Should I start Chris Rodriguez Jr. or DeVonta Smith in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Chris Rodriguez Jr., and the board ranks him 85th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on DeVonta Smith, and the board ranks him 87th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 11; 2QB: ADP 28.

The market-based projections

The market has Chris Rodriguez Jr. at 3.2 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 DeVonta Smith is 2.3 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Chris Rodriguez Jr.'s projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season through Week 6

Through Week 6, Chris Rodriguez Jr. has been on the field for 25 percent of JAX snaps, taken 24 percent of the carries, drawn 1 percent of the targets and had 16 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 43 third down targets, had 4 of its 16 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 23 two minute targets.

His 2 targets have averaged 2.0 air yards.

In Week 4 against CIN he carried 6 times for 35 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against PHI he carried 2 times for 5 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 6 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against HOU he carried 11 times for 55 yards, caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

Through Week 6, DeVonta Smith has been on the field for 86 percent of PHI snaps, drawn 33 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 15 of the offence's 41 third down targets, had 0 of its 8 chances inside the five and seen 10 of its 18 two minute targets.

His 41 targets have averaged 12.2 air yards.

In Week 2 against TEN he caught 10 of 13 targets for 117 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 3 against CHI he caught 6 of 8 targets for 65 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against CAR he caught 7 of 14 targets for 75 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Chris Rodriguez Jr. played 13 games and scored 92.0 PPR points, 7.1 a game, finishing RB51.

He carried 112 times for 500 yards and 6 touchdowns, and caught 3 of 4 targets for 30 more yards.

That came to 8.6 carries a game at 5 yards a carry and 0.2 catches a game.

He was on the field for 30 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 DeVonta Smith played 17 games and scored 201.8 PPR points, 11.9 a game, finishing WR20.

He caught 77 of 113 targets for 1008 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 10 red zone targets.

That came to 6.6 targets a game, a 68 percent catch rate and 13.1 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 89 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

DeVonta Smith was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 DeVonta Smith scored 11.9 PPR points a game and Chris Rodriguez Jr. 7.1, 4.8 a game between them.

Chris Rodriguez Jr. finished RB51 and DeVonta Smith WR20, which are two different ladders.

Chris Rodriguez Jr. is a running back and DeVonta Smith a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Chris Rodriguez Jr. is off in Week 7 and DeVonta Smith in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.

DeVonta Smith is listed as out on the injury report.