Should I start Dylan Sampson or Jeremy McNichols in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Dylan Sampson, and the board ranks him 192nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Jeremy McNichols, and the board ranks him 195th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Dylan Sampson is 1.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. 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 Jeremy McNichols is 1.4 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Dylan Sampson has been on the field for 46 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.

Through Week 8, Jeremy McNichols has been on the field for 18 percent of WAS snaps, taken 24 percent of the carries, drawn 2 percent of the targets and had 21 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 16 third down targets, had 1 of its 4 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 7 two minute targets.

His 1 target have averaged 1.0 air yards.

In Week 6 against SF he carried 5 times for 13 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against PHI he carried 5 times for 21 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 7 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025 Jeremy McNichols played 17 games and scored 72.7 PPR points, 4.3 a game, finishing RB58.

He carried 44 times for 221 yards and 1 touchdown, and caught 25 of 31 targets for 196 more yards.

That came to 2.6 carries a game at 5.0 yards a carry and 1-2 catches a game.

He was on the field for 33 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Jeremy McNichols was available for 2 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Dylan Sampson scored 5.8 PPR points a game and Jeremy McNichols 4.3, 1.6 a game between them.

Dylan Sampson finished RB55 that year and Jeremy McNichols RB58.

Dylan Sampson had 21 more carries than Jeremy McNichols, 65 to 44.

Dylan Sampson had 8 more catches than Jeremy McNichols, 33 to 25.

This season Dylan Sampson holds the bigger snap share, 46 percent against 18 percent.

This season Jeremy McNichols holds the bigger share of the carries, 24 percent against 16 percent.

Byes and availability

Dylan Sampson is off in Week 11 and Jeremy McNichols in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.

Jeremy McNichols is listed as questionable on the injury report.