Should I start Deebo Samuel Sr. or Troy Franklin in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Deebo Samuel Sr., and the board ranks him 128th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Troy Franklin, and the board ranks him 135th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market has Deebo Samuel Sr. at 3.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 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.

Troy Franklin's market-based projection is 3.5 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 132nd highest figure of the 220 players with a market-based projection.

Deebo Samuel Sr.'s projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

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.

Through Week 8, Troy Franklin has been on the field for 44 percent of DEN snaps, drawn 5 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 66 third down targets, had 0 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 11 targets have averaged 15.0 air yards.

In Week 6 against SEA he caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against ARI he caught 0 of 2 targets for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against KC he caught 1 of 2 targets for 3 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025 Troy Franklin played 17 games and scored 177.1 PPR points, 10.4 a game, finishing WR31.

He caught 65 of 104 targets for 709 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 18 red zone targets.

That came to 6.1 targets a game, a 63 percent catch rate and 10.9 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 60 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Troy Franklin was available for 1 game more.

Head to head

In 2025 Deebo Samuel Sr. scored 11.8 PPR points a game and Troy Franklin 10.4, 1.3 a game between them.

Deebo Samuel Sr. finished WR25 that year and Troy Franklin WR31.

Troy Franklin had 5 more targets than Deebo Samuel Sr., 104 to 99.

Deebo Samuel Sr. had 18 more receiving yards than Troy Franklin, 727 to 709.

This season Deebo Samuel Sr. holds the bigger snap share, 57 percent against 44 percent.

This season Deebo Samuel Sr. holds the bigger target share, 15 percent against 5 percent.

Byes and availability

Deebo Samuel Sr. is off in Week 8 and Troy Franklin in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.

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

What would change the answer

Deebo Samuel Sr. has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.