Should I start Elijah Mitchell or Kenny Gainwell 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 Kenny Gainwell, and the board ranks him 163rd 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 Kenny Gainwell is 1.4 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, Kenny Gainwell has been on the field for 37 percent of TB snaps, taken 22 percent of the carries, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 60 third down targets, had 0 of its 14 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 44 two minute targets.

His 18 targets have come 2.4 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 6 against PIT he carried 2 times for 17 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 7 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CAR he carried 14 times for 88 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against ATL he carried 25 times for 140 yards, caught 0 of 1 target for 0 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 Kenny Gainwell played 17 games and scored 222.3 PPR points, 13.1 a game, finishing RB16.

He carried 114 times for 537 yards and 5 touchdowns, and caught 73 of 85 targets for 486 more yards.

That came to 6.7 carries a game at 4.7 yards a carry and 4.3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 49 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Kenny Gainwell was available for 16 games more.

Head to head

Elijah Mitchell finished RB149 that year and Kenny Gainwell RB16.

Kenny Gainwell had 114 more carries than Elijah Mitchell, 114 to 0.

Kenny Gainwell had 73 more catches than Elijah Mitchell, 73 to 0.

This season Kenny Gainwell holds the bigger snap share, 37 percent against 30 percent.

This season Elijah Mitchell holds the bigger share of the carries, 26 percent against 22 percent.

Byes and availability

Both are off in Week 10, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.