Should I start Kenny Gainwell or George Kittle in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kenny Gainwell, and the board ranks him 151st overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on George Kittle, and the board ranks him 191st overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Kenny Gainwell is 1.4 PPR points a game off 1 market across 9 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 George Kittle is 4.3 PPR points a game off 1 market across 9 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a tight end's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season so far

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.

Through Week 7, George Kittle has been on the field for 78 percent of SF snaps, drawn 22 percent of the targets and had 15 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 50 third down targets, had 1 of its 24 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 30 two minute targets.

His 46 targets have averaged 7.7 air yards.

In Week 5 against SEA he caught 5 of 6 targets for 24 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against WAS he caught 5 of 8 targets for 69 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against ATL he caught 8 of 10 targets for 88 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025 George Kittle played 11 games and scored 161.5 PPR points, 14.7 a game, finishing TE13.

He caught 57 of 69 targets for 628 yards and 7 touchdowns, with 12 red zone targets.

That came to 6.3 targets a game, a 83 percent catch rate and 11.0 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 80 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Kenny Gainwell was available for 6 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 George Kittle scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Kenny Gainwell 13.1, 1.6 a game between them.

Kenny Gainwell finished RB16 and George Kittle TE13, which are two different ladders.

Kenny Gainwell is a running back and George Kittle a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Kenny Gainwell is off in Week 10 and George Kittle in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.