Should I start Charlie Kolar or Kenny Gainwell in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Charlie Kolar, and the board ranks him 194th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kenny Gainwell, and the board ranks him 195th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Charlie Kolar is 1.0 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a tight end's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Kenny Gainwell is 1.4 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Charlie Kolar has been on the field for 65 percent of LAC snaps, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 5 of the offence's 47 third down targets, had 0 of its 2 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 22 two minute targets.

His 17 targets have averaged 5.4 air yards.

In Week 5 against DEN he caught 3 of 4 targets for 37 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against KC he caught 3 of 6 targets for 20 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against LAR he caught 1 of 4 targets for 20 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, Kenny Gainwell has been on the field for 37 percent of TB snaps, taken 22 percent of the carries, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 60 third down targets, had 0 of its 14 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 44 two minute targets.

His 18 targets have come 2.4 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

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.

In Week 8 against ATL he carried 25 times for 140 yards, caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Charlie Kolar played 17 games and scored 36.2 PPR points, 2.1 a game, finishing TE62.

He caught 10 of 15 targets for 142 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 3 red zone targets.

That came to 0.9 targets a game, a 67 percent catch rate and 14.2 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 40 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Kenny Gainwell scored 13.1 PPR points a game and Charlie Kolar 2.1, 10.9 a game between them.

Charlie Kolar finished TE62 and Kenny Gainwell RB16, which are two different ladders.

Charlie Kolar is a tight end and Kenny Gainwell a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Charlie Kolar is off in Week 7 and Kenny Gainwell in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.