Should I start Nico Collins or Deebo Samuel Sr. in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Nico Collins, and the board ranks him 73rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Deebo Samuel Sr., and the board ranks him 77th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Nico Collins is 3.5 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 has Deebo Samuel Sr. at 3.2 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season so far

Through Week 7, Nico Collins has been on the field for 71 percent of HOU snaps, drawn 22 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 8 of the offence's 34 third down targets, had 0 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 35 targets have averaged 12.5 air yards.

In Week 5 against TEN he caught 5 of 7 targets for 56 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against JAX he carried 1 time for 5 yards, caught 3 of 5 targets for 74 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against NYG he caught 2 of 5 targets for 6 yards and did not score.

Through Week 5, Deebo Samuel Sr. has been on the field for 57 percent of SF snaps, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 10 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 35 third down targets, had 2 of its 14 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 21 two minute targets.

His 20 targets have averaged 2.6 air yards.

In Week 3 against ARI he carried 2 times for 14 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against DEN he carried 3 times for 44 yards, caught 5 of 6 targets for 26 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against SEA he carried 2 times for 4 yards, caught 2 of 3 targets for 21 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Nico Collins played 15 games and scored 226.2 PPR points, 15.1 a game, finishing WR8.

He caught 71 of 120 targets for 1117 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 16 red zone targets.

That came to 8.0 targets a game, a 59 percent catch rate and 15.7 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 77 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Deebo Samuel Sr. played 16 games and scored 188.2 PPR points, 11.8 a game, finishing WR25.

He caught 72 of 99 targets for 727 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets.

That came to 6.2 targets a game, a 73 percent catch rate and 10.1 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 72 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Deebo Samuel Sr. was available for 1 game more.

Head to head

In 2025 Nico Collins scored 15.1 PPR points a game and Deebo Samuel Sr. 11.8, 3.3 a game between them.

Nico Collins finished WR8 that year and Deebo Samuel Sr. WR25.

Nico Collins had 21 more targets than Deebo Samuel Sr., 120 to 99.

Nico Collins had 390 more receiving yards than Deebo Samuel Sr., 1117 to 727.

This season Nico Collins holds the bigger snap share, 71 percent against 57 percent.

This season Nico Collins holds the bigger target share, 22 percent against 15 percent.

Byes and availability

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

Deebo Samuel Sr. is listed as out on the injury report.