Should I start Saquon Barkley or Geno Smith in Week 8?

Updated Oct 28, 5:17 AM ET. Week 9 answers post Tuesday.

Latest

Oct 28, 5:43 PM ET: Dameon Pierce: Questionable to IR (Undisclosed) (Sleeper injury feed)
Oct 26, 11:13 PM ET: Saquon Barkley: Listed Questionable (Back) (Sleeper injury feed)

Start Geno Smith: 100 percent of the snaps and 0 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against Saquon Barkley's 29 percent of the snaps and 34 percent of the carries. 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 Saquon Barkley 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), Saquon Barkley 103 (11.4 a game over 9 games). Saquon Barkley is listed questionable.

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Your next move

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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.

Saquon Barkley

RB32 · PHI · bye 10

2026 vs carries line 0-5

Market-based projection: 14.1 pts a game Wk 7 price
Overall rank: 92

Geno Smith

QB13 · NYJ · bye 13

2026 vs pass yds line 5-2

Overall rank: 93

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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 Saquon Barkley, and the board ranks him 92nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 3; 2QB: ADP 14.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Geno Smith, and the board ranks him 93rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Saquon Barkley is 3.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 3 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 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.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Saquon Barkley has been on the field for 33 percent of PHI snaps, taken 34 percent of the carries, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 44 third down targets, had 2 of its 11 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 32 two minute targets.

His 9 targets have come 0.6 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 3 against CHI he carried 15 times for 82 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for -2 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against LAR he carried 2 times for 8 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against DAL he carried 7 times for 62 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 9 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Saquon Barkley played 16 games and scored 232.3 PPR points, 14.5 a game, finishing RB14.

He carried 280 times for 1140 yards and 7 touchdowns, and caught 37 of 50 targets for 273 more yards.

That came to 17-18 carries a game at 4.1 yards a carry and 2.3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 78 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Saquon Barkley was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Saquon Barkley scored 14.5 PPR points a game and Geno Smith 12.7, 1.8 a game between them.

Saquon Barkley finished RB14 and Geno Smith QB23, which are two different ladders.

Saquon Barkley is a running back and Geno Smith a quarterback, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Saquon Barkley is off in Week 10 and Geno Smith in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

Saquon Barkley is listed as questionable on the injury report.

Drop or keep

Should I drop Saquon Barkley 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), Saquon Barkley 103 (11.4 a game over 9 games). Saquon Barkley is listed questionable.
Should I drop Geno Smith for Saquon Barkley?
No. Keep Geno Smith: he projects 138 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (15.3 a game over 9 games), Saquon Barkley 103 (11.4 a game over 9 games). Saquon Barkley is listed questionable.

Should I drop Geno Smith?Should I drop Saquon Barkley?