Sam Darnold or Keenan Allen: who should I start in Week 5?

What the player markets price

The player markets price Sam Darnold at 15.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 16 market sources. That is the 40th highest figure of the 184 players the market prices.

The player markets price Keenan Allen at 6.6 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 124th highest figure of the 184 players the market prices.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Sam Darnold: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 109th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 27.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Keenan Allen: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 125th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season so far

Through Week 4, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 75 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 75 times and thrown 6.8 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 14 of 75 dropbacks and scrambled 2 times.

In Week 1 against NE he completed 1 of 2 passes for 13 yards and threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

In Week 3 against WAS he completed 31 of 45 passes for 379 yards, threw 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and ran 1 time for 5 yards.

In Week 4 against LAC he completed 13 of 22 passes for 168 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 8 yards.

Through Week 3, Keenan Allen has been on the field for 64 percent of IND snaps, drawn 21 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 20 third down targets, had 0 of its 6 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 11 two minute targets.

His 20 targets have averaged 6.2 air yards.

In Week 1 against BAL he caught 6 of 6 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

In Week 2 against KC he caught 1 of 5 targets for 5 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against HOU he caught 6 of 9 targets for 63 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

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 8.5 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 96 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Keenan Allen played 17 games and scored 182.7 PPR points, 10.7 a game, finishing WR29.

He caught 81 of 122 targets for 777 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 15 red zone targets.

That came to 7.2 targets a game, a 66 percent catch rate and 9.6 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 55 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Keenan Allen 10.7, 3.9 a game between them.

Sam Darnold finished QB13 and Keenan Allen WR29, which are two different ladders.

Sam Darnold is a quarterback and Keenan Allen a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Sam Darnold is off in Week 11 and Keenan Allen in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

Keenan Allen is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

8.9 points a game is the entire case. The market restates it every week, and a line that moves moves the order with it.

The draft market is the half that is missing: when the consensus sample holds these two again it can order them differently from the price, and this page will follow the sample rather than the market price when it does.