Should I start George Kittle or C.J. Stroud in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on George Kittle, and the board ranks him 59th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on C.J. Stroud, and the board ranks him 60th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 30.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for George Kittle is 4.6 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a tight end's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

C.J. Stroud's market-based projection is 17.3 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 4 market sources. That is the 5th highest figure of the 213 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, George Kittle has been on the field for 78 percent of SF snaps, drawn 22 percent of the targets and had 15 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 50 third down targets, had 1 of its 24 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 30 two minute targets.

His 46 targets have averaged 7.7 air yards.

In Week 5 against SEA he caught 5 of 6 targets for 24 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against WAS he caught 5 of 8 targets for 69 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against ATL he caught 8 of 10 targets for 88 yards and did not score.

Through Week 7, C.J. Stroud has been on the field for 100 percent of HOU snaps, dropped back 266 times and thrown 9.3 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 35 of 266 dropbacks and scrambled 8 times.

In Week 5 against TEN he completed 26 of 34 passes for 261 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 4 times for 7 yards.

In Week 6 against JAX he completed 24 of 34 passes for 312 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 5 yards.

In Week 7 against NYG he completed 17 of 28 passes for 153 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 4 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 George Kittle played 11 games and scored 161.5 PPR points, 14.7 a game, finishing TE13.

He caught 57 of 69 targets for 628 yards and 7 touchdowns, with 12 red zone targets.

That came to 6.3 targets a game, a 83 percent catch rate and 11.0 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 80 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 C.J. Stroud played 14 games and scored 216.5 PPR points, 15.5 a game, finishing QB21.

He threw for 3041 yards on 423 attempts with 19 touchdowns and 8 interceptions, and ran for 209 yards and 1 touchdown.

That came to 30.2 attempts a game at 7.2 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 93 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

C.J. Stroud was available for 3 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 C.J. Stroud scored 15.5 PPR points a game and George Kittle 14.7, 0.8 a game between them.

George Kittle finished TE13 and C.J. Stroud QB21, which are two different ladders.

George Kittle is a tight end and C.J. Stroud a quarterback, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Both are off in Week 8, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.

What would change the answer

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