Should I start Sione Vaki or J.J. McCarthy in Week 9?
Updated Nov 4, 3:16 PM ET. Week 10 answers post Tuesday.
Start J.J. McCarthy: 42 percent of the snaps and 0 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against Sione Vaki's 25 percent of the snaps and 18 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.
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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.
RB37 · DET · bye unlisted
2026 vs anytime td line 0-7
- Overall rank
- 109
QB19 · NYG · bye unlisted
2025 vs pass yds line 4-6
- Overall rank
- 110
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The gap
- Board size308 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 Sione Vaki, and the board ranks him 109th overall on the rest of his evidence.
Live drafts hold no current pick on J.J. McCarthy, and the board ranks him 110th overall on the rest of his evidence.
The market-based projections
The market-based projection for Sione Vaki is 4.2 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 12 market sources. That is 90 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.
The market has J.J. McCarthy at 15.8 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 12 market sources. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.
Sione Vaki's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.
This season so far
Through Week 8, Sione Vaki has been on the field for 24 percent of DET snaps, taken 14 percent of the carries, drawn 2 percent of the targets and had 1 percent of the red zone chances.
He has taken 1 of the offence's 60 third down targets, had 0 of its 22 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 30 two minute targets.
His 6 targets have averaged 1.7 air yards.
In Week 5 against ARI he carried 6 times for 11 yards and did not score.
In Week 7 against GB he carried 1 time for 5 yards and did not score.
In Week 8 against MIN he carried 11 times for 65 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 5 yards and did not score.
Through Week 7, J.J. McCarthy has been on the field for 42 percent of NYG snaps, dropped back 49 times and thrown 11.8 air yards an attempt.
He has been sacked or hit on 8 of 49 dropbacks and scrambled 1 time.
In Week 5 against WAS he completed 0 of 0 passes for 0 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 2 yards.
In Week 6 against NO he completed 11 of 17 passes for 243 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 26 yards.
In Week 7 against HOU he completed 20 of 27 passes for 252 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 1 yards.
Their 2025 seasons
In 2025 Sione Vaki played 11 games and scored 0.4 PPR points, 0.0 a game, finishing RB143.
He carried 1 time for 4 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 0 of 0 targets for 0 more yards.
That came to 0.1 carries a game at 4.0 yards a carry.
He was on the field for 0 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
In 2025 J.J. McCarthy played 10 games and scored 137.4 PPR points, 13.7 a game, finishing QB30.
He threw for 1632 yards on 243 attempts with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, and ran for 181 yards and 4 touchdowns.
That came to 24.3 attempts a game at 6.7 yards an attempt.
He was on the field for 94 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
Sione Vaki was available for 1 game more.
Side by side
In 2025 J.J. McCarthy scored 13.7 PPR points a game and Sione Vaki 0.0, 13.7 a game between them.
Sione Vaki finished RB143 and J.J. McCarthy QB30, which are two different ladders.
Sione Vaki is a running back and J.J. McCarthy a quarterback, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.
Both players in full
Week 9 on the board
- Is Sione Vaki playing Week 9?
- Is J.J. McCarthy playing Week 9?
- Lions depth chart
- Giants depth chart
- Week 9 QB rankings
- Week 9 RB rankings
- Week 9 fantasy rankings
- Week 9 start or sit
- Week 9 waiver wire
- Week 9 trade value chart
- Trade deadline buy low, sell high
- Fantasy football rankings
- Start 'em sit 'em Week 9
- Waiver wire pickups
- Fantasy sleepers
- Rest of season rankings
- Week 9 kicker rankings
- Week 9 defense rankings
