Should I start Kaelon Black or Dylan Sampson in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kaelon Black, and the board ranks him 156th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Dylan Sampson, and the board ranks him 170th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Kaelon Black is 1.9 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 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.

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

This season so far

Through Week 7, Kaelon Black has been on the field for 30 percent of SF snaps, taken 31 percent of the carries, drawn 3 percent of the targets and had 16 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 50 third down targets, had 3 of its 24 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 30 two minute targets.

His 6 targets have come 2.0 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 5 against SEA he carried 6 times for 16 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against WAS he carried 8 times for 34 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 3 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against ATL he carried 12 times for 63 yards, caught 1 of 3 targets for -4 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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

Kaelon Black is a rookie, so there is no NFL season behind him to price him against.

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.

Head to head

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

This season Kaelon Black holds the bigger share of the carries, 31 percent against 16 percent.

Byes and availability

Kaelon Black is off in Week 8 and Dylan Sampson in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.