Darren Waller or Sam Darnold: who should I start in Week 3?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Darren Waller: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 142nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Sam Darnold: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 148th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 62.

What the sportsbooks price

The player markets price Darren Waller at 6.1 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 15 books. That is the 155th highest figure of the 186 players the books price.

The books have Sam Darnold at 12.8 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 10 books. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's price needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Sam Darnold's price is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 2, Darren Waller has been on the field for 40 percent of CAR snaps, drawn 8 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 15 third down targets, had 0 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 7 two minute targets.

His 5 targets have averaged 6.8 air yards.

In Week 1 against CHI he caught 2 of 2 targets for 28 yards and did not score.

In Week 2 against ATL he caught 3 of 3 targets for 33 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

Through Week 1, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 10 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 3 times and thrown 7.5 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 1 of 3 dropbacks.

In Week 1 against NE he completed 1 of 2 passes for 13 yards and threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

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 Sam Darnold played 17 games and scored 249.4 PPR points, 14.7 a game, finishing QB13.

He threw for 4048 yards on 477 attempts with 25 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, and ran for 95 yards and 0 touchdowns.

That came to 28.1 attempts a game at 8.5 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 96 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Sam Darnold was available for 8 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Darren Waller 9.9, 4.8 a game between them.

Darren Waller finished TE33 and Sam Darnold QB13, which are two different ladders.

Darren Waller is a tight end and Sam Darnold a quarterback, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Darren Waller is off in Week 5 and Sam Darnold in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

Sam Darnold is only part priced, so the books' half of this page is whole for only one of them.