Should I start DeVonta Smith or J.K. Dobbins in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on DeVonta Smith, and the board ranks him 108th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 11; 2QB: ADP 28.

Live drafts hold no current pick on J.K. Dobbins, and the board ranks him 136th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for DeVonta Smith is 2.3 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.

The market has J.K. Dobbins at 2.5 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season so far

Through Week 6, DeVonta Smith has been on the field for 86 percent of PHI snaps, drawn 33 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 15 of the offence's 41 third down targets, had 0 of its 8 chances inside the five and seen 10 of its 18 two minute targets.

His 41 targets have averaged 12.2 air yards.

In Week 2 against TEN he caught 10 of 13 targets for 117 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 3 against CHI he caught 6 of 8 targets for 65 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against CAR he caught 7 of 14 targets for 75 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, J.K. Dobbins has been on the field for 38 percent of DEN snaps, taken 50 percent of the carries, drawn 4 percent of the targets and had 22 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 66 third down targets, had 8 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 9 targets have come 1.1 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 6 against SEA he carried 17 times for 41 yards, caught 3 of 3 targets for 5 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against ARI he carried 6 times for 23 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against KC he carried 7 times for 13 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 DeVonta Smith played 17 games and scored 201.8 PPR points, 11.9 a game, finishing WR20.

He caught 77 of 113 targets for 1008 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 10 red zone targets.

That came to 6.6 targets a game, a 68 percent catch rate and 13.1 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 89 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 J.K. Dobbins played 10 games and scored 115.9 PPR points, 11.6 a game, finishing RB43.

He carried 153 times for 772 yards and 4 touchdowns, and caught 11 of 14 targets for 37 more yards.

That came to 15.3 carries a game at 5.0 yards a carry and 1.1 catches a game.

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

DeVonta Smith was available for 7 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 DeVonta Smith scored 11.9 PPR points a game and J.K. Dobbins 11.6, 0.3 a game between them.

DeVonta Smith finished WR20 and J.K. Dobbins RB43, which are two different ladders.

DeVonta Smith is a wide receiver and J.K. Dobbins a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Both are off in Week 10, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.

DeVonta Smith is listed as out on the injury report.