Should I start Christian McCaffrey or Lamar Jackson in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Christian McCaffrey, and the board ranks him 3rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 7.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Lamar Jackson, and the board ranks him 65th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 3.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Christian McCaffrey is 20.6 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 11 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

No season market is posted for Lamar Jackson, so the only market valuing him on this page is the draft room.

This season so far

Through Week 7, Christian McCaffrey has been on the field for 69 percent of SF snaps, taken 46 percent of the carries, drawn 20 percent of the targets and had 36 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 9 of the offence's 50 third down targets, had 12 of its 24 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 30 two minute targets.

His 42 targets have averaged 2.5 air yards.

In Week 5 against SEA he carried 11 times for 68 yards, caught 3 of 3 targets for 15 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against WAS he carried 16 times for 64 yards, caught 9 of 10 targets for 53 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 7 against ATL he carried 7 times for 39 yards, caught 6 of 7 targets for 61 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, Lamar Jackson has been on the field for 73 percent of BAL snaps, dropped back 112 times and thrown 10.4 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 13 of 112 dropbacks and scrambled 10 times.

In Week 3 against DAL he completed 15 of 20 passes for 186 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 6 times for 50 yards.

In Week 4 against TEN he completed 15 of 20 passes for 222 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 20 yards.

In Week 8 against BUF he completed 0 of 1 pass for 0 yards and threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Christian McCaffrey played 17 games and scored 416.6 PPR points, 24.5 a game, finishing RB1.

He carried 311 times for 1202 yards and 10 touchdowns, and caught 102 of 129 targets for 924 more yards.

That came to 18.3 carries a game at 3.9 yards a carry and 6.0 catches a game.

He was on the field for 83 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Lamar Jackson played 13 games and scored 221.9 PPR points, 17.1 a game, finishing QB20.

He threw for 2549 yards on 302 attempts with 21 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, and ran for 349 yards and 2 touchdowns.

That came to 23.2 attempts a game at 8.4 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 92 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Christian McCaffrey was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Christian McCaffrey scored 24.5 PPR points a game and Lamar Jackson 17.1, 7.4 a game between them.

Christian McCaffrey finished RB1 and Lamar Jackson QB20, which are two different ladders.

Christian McCaffrey is a running back and Lamar Jackson a quarterback, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Christian McCaffrey is off in Week 8 and Lamar Jackson in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

Christian McCaffrey is listed as questionable on the injury report.

Lamar Jackson is listed as out on the injury report.