Should I start Deshaun Watson or Shedeur Sanders in Week 9?

Updated Nov 4, 2:11 PM ET. Week 10 answers post Tuesday.

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Nov 4, 10:13 AM ET: Deshaun Watson: Listed Questionable (Concussion) (Sleeper injury feed)

Start Deshaun Watson: 98 percent of the snaps and 0 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against Shedeur Sanders's 4 percent of the snaps and 0 percent of the targets. No market projection is posted on either of them this week, so this is a usage call, and a lower confidence one than a call made on a projection. What follows is what each of them has done.

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Your next move

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Neither man carries a season projection right now, so this is their usage this season and their last full season's numbers, side by side.

Deshaun Watson

QB30 · CLE · bye 11

2026 vs pass yds line 5-3

Market-based projection: 15.4 pts a game Wk 8 price
Overall rank: 224

Shedeur Sanders

QB · CLE · bye 11

2025 vs pass td line 2-6

Overall rank: 242

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The gap

Board size308 draftable players

Draft data is not current for these two, so the figures that depend on it are left out. The call above comes from each player's usage.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Deshaun Watson, and the board ranks him 224th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Shedeur Sanders, and the board ranks him 242nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Deshaun Watson is 1.5 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 0 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

No season market is posted for Shedeur Sanders, so the only market valuing him on this page is the draft room.

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Deshaun Watson has been on the field for 99 percent of CLE snaps, dropped back 306 times and thrown 7.2 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 65 of 306 dropbacks and scrambled 24 times.

In Week 6 against BAL he completed 16 of 26 passes for 164 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 8 times for 29 yards.

In Week 7 against TEN he completed 25 of 36 passes for 308 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 3 times for 19 yards.

In Week 8 against PIT he completed 27 of 39 passes for 324 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 3 yards.

Through Week 8, Shedeur Sanders has been on the field for 4 percent of CLE snaps, dropped back 3 times and thrown -1.7 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 0 of 3 dropbacks.

In Week 3 against CAR he completed 1 of 1 pass for 0 yards and threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

In Week 8 against PIT he completed 2 of 2 passes for 2 yards and threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

Their 2025 seasons

The season feed carries no line for Deshaun Watson in the last completed season.

In 2025 Shedeur Sanders played 8 games and scored 94.9 PPR points, 11.9 a game, finishing QB37.

He threw for 1400 yards on 212 attempts with 7 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and ran for 169 yards and 1 touchdown.

That came to 26-27 attempts a game at 6.6 yards an attempt.

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

Head to head

This season Deshaun Watson holds the bigger snap share, 99 percent against 4 percent.

Their target share this season is the same, 0 percent each.

Byes and availability

Both are off in Week 11, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.

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