Should I start Dylan Sampson or Chris Olave in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Dylan Sampson, and the board ranks him 143rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Chris Olave, and the board ranks him 145th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In standard drafts he goes at ADP 9.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Dylan Sampson 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.

The market-based projection for Chris Olave is 2.8 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.

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

This season so far

Through Week 8, Dylan Sampson has been on the field for 51 percent of CLE snaps, taken 16 percent of the carries, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 18 third down targets, had 0 of its 6 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 19 two minute targets.

His 11 targets have come 0.3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 7 against TEN he carried 6 times for 45 yards, caught 3 of 3 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against PIT he carried 1 time for 7 yards, caught 6 of 8 targets for 62 yards and did not score.

Through Week 7, Chris Olave has been on the field for 81 percent of NO snaps, drawn 27 percent of the targets and had 12 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 19 of the offence's 68 third down targets, had 1 of its 23 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 38 two minute targets.

His 71 targets have averaged 12.3 air yards.

In Week 5 against MIN he caught 4 of 6 targets for 46 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against NYG he caught 4 of 7 targets for 43 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against PIT he caught 6 of 10 targets for 56 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Dylan Sampson played 15 games and scored 87.6 PPR points, 5.8 a game, finishing RB55.

He carried 65 times for 175 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 33 of 40 targets for 271 more yards.

That came to 4.3 carries a game at 2.7 yards a carry and 2.2 catches a game.

He was on the field for 25 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Chris Olave played 16 games and scored 269.0 PPR points, 16.8 a game, finishing WR6.

He caught 100 of 156 targets for 1163 yards and 9 touchdowns, with 13 red zone targets.

That came to 9.8 targets a game, a 64 percent catch rate and 11.6 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 84 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Chris Olave was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Chris Olave scored 16.8 PPR points a game and Dylan Sampson 5.8, 11.0 a game between them.

Dylan Sampson finished RB55 and Chris Olave WR6, which are two different ladders.

Dylan Sampson is a running back and Chris Olave a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Dylan Sampson is off in Week 11 and Chris Olave in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.