Should I start George Pickens or Sam Darnold in Week 8?

Updated Oct 28, 12:21 PM ET. Week 9 answers post Tuesday.

Latest

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

Start Sam Darnold: 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 Sam Darnold?

Yes, on the rest of the season. Sam Darnold 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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Both players' season market-based projection, their usage this season and their last full season's numbers.

George Pickens

WR39 · DAL · bye 14

2026 vs anytime td line 2-5

Market-based projection: 13.7 pts a game Wk 7 price
Overall rank: 94

Sam Darnold

QB13 · SEA · bye 11

2026 vs pass yds line 3-3

Market-based projection: 16.2 pts a game

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The gap

Board size300 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 George Pickens, and the board ranks him 94th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for George Pickens is 3.3 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 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.

Sam Darnold's market-based projection is 16.2 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 21st highest figure of the 204 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season through Week 7

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.

Through Week 7, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 89 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 196 times and thrown 7.0 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 39 of 196 dropbacks and scrambled 7 times.

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.

In Week 7 against KC he completed 20 of 28 passes for 257 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 17 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

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.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 George Pickens scored 17.2 PPR points a game and Sam Darnold 14.7, 2.5 a game between them.

George Pickens finished WR5 and Sam Darnold QB13, which are two different ladders.

George Pickens 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

George Pickens is off in Week 14 and Sam Darnold in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

George Pickens has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.

Drop or keep

Should I drop George Pickens for Sam Darnold?
Yes, on the rest of the season. Sam Darnold 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 Sam Darnold for George Pickens?
No. Keep Sam Darnold: 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.