Should I start Efton Chism or Sam Darnold in Week 7?
Updated Oct 20, 6:16 AM ET. Week 8 answers post Tuesday.
Start Sam Darnold: 100 percent of the snaps and 0 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against Efton Chism's 50 percent of the snaps and 12 percent of the targets. No market projection is posted on either of them this week, so this is a usage call, and a lower confidence one than a call made on a projection. What follows is what each of them has done.
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Both players' season market-based projection, their usage this season and their last full season's numbers.
WR25 · NE · bye unlisted
2026 vs anytime td line 1-4
- Market-based projection
- 4.6 pts a game
QB9 · SEA · bye 11
2026 vs pass yds line 2-3
- Overall rank
- 59
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The gap
- Board size297 draftable players
Draft data is not current for these two, so the figures that depend on it are left out. The call above comes from each player's usage.
Where the draft room stands
Live drafts hold no current pick on Efton Chism, and the board ranks him 57th overall on the rest of his evidence.
Live drafts hold no current pick on Sam Darnold, and the board ranks him 59th overall on the rest of his evidence.
In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.
The market-based projections
Efton Chism's market-based projection is 4.6 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 45th highest figure of the 160 players with a market-based projection.
The market-based projection for Sam Darnold is 16.7 PPR points a game off 3 markets across 6 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.
Sam Darnold's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.
This season through Week 6
Through Week 6, Efton Chism has been on the field for 43 percent of NE snaps, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.
He has taken 5 of the offence's 40 third down targets, had 1 of its 9 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 19 two minute targets.
His 14 targets have averaged 8.4 air yards.
In Week 4 against BUF he caught 2 of 4 targets for 42 yards and scored 1 touchdown.
In Week 5 against LV he carried 1 time for 2 yards, caught 5 of 6 targets for 57 yards and did not score.
In Week 6 against NYJ he caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.
Through Week 6, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 86 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 166 times and thrown 7.3 air yards an attempt.
He has been sacked or hit on 37 of 166 dropbacks and scrambled 5 times.
In Week 4 against LAC he completed 13 of 22 passes for 168 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 8 yards.
In Week 5 against SF he completed 18 of 29 passes for 195 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions and ran 1 time for 5 yards.
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.
Their 2025 seasons
In 2025 Efton Chism played 8 games and scored 16.5 PPR points, 2.1 a game.
He caught 3 of 3 targets for 75 yards and 1 touchdown, with 1 red zone target.
That came to 0.4 targets a game, a 100 percent catch rate and 25.0 yards a catch.
He was on the field for 14 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
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.
Sam Darnold was available for 9 games more.
Side by side
In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Efton Chism 2.1, 12.6 a game between them.
Efton Chism is a wide receiver and Sam Darnold a quarterback, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.
Byes and availability
Sam Darnold is off in Week 11. No bye is listed for Efton Chism.
What would change the answer
Sam Darnold has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.
Both players in full
Week 7 on the board
- Is Efton Chism playing Week 7?
- Is Sam Darnold playing Week 7?
- Patriots depth chart
- Seahawks depth chart
- Week 7 QB rankings
- Week 7 WR rankings
- Week 7 fantasy rankings
- Week 7 start or sit
- Week 7 waiver wire
- Week 7 trade value chart
- Fantasy football rankings
- Start 'em sit 'em Week 7
- Waiver wire pickups
- Fantasy sleepers
- Rest of season rankings
- Week 7 kicker rankings
- Week 7 defense rankings
