Patrick Mahomes or Devaughn Vele: who should I start in Week 3?

What the sportsbooks price

The player markets price Patrick Mahomes at 18.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 17 books. That is the 10th highest figure of the 186 players the books price.

The player markets price Devaughn Vele at 10.9 PPR points a game, built from 4 markets across 16 books. That is the 86th highest figure of the 186 players the books price.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Patrick Mahomes: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 66th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 27.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Devaughn Vele: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 65th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 2

Through Week 2, Patrick Mahomes has been on the field for 100 percent of KC snaps, dropped back 84 times and thrown 5.3 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 9 of 84 dropbacks and scrambled 6 times.

In Week 1 against DEN he completed 15 of 27 passes for 184 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 4 times for 27 yards.

In Week 2 against IND he completed 32 of 47 passes for 382 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 17 yards.

Through Week 2, Devaughn Vele has been on the field for 93 percent of NO snaps, drawn 19 percent of the targets and had 10 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 19 third down targets, had 1 of its 3 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 18 two minute targets.

His 16 targets have averaged 8.3 air yards.

In Week 1 against DET he caught 7 of 9 targets for 69 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 2 against BAL he caught 5 of 7 targets for 64 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Patrick Mahomes played 14 games and scored 296.7 PPR points, 21.2 a game, finishing QB11.

He threw for 3587 yards on 502 attempts with 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and ran for 422 yards and 5 touchdowns.

That came to 35.9 attempts a game at 7.1 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 97 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Devaughn Vele played 13 games and scored 66.3 PPR points, 5.1 a game, finishing WR95.

He caught 25 of 39 targets for 293 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 4 red zone targets.

That came to 3.0 targets a game, a 64 percent catch rate and 11.7 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 51 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Patrick Mahomes was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Patrick Mahomes scored 21.2 PPR points a game and Devaughn Vele 5.1, 16.1 a game between them.

Patrick Mahomes finished QB11 and Devaughn Vele WR95, which are two different ladders.

Patrick Mahomes is a quarterback and Devaughn Vele a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Patrick Mahomes is off in Week 5 and Devaughn Vele in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

7.5 points a game is the entire case. The books restate it every week, and a line that moves moves the order with it.

The draft market is the half that is missing: when the consensus sample holds these two again it can order them differently from the price, and this page will follow the sample rather than the books when it does.