Should I start Geno Smith or George Pickens in Week 8?

Updated Oct 28, 5:12 AM ET. Week 9 answers post Tuesday.

Latest

Oct 28, 6:43 PM ET: George Pickens: Listed Questionable (Shoulder) (Sleeper injury feed)

Start Geno Smith: 100 percent of the snaps and 0 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against George Pickens's 79 percent of the snaps and 25 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.

Should I drop George Pickens for Geno Smith?

Yes, on the rest of the season. Geno Smith projects 138 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (15.3 a game over 9 games), George Pickens 128 (14.2 a game over 9 games). George Pickens is listed questionable.

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Neither man carries a season projection right now, so this is their usage this season and their last full season's numbers, side by side.

Geno Smith

QB13 · NYJ · bye 13

2026 vs pass yds line 5-2

Overall rank: 93

George Pickens

WR37 · DAL · bye 14

2026 vs anytime td line 2-5

Market-based projection: 13.7 pts a game Wk 7 price
Overall rank: 95

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The gap

Board size295 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 Geno Smith, and the board ranks him 93rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on George Pickens, and the board ranks him 95th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Geno Smith is 16.2 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 4 market sources. That is 45 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for George Pickens is 3.4 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Geno Smith has been on the field for 100 percent of NYJ snaps, dropped back 237 times and thrown 6.8 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 43 of 237 dropbacks and scrambled 10 times.

In Week 5 against CLE he completed 17 of 30 passes for 182 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 3 times for 9 yards.

In Week 6 against NE he completed 20 of 30 passes for 252 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 0 yards.

In Week 7 against MIA he completed 23 of 30 passes for 287 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

Through Week 7, George Pickens has been on the field for 82 percent of DAL snaps, drawn 22 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 22 of the offence's 63 third down targets, had 3 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 11 of its 48 two minute targets.

His 58 targets have averaged 11.1 air yards.

In Week 5 against TB he caught 9 of 13 targets for 130 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against GB he caught 6 of 11 targets for 73 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against PHI he caught 4 of 6 targets for 57 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Geno Smith played 15 games and scored 190.9 PPR points, 12.7 a game, finishing QB23.

He threw for 3025 yards on 448 attempts with 19 touchdowns and 17 interceptions, and ran for 109 yards and 0 touchdowns.

That came to 29.9 attempts a game at 6.8 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 97 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 George Pickens played 17 games and scored 291.9 PPR points, 17.2 a game, finishing WR5.

He caught 93 of 137 targets for 1429 yards and 9 touchdowns, with 21 red zone targets.

That came to 8.1 targets a game, a 68 percent catch rate and 15.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 83 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

George Pickens was available for 2 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 George Pickens scored 17.2 PPR points a game and Geno Smith 12.7, 4.4 a game between them.

Geno Smith finished QB23 and George Pickens WR5, which are two different ladders.

Geno Smith is a quarterback and George Pickens a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Geno Smith is off in Week 13 and George Pickens in Week 14, so either can cover the other's bye.

Drop or keep

Should I drop George Pickens for Geno Smith?
Yes, on the rest of the season. Geno Smith projects 138 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (15.3 a game over 9 games), George Pickens 128 (14.2 a game over 9 games). George Pickens is listed questionable.
Should I drop Geno Smith for George Pickens?
No. Keep Geno Smith: he projects 138 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (15.3 a game over 9 games), George Pickens 128 (14.2 a game over 9 games). George Pickens is listed questionable.

Should I drop Geno Smith?