Should I start Sam Darnold or Drew Lock in Week 9?

The market-based projections

Sam Darnold's market-based projection is 15.5 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 36th highest figure of the 224 players with a market-based projection.

Drew Lock's market-based projection is 15.3 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 6 market sources. That is the 38th highest figure of the 224 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Sam Darnold, and the board ranks him 119th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Drew Lock, and the board ranks him 122nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season so far

Through Week 8, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 90 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 235 times and thrown 6.9 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 45 of 235 dropbacks and scrambled 9 times.

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.

In Week 8 against CHI he completed 17 of 34 passes for 188 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 20 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 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 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.

Sam Darnold was available for 12 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Drew Lock 0.0, 14.7 a game between them.

Sam Darnold finished QB13 that year and Drew Lock QB73.

Sam Darnold had 474 more pass attempts than Drew Lock, 477 to 3.

Sam Darnold had 4033 more passing yards than Drew Lock, 4048 to 15.

This season Drew Lock holds the bigger snap share, 96 percent against 90 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.

Sam Darnold is listed as out on the injury report.

Drew Lock is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

0.2 points a game is the entire case. The market restates it every week, and a line that moves moves the order with it.

The draft market is the half that is missing: when live drafts hold these two again they can order them differently from the projection, and this page will follow the drafts rather than the market-based projection when they do.