Should I start Sam Darnold or Drake Maye in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Sam Darnold, and the board ranks him 12th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Drake Maye, and the board ranks him 95th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Sam Darnold's market-based projection is 16.2 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 11 market sources. That is the 9th highest figure of the 198 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Drake Maye is 1.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 market sources. That is 0 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 89 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 196 times and thrown 7.0 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 39 of 196 dropbacks and scrambled 7 times.

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.

In Week 6 against DEN he completed 27 of 49 passes for 278 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and ran 2 times for 19 yards.

In Week 7 against KC he completed 20 of 28 passes for 257 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 17 yards.

Through Week 7, Drake Maye has been on the field for 97 percent of NE snaps, dropped back 249 times and thrown 9.1 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 36 of 249 dropbacks and scrambled 23 times.

In Week 5 against LV he completed 26 of 34 passes for 374 yards, threw 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 4 times for 29 yards.

In Week 6 against NYJ he completed 18 of 32 passes for 235 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 3 times for 25 yards.

In Week 7 against CHI he completed 24 of 30 passes for 321 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 4 times for 26 yards.

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 Drake Maye played 17 games and scored 360.0 PPR points, 21.2 a game, finishing QB2.

He threw for 4394 yards on 492 attempts with 31 touchdowns and 8 interceptions, and ran for 450 yards and 4 touchdowns.

That came to 28.9 attempts a game at 8.9 yards an attempt.

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

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Head to head

In 2025 Drake Maye scored 21.2 PPR points a game and Sam Darnold 14.7, 6.5 a game between them.

Sam Darnold finished QB13 that year and Drake Maye QB2.

Drake Maye had 15 more pass attempts than Sam Darnold, 492 to 477.

Drake Maye had 346 more passing yards than Sam Darnold, 4394 to 4048.

This season Drake Maye holds the bigger snap share, 97 percent against 89 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.

What would change the answer

Drake Maye has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.