Sam Darnold or Cam Ward: who should I start in Week 3?
Both players' season price from the sportsbooks, their usage this season and their last full season's numbers, with the draft market's own figures wherever it still has them.
Updated Sep 25, 2026 at 3:01 AM ET
Neither is in the consensus draft sample any more, and the books have not posted a whole price on Sam Darnold, so there is no current market order to give between these two. What follows is what each of them has already done.
More fantasy football tools and rankings, all priced from the same board.
QB26 · SEA · bye 11
2025 vs pass yds line 9-8
- Overall rank
- 131
- Draft pick
- no consensus
- Tier
- 5
QB32 · TEN · bye 9
2025 vs pass yds line 8-9
- Books price
- 12.7 pts a game
- Draft pick
- no consensus
The gap
- Pick differencenot comparable without a consensus on both
- Board size230 draftable players
Consensus average draft position has stopped updating on these two, so the figures that depend on it are left out rather than printed stale. The verdict line above restates the sportsbooks' price and nothing else.
Where the draft room stands
Drafters have formed no consensus on Sam Darnold: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 131st overall on the rest of his evidence.
In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 62.
Drafters have formed no consensus on Cam Ward: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 148th overall on the rest of his evidence.
In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 105.
What the sportsbooks price
The books have Sam Darnold at 14.9 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 11 books. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's price needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.
The player markets price Cam Ward at 12.7 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 15 books. That is the 64th highest figure of the 176 players the books price.
Sam Darnold's price is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.
This season so far
Through Week 1, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 10 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 3 times and thrown 7.5 air yards an attempt.
He has been sacked or hit on 1 of 3 dropbacks.
In Week 1 against NE he completed 1 of 2 passes for 13 yards and threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.
Through Week 2, Cam Ward has been on the field for 100 percent of TEN snaps, dropped back 63 times and thrown 6.3 air yards an attempt.
He has been sacked or hit on 9 of 63 dropbacks and scrambled 6 times.
In Week 1 against NYJ he completed 19 of 32 passes for 140 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 4 times for 21 yards.
In Week 2 against PHI he completed 13 of 20 passes for 183 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 4 times for 7 yards.
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 8.5 yards an attempt.
He was on the field for 96 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
In 2025 Cam Ward played 17 games and scored 193.7 PPR points, 11.4 a game, finishing QB22.
He threw for 3169 yards on 540 attempts with 15 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, and ran for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns.
That came to 31.8 attempts a game at 5.9 yards an attempt.
He was on the field for 100 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
Both were available for 17 games that season.
Head to head
In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Cam Ward 11.4, 3.3 a game between them.
Sam Darnold finished QB13 that year and Cam Ward QB22.
Cam Ward had 63 more pass attempts than Sam Darnold, 540 to 477.
Sam Darnold had 879 more passing yards than Cam Ward, 4048 to 3169.
This season Cam Ward holds the bigger snap share, 100 percent against 10 percent.
Their target share this season is the same, 0 percent each.
Byes and availability
Sam Darnold is off in Week 11 and Cam Ward in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.
What would change the answer
Sam Darnold is only part priced, so the books' half of this page is whole for only one of them.
Drafting soon? Use the free live draft assistant
It reranks the board after every pick and shows who is falling past ADP at your slot. No sign in, nothing to install.
Open the draft assistant
