Should I start Devaughn Vele or Dak Prescott in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Devaughn Vele, and the board ranks him 136th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Dak Prescott, and the board ranks him 138th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Devaughn Vele is 1.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 5 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Dak Prescott is 1.2 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 0 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season so far

Through Week 7, Devaughn Vele has been on the field for 91 percent of NO snaps, drawn 18 percent of the targets and had 10 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 17 of the offence's 68 third down targets, had 3 of its 23 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 38 two minute targets.

His 48 targets have averaged 9.9 air yards.

In Week 5 against MIN he caught 4 of 6 targets for 26 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against NYG he caught 3 of 6 targets for 42 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against PIT he caught 5 of 5 targets for 54 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, Dak Prescott has been on the field for 100 percent of DAL snaps, dropped back 330 times and thrown 7.8 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 43 of 330 dropbacks and scrambled 17 times.

In Week 6 against GB he completed 34 of 54 passes for 258 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions and ran 2 times for 7 yards.

In Week 7 against PHI he completed 15 of 27 passes for 212 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 8 yards.

In Week 8 against ARI he completed 19 of 29 passes for 195 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 6 times for 21 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Devaughn Vele played 13 games and scored 66.3 PPR points, 5.1 a game, finishing WR95.

He caught 25 of 39 targets for 293 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 4 red zone targets.

That came to 3.0 targets a game, a 64 percent catch rate and 11.7 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 51 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Dak Prescott played 17 games and scored 323.8 PPR points, 19.0 a game, finishing QB6.

He threw for 4552 yards on 600 attempts with 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and ran for 177 yards and 2 touchdowns.

That came to 35.3 attempts a game at 7.6 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 98 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Dak Prescott was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Dak Prescott scored 19.0 PPR points a game and Devaughn Vele 5.1, 13.9 a game between them.

Devaughn Vele finished WR95 and Dak Prescott QB6, which are two different ladders.

Devaughn Vele is a wide receiver and Dak Prescott a quarterback, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Devaughn Vele is off in Week 8 and Dak Prescott in Week 14, so either can cover the other's bye.