Should I start Elijah Mitchell or Dylan Sampson in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Elijah Mitchell, and the board ranks him 159th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Dylan Sampson, and the board ranks him 166th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Elijah Mitchell is 1.5 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 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.

The market-based projection for Dylan Sampson is 1.0 PPR points a game off 1 market across 10 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.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Elijah Mitchell has been on the field for 30 percent of PHI snaps, taken 26 percent of the carries, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 20 third down targets, had 0 of its 5 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 17 two minute targets.

His 10 targets have come 4.0 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 7 against DAL he carried 3 times for 11 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 23 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against WAS he carried 11 times for 34 yards, caught 4 of 6 targets for 3 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, Dylan Sampson has been on the field for 51 percent of CLE snaps, taken 16 percent of the carries, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 18 third down targets, had 0 of its 6 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 19 two minute targets.

His 11 targets have come 0.3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 7 against TEN he carried 6 times for 45 yards, caught 3 of 3 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against PIT he carried 1 time for 7 yards, caught 6 of 8 targets for 62 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Elijah Mitchell played 1 game, finishing RB149.

He carried 0 times for 0 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 0 of 1 target for 0 more yards.

He was on the field for 10 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Dylan Sampson played 15 games and scored 87.6 PPR points, 5.8 a game, finishing RB55.

He carried 65 times for 175 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 33 of 40 targets for 271 more yards.

That came to 4.3 carries a game at 2.7 yards a carry and 2.2 catches a game.

He was on the field for 25 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Dylan Sampson was available for 14 games more.

Head to head

Elijah Mitchell finished RB149 that year and Dylan Sampson RB55.

Dylan Sampson had 65 more carries than Elijah Mitchell, 65 to 0.

Dylan Sampson had 33 more catches than Elijah Mitchell, 33 to 0.

This season Dylan Sampson holds the bigger snap share, 51 percent against 30 percent.

This season Elijah Mitchell holds the bigger share of the carries, 26 percent against 16 percent.

Byes and availability

Elijah Mitchell is off in Week 10 and Dylan Sampson in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.