Samuel Sr. has been on the field for 57 percent of SF snaps, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 10 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 35 third down targets, had 2 of its 14 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 21 two minute targets.

His 20 targets have averaged 2.6 air yards.

In Week 3 against ARI he carried 2 times for 14 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against DEN he carried 3 times for 44 yards, caught 5 of 6 targets for 26 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against SEA he carried 2 times for 4 yards, caught 2 of 3 targets for 21 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, Brian Thomas Jr. has been on the field for 52 percent of JAX snaps, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 25 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 5 third down targets.

His 2 targets have averaged 19.0 air yards.

In Week 8 against IND he caught 1 of 2 targets for 12 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Deebo Samuel Sr. played 16 games and scored 188.2 PPR points, 11.8 a game, finishing WR25.

He caught 72 of 99 targets for 727 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets.

That came to 6.2 targets a game, a 73 percent catch rate and 10.1 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 72 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Brian Thomas Jr. played 14 games and scored 138.8 PPR points, 9.9 a game, finishing WR42.

He caught 48 of 91 targets for 707 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 6 red zone targets.

That came to 6-7 targets a game, a 53 percent catch rate and 14.7 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 79 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Deebo Samuel Sr. was available for 2 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Deebo Samuel Sr. scored 11.8 PPR points a game and Brian Thomas Jr. 9.9, 1.8 a game between them.

Deebo Samuel Sr. finished WR25 that year and Brian Thomas Jr. WR42.

Deebo Samuel Sr. had 8 more targets than Brian Thomas Jr., 99 to 91.

Deebo Samuel Sr. had 20 more receiving yards than Brian Thomas Jr., 727 to 707.

This season Deebo Samuel Sr. holds the bigger snap share, 57 percent against 52 percent.

This season Deebo Samuel Sr. holds the bigger target share, 15 percent against 12 percent.

Byes and availability

Deebo Samuel Sr. is off in Week 8 and Brian Thomas Jr. in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.

Deebo Samuel Sr. is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

Deebo Samuel Sr. has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.