Should I start Darren Waller or CeeDee Lamb in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darren Waller, and the board ranks him 54th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on CeeDee Lamb, and the board ranks him 55th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Darren Waller's market-based projection is 4.8 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 11 market sources. That is the 65th highest figure of the 213 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for CeeDee Lamb is 4.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 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.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Darren Waller has been on the field for 48 percent of CAR snaps, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 9 of the offence's 53 third down targets, had 0 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 34 two minute targets.

His 25 targets have averaged 9.4 air yards.

In Week 6 against PHI he caught 0 of 2 targets for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against TB he caught 1 of 2 targets for 50 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against GB he caught 1 of 2 targets for 11 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, CeeDee Lamb has been on the field for 79 percent of DAL snaps, drawn 31 percent of the targets and had 16 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 25 of the offence's 69 third down targets, had 3 of its 31 chances inside the five and seen 16 of its 50 two minute targets.

His 92 targets have averaged 9.9 air yards.

In Week 6 against GB he caught 9 of 18 targets for 70 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against PHI he caught 5 of 12 targets for 74 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 8 against ARI he caught 7 of 11 targets for 58 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Darren Waller played 9 games and scored 88.7 PPR points, 9.9 a game, finishing TE33.

He caught 24 of 34 targets for 283 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets.

That came to 3.8 targets a game, a 71 percent catch rate and 11.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 45 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 CeeDee Lamb played 14 games and scored 200.9 PPR points, 14.4 a game, finishing WR22.

He caught 75 of 117 targets for 1077 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 17 red zone targets.

That came to 8.4 targets a game, a 64 percent catch rate and 14.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 75 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

CeeDee Lamb was available for 5 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 CeeDee Lamb scored 14.4 PPR points a game and Darren Waller 9.9, 4.5 a game between them.

Darren Waller finished TE33 and CeeDee Lamb WR22, which are two different ladders.

Darren Waller is a tight end and CeeDee Lamb a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Darren Waller is off in Week 5 and CeeDee Lamb in Week 14, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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