Should I start Puka Nacua or Christian McCaffrey in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Puka Nacua, and the board ranks him 4th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 6.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Christian McCaffrey, and the board ranks him 5th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 7.

The market-based projections

Puka Nacua's market-based projection is 21.9 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 6th highest figure of the 225 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Christian McCaffrey is 20.7 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.

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

This season so far

Through Week 8, Puka Nacua has been on the field for 86 percent of LAR snaps, drawn 34 percent of the targets and had 22 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 20 of the offence's 48 third down targets, had 3 of its 18 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 74 targets have averaged 7.7 air yards.

In Week 6 against ARI he caught 6 of 7 targets for 80 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against LV he carried 2 times for 10 yards, caught 8 of 10 targets for 68 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against LAC he caught 11 of 12 targets for 80 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Puka Nacua played 16 games and scored 375.0 PPR points, 23.4 a game, finishing WR1.

He caught 129 of 166 targets for 1715 yards and 10 touchdowns, with 16 red zone targets.

That came to 10.4 targets a game, a 78 percent catch rate and 13.3 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 68 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Christian McCaffrey was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Christian McCaffrey scored 24.5 PPR points a game and Puka Nacua 23.4, 1.1 a game between them.

Puka Nacua finished WR1 and Christian McCaffrey RB1, which are two different ladders.

Puka Nacua is a wide receiver and Christian McCaffrey a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Puka Nacua is off in Week 11 and Christian McCaffrey in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.

Christian McCaffrey is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

Christian McCaffrey has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.