Should I start Patrick Mahomes or Drew Lock in Week 9?
Updated Nov 4, 2:36 PM ET. Week 10 answers post Tuesday.
Latest
- : Coach: Seahawks QB Sam Darnold ruled out with quad injury, is week-to-week (ESPN)
- : Sam Darnold: Listed Out (Quadriceps) (Sleeper injury feed)
- : Drew Lock: Questionable to Out (Elbow) (Sleeper injury feed)
Week 9 verdict
Start Patrick Mahomes over Drew Lock
- Market projects
- 21.2
- fantasy pts
- NYJ D vs QB
- 18.1
- 16th most to QBs (2026)
- Snap share
- 100%
- Through Week 8
- Market projects
- 13.3
- fantasy pts
- ARI D vs QB
- 22.4
- 2nd most to QBs (2026)
- Snap share
- 96%
- Through Week 2
Start Patrick Mahomes: 100 percent of the snaps and 0 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against Drew Lock's 96 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
More fantasy football tools and rankings, all built from the same board.
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.
QB31 · KC · bye 5
2026 vs pass yds line 4-3
- Market-based projection
- 16.0 pts a game Wk 8 price
- Overall rank
- 225
QB32 · SEA · bye 11
- Overall rank
- 226
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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 Patrick Mahomes, and the board ranks him 225th overall on the rest of his evidence.
Live drafts hold no current pick on Drew Lock, and the board ranks him 226th overall on the rest of his evidence.
The market-based projections
The market-based projection for Patrick Mahomes is 1.0 PPR points a game off 1 market across 9 market sources. That is 0 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.
The market-based projection for Drew Lock is 0.9 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.
Patrick Mahomes's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.
This season so far
Through Week 8, Patrick Mahomes has been on the field for 100 percent of KC snaps, dropped back 254 times and thrown 5.8 air yards an attempt.
He has been sacked or hit on 41 of 254 dropbacks and scrambled 13 times.
In Week 6 against LAC he completed 23 of 30 passes for 272 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 3 times for 19 yards.
In Week 7 against SEA he completed 19 of 33 passes for 165 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 14 yards.
In Week 8 against DEN he completed 30 of 41 passes for 321 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 6 yards.
Through Week 2, Drew Lock has been on the field for 96 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 51 times and thrown 7.6 air yards an attempt.
He has been sacked or hit on 8 of 51 dropbacks and scrambled 1 time.
In Week 1 against NE he completed 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 14 yards.
In Week 2 against ARI he completed 19 of 26 passes for 235 yards and threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.
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 Drew Lock played 5 games and scored 0.1 PPR points, 0.0 a game, finishing QB73.
He threw for 15 yards on 3 attempts with 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, and ran for -5 yards and 0 touchdowns.
That came to 0.6 attempts a game at 5.0 yards an attempt.
He was on the field for 4 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
Patrick Mahomes was available for 9 games more.
Head to head
In 2025 Patrick Mahomes scored 21.2 PPR points a game and Drew Lock 0.0, 21.2 a game between them.
Patrick Mahomes finished QB11 that year and Drew Lock QB73.
Patrick Mahomes had 499 more pass attempts than Drew Lock, 502 to 3.
Patrick Mahomes had 3572 more passing yards than Drew Lock, 3587 to 15.
This season Patrick Mahomes holds the bigger snap share, 100 percent against 96 percent.
Their target share this season is the same, 0 percent each.
Byes and availability
Patrick Mahomes is off in Week 5 and Drew Lock in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.
Drew Lock is listed as questionable on the injury report.
Both players in full
Week 9 on the board
- Is Patrick Mahomes playing Week 9?
- Is Drew Lock playing Week 9?
- Chiefs depth chart
- Seahawks depth chart
- Week 9 QB rankings
- Week 9 fantasy rankings
- Week 9 start or sit
- Week 9 waiver wire
- Week 9 trade value chart
- Trade deadline buy low, sell high
- Fantasy football rankings
- Start 'em sit 'em Week 9
- Waiver wire pickups
- Fantasy sleepers
- Rest of season rankings
- Week 9 kicker rankings
- Week 9 defense rankings
