Should I start Kenny Gainwell or Kyren Williams in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kenny Gainwell, and the board ranks him 56th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kyren Williams, and the board ranks him 80th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Kenny Gainwell is 6.5 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 6 market sources. That is 40 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 Kyren Williams is 4.1 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 market sources. 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 through Week 7

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 7, Kyren Williams has been on the field for 68 percent of LAR snaps, taken 54 percent of the carries, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 34 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 12 of the offence's 57 third down targets, had 7 of its 20 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 35 two minute targets.

His 41 targets have averaged 2.5 air yards.

In Week 5 against BUF he carried 16 times for 49 yards, caught 6 of 8 targets for 27 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against ARI he carried 10 times for 50 yards, caught 3 of 6 targets for 17 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against LV he carried 16 times for 99 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 22 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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 Kyren Williams played 17 games and scored 263.3 PPR points, 15.5 a game, finishing RB9.

He carried 259 times for 1252 yards and 10 touchdowns, and caught 36 of 50 targets for 281 more yards.

That came to 15.2 carries a game at 4.8 yards a carry and 2.1 catches a game.

He was on the field for 68 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Head to head

In 2025 Kyren Williams scored 15.5 PPR points a game and Kenny Gainwell 13.1, 2.4 a game between them.

Kenny Gainwell finished RB16 that year and Kyren Williams RB9.

Kyren Williams had 145 more carries than Kenny Gainwell, 259 to 114.

Kenny Gainwell had 37 more catches than Kyren Williams, 73 to 36.

This season Kyren Williams holds the bigger snap share, 68 percent against 35 percent.

This season Kyren Williams holds the bigger share of the carries, 54 percent against 16 percent.

Byes and availability

Kenny Gainwell is off in Week 10 and Kyren Williams in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.

Kenny Gainwell is listed as questionable on the injury report.