Should I start Jaxon Smith-Njigba or Jared Goff in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and the board ranks him 2nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 8.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Jared Goff, and the board ranks him 3rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Jaxon Smith-Njigba's market-based projection is 21.6 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 7 market sources. That is the 2nd highest figure of the 198 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Jared Goff is 18.6 PPR points a game off 3 markets across 12 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Jaxon Smith-Njigba has been on the field for 83 percent of SEA snaps, drawn 36 percent of the targets and had 19 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 28 of the offence's 62 third down targets, had 2 of its 19 chances inside the five and seen 15 of its 38 two minute targets.

His 78 targets have averaged 10.4 air yards.

In Week 5 against SF he carried 1 time for 16 yards, caught 5 of 8 targets for 102 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against DEN he caught 12 of 16 targets for 134 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against KC he carried 2 times for 13 yards, caught 9 of 12 targets for 150 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 7, Jared Goff has been on the field for 99 percent of DET snaps, dropped back 240 times and thrown 7.9 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 33 of 240 dropbacks and scrambled 5 times.

In Week 4 against CAR he completed 32 of 52 passes for 412 yards and threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions.

In Week 5 against ARI he completed 19 of 30 passes for 271 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

In Week 7 against GB he completed 22 of 32 passes for 303 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 0 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Jaxon Smith-Njigba played 17 games and scored 359.9 PPR points, 21.2 a game, finishing WR2.

He caught 119 of 163 targets for 1793 yards and 10 touchdowns, with 17 red zone targets.

That came to 9.6 targets a game, a 73 percent catch rate and 15.1 yards a catch.

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

In 2025 Jared Goff played 17 games and scored 305.1 PPR points, 17.9 a game, finishing QB9.

He threw for 4564 yards on 578 attempts with 34 touchdowns and 8 interceptions, and ran for 45 yards and 0 touchdowns.

That came to 34.0 attempts a game at 7.9 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 98 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Jaxon Smith-Njigba scored 21.2 PPR points a game and Jared Goff 17.9, 3.2 a game between them.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba finished WR2 and Jared Goff QB9, which are two different ladders.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a wide receiver and Jared Goff a quarterback, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Jaxon Smith-Njigba is off in Week 11 and Jared Goff in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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