Should I start Kenny Gainwell or Kimani Vidal in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kenny Gainwell, and the board ranks him 179th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kimani Vidal, and the board ranks him 180th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Kenny Gainwell is 1.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. 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 Kimani Vidal is 1.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back'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 7, Kenny Gainwell has been on the field for 35 percent of TB snaps, taken 16 percent of the carries, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 57 third down targets, had 0 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 44 two minute targets.

His 17 targets have come 2.3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 5 against DAL he carried 4 times for 18 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 10 yards and did not score.

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.

Through Week 6, Kimani Vidal has been on the field for 27 percent of LAC snaps, taken 12 percent of the carries, drawn 7 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 56 third down targets, had 0 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 12 targets have averaged 0.4 air yards.

In Week 4 against SEA he carried 5 times for 25 yards, caught 2 of 3 targets for 11 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against DEN he carried 8 times for 57 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for -1 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against KC he carried 7 times for 21 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 19 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 Kimani Vidal played 13 games and scored 117.9 PPR points, 9.1 a game, finishing RB42.

He carried 155 times for 643 yards and 3 touchdowns, and caught 16 of 22 targets for 136 more yards.

That came to 11.9 carries a game at 4.1 yards a carry and 1.2 catches a game.

He was on the field for 58 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Kenny Gainwell was available for 4 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Kenny Gainwell scored 13.1 PPR points a game and Kimani Vidal 9.1, 4.0 a game between them.

Kenny Gainwell finished RB16 that year and Kimani Vidal RB42.

Kimani Vidal had 41 more carries than Kenny Gainwell, 155 to 114.

Kenny Gainwell had 57 more catches than Kimani Vidal, 73 to 16.

This season Kenny Gainwell holds the bigger snap share, 35 percent against 27 percent.

This season Kenny Gainwell holds the bigger share of the carries, 16 percent against 12 percent.

Byes and availability

Kenny Gainwell is off in Week 10 and Kimani Vidal in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.

Kenny Gainwell is listed as questionable on the injury report.