Should I start Dylan Sampson or Josh Downs in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Dylan Sampson, and the board ranks him 142nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Josh Downs, and the board ranks him 144th 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 Josh Downs is 1.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver'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 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.

Through Week 8, Josh Downs has been on the field for 81 percent of IND snaps, drawn 20 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 16 of the offence's 64 third down targets, had 0 of its 21 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 35 two minute targets.

His 51 targets have averaged 10.4 air yards.

In Week 6 against TEN he carried 1 time for 7 yards, caught 4 of 8 targets for 40 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against MIN he caught 2 of 4 targets for 18 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against JAX he caught 4 of 5 targets for 23 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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 Josh Downs played 16 games and scored 136.4 PPR points, 8.5 a game, finishing WR44.

He caught 58 of 88 targets for 566 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets.

That came to 5-6 targets a game, a 66 percent catch rate and 9.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 58 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Josh Downs was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Josh Downs scored 8.5 PPR points a game and Dylan Sampson 5.8, 2.7 a game between them.

Dylan Sampson finished RB55 and Josh Downs WR44, which are two different ladders.

Dylan Sampson is a running back and Josh Downs a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Dylan Sampson is off in Week 11 and Josh Downs in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.