Should I start Saquon Barkley or Chris Rodriguez Jr. in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Saquon Barkley, and the board ranks him 74th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 3; 2QB: ADP 14.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Chris Rodriguez Jr., and the board ranks him 84th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Saquon Barkley is 3.4 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 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.

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

This season so far

Through Week 7, Saquon Barkley has been on the field for 33 percent of PHI snaps, taken 34 percent of the carries, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 44 third down targets, had 2 of its 11 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 32 two minute targets.

His 9 targets have come 0.6 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 3 against CHI he carried 15 times for 82 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for -2 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against LAR he carried 2 times for 8 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against DAL he carried 7 times for 62 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 9 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Saquon Barkley played 16 games and scored 232.3 PPR points, 14.5 a game, finishing RB14.

He carried 280 times for 1140 yards and 7 touchdowns, and caught 37 of 50 targets for 273 more yards.

That came to 17-18 carries a game at 4.1 yards a carry and 2.3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 78 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Saquon Barkley was available for 3 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Saquon Barkley scored 14.5 PPR points a game and Chris Rodriguez Jr. 7.1, 7.4 a game between them.

Saquon Barkley finished RB14 that year and Chris Rodriguez Jr. RB51.

Saquon Barkley had 168 more carries than Chris Rodriguez Jr., 280 to 112.

Saquon Barkley had 34 more catches than Chris Rodriguez Jr., 37 to 3.

This season Saquon Barkley holds the bigger snap share, 33 percent against 25 percent.

This season Saquon Barkley holds the bigger share of the carries, 34 percent against 24 percent.

Byes and availability

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

Saquon Barkley is listed as questionable on the injury report.