Should I start Darren Waller or Oronde Gadsden in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darren Waller, and the board ranks him 52nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Oronde Gadsden, and the board ranks him 194th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Darren Waller's market-based projection is 4.9 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 6 market sources. That is the 48th highest figure of the 211 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Oronde Gadsden is 1.1 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.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Darren Waller has been on the field for 48 percent of CAR snaps, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 9 of the offence's 53 third down targets, had 0 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 34 two minute targets.

His 25 targets have averaged 9.4 air yards.

In Week 6 against PHI he caught 0 of 2 targets for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against TB he caught 1 of 2 targets for 50 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against GB he caught 1 of 2 targets for 11 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, Oronde Gadsden has been on the field for 48 percent of LAC snaps, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 14 of the offence's 68 third down targets, had 0 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 28 two minute targets.

His 26 targets have averaged 7.1 air yards.

In Week 5 against DEN he caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against KC he caught 3 of 5 targets for 17 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against LAR he caught 5 of 5 targets for 52 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Darren Waller played 9 games and scored 88.7 PPR points, 9.9 a game, finishing TE33.

He caught 24 of 34 targets for 283 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets.

That came to 3.8 targets a game, a 71 percent catch rate and 11.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 45 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Oronde Gadsden played 15 games and scored 131.4 PPR points, 8.8 a game, finishing TE15.

He caught 49 of 69 targets for 664 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets.

That came to 4.6 targets a game, a 71 percent catch rate and 13.6 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 63 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Oronde Gadsden was available for 6 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Darren Waller scored 9.9 PPR points a game and Oronde Gadsden 8.8, 1.1 a game between them.

Darren Waller finished TE33 that year and Oronde Gadsden TE15.

Oronde Gadsden had 35 more targets than Darren Waller, 69 to 34.

Oronde Gadsden had 381 more receiving yards than Darren Waller, 664 to 283.

Their snap share this season is the same, 48 percent each.

This season Oronde Gadsden holds the bigger target share, 13 percent against 10 percent.

Byes and availability

Darren Waller is off in Week 5 and Oronde Gadsden in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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