Should I start Darren Waller or Rashee Rice in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darren Waller, and the board ranks him 142nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rashee Rice, and the board ranks him 143rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Darren Waller's market-based projection is 4.8 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 110th highest figure of the 219 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Rashee Rice is 2.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 9 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.

Rashee Rice'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, Rashee Rice has been on the field for 62 percent of KC snaps, drawn 16 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 5 of the offence's 42 third down targets, had 0 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 22 two minute targets.

His 25 targets have averaged 6.1 air yards.

In Week 3 against MIA he caught 7 of 9 targets for 88 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against LV he was not given the ball.

In Week 8 against DEN he caught 7 of 8 targets for 53 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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 Rashee Rice played 8 games and scored 150.1 PPR points, 18.8 a game, finishing WR40.

He caught 53 of 78 targets for 571 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 18 red zone targets.

That came to 9.8 targets a game, a 68 percent catch rate and 10.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 73 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Darren Waller was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Rashee Rice scored 18.8 PPR points a game and Darren Waller 9.9, 8.9 a game between them.

Darren Waller finished TE33 and Rashee Rice WR40, which are two different ladders.

Darren Waller is a tight end and Rashee Rice a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Both are off in Week 5, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.

What would change the answer

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