Should I start Dylan Sampson or DeMario Douglas in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

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

Live drafts hold no current pick on DeMario Douglas, and the board ranks him 155th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Dylan Sampson is 1.4 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for DeMario Douglas is 2.3 PPR points a game off 1 market across 10 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.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Dylan Sampson has been on the field for 51 percent of CLE snaps, taken 16 percent of the carries, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 18 third down targets, had 0 of its 6 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 19 two minute targets.

His 11 targets have come 0.3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 7 against TEN he carried 6 times for 45 yards, caught 3 of 3 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against PIT he carried 1 time for 7 yards, caught 6 of 8 targets for 62 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, DeMario Douglas has been on the field for 56 percent of NE snaps, drawn 16 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 13 of the offence's 59 third down targets, had 0 of its 11 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 31 two minute targets.

His 37 targets have averaged 10.6 air yards.

In Week 6 against NYJ he caught 7 of 8 targets for 86 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against CHI he caught 3 of 4 targets for 23 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against MIA he caught 3 of 3 targets for 76 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Dylan Sampson played 15 games and scored 87.6 PPR points, 5.8 a game, finishing RB55.

He carried 65 times for 175 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 33 of 40 targets for 271 more yards.

That came to 4.3 carries a game at 2.7 yards a carry and 2.2 catches a game.

He was on the field for 25 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 DeMario Douglas played 17 games and scored 95.8 PPR points, 5.6 a game, finishing WR65.

He caught 31 of 46 targets for 447 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets.

That came to 2.7 targets a game, a 67 percent catch rate and 14.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 26 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

DeMario Douglas was available for 2 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Dylan Sampson scored 5.8 PPR points a game and DeMario Douglas 5.6, 0.2 a game between them.

Dylan Sampson finished RB55 and DeMario Douglas WR65, which are two different ladders.

Dylan Sampson is a running back and DeMario Douglas 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 11, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.