Sam Darnold or DK Metcalf: who should I start in Week 6?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Sam Darnold: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 127th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.

Drafters have formed no consensus on DK Metcalf: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 129th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Sam Darnold's market-based projection is 14.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 43rd highest figure of the 145 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for DK Metcalf is 2.3 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 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.

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

This season through Week 5

Through Week 5, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 81 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 110 times and thrown 6.7 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 22 of 110 dropbacks and scrambled 3 times.

In Week 3 against WAS he completed 31 of 45 passes for 379 yards, threw 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and ran 1 time for 5 yards.

In Week 4 against LAC he completed 13 of 22 passes for 168 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 8 yards.

In Week 5 against SF he completed 18 of 29 passes for 195 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions and ran 1 time for 5 yards.

Through Week 5, DK Metcalf has been on the field for 95 percent of PIT snaps, drawn 21 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 12 of the offence's 40 third down targets, had 0 of its 2 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 37 targets have averaged 13.8 air yards.

In Week 3 against CIN he caught 3 of 5 targets for 31 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 4 against CLE he caught 5 of 9 targets for 115 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against IND he carried 1 time for 11 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 12 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Sam Darnold played 17 games and scored 249.4 PPR points, 14.7 a game, finishing QB13.

He threw for 4048 yards on 477 attempts with 25 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, and ran for 95 yards and 0 touchdowns.

That came to 28.1 attempts a game at 9 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 96 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 DK Metcalf played 15 games and scored 187.2 PPR points, 12.5 a game, finishing WR26.

He caught 59 of 99 targets for 850 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 13 red zone targets.

That came to 6.6 targets a game, a 60 percent catch rate and 14.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 87 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Sam Darnold was available for 2 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and DK Metcalf 12.5, 2.2 a game between them.

Sam Darnold finished QB13 and DK Metcalf WR26, which are two different ladders.

Sam Darnold is a quarterback and DK Metcalf a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Sam Darnold is off in Week 11 and DK Metcalf in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

DK Metcalf is only part priced, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.