Should I start Kenny Gainwell or Ladd McConkey in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kenny Gainwell, and the board ranks him 75th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Ladd McConkey, and the board ranks him 76th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes half PPR: ADP 2; standard: ADP 14; 2QB: ADP 35.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Kenny Gainwell is 6.2 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 13 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.

Ladd McConkey's market-based projection is 9.7 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 9 market sources. That is the 86th highest figure of the 209 players with a market-based 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, Ladd McConkey has been on the field for 46 percent of LAC snaps, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 5 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 49 third down targets, had 0 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 20 two minute targets.

His 18 targets have averaged 13.2 air yards.

In Week 3 against BUF he caught 4 of 5 targets for 66 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against SEA he caught 0 of 2 targets for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against KC he caught 1 of 1 target for 17 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 Ladd McConkey played 16 games and scored 180.9 PPR points, 11.3 a game, finishing WR30.

He caught 66 of 106 targets for 789 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets.

That came to 6.6 targets a game, a 62 percent catch rate and 12.0 yards a catch.

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

Kenny Gainwell was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Kenny Gainwell scored 13.1 PPR points a game and Ladd McConkey 11.3, 1.8 a game between them.

Kenny Gainwell finished RB16 and Ladd McConkey WR30, which are two different ladders.

Kenny Gainwell is a running back and Ladd McConkey a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

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

Kenny Gainwell is listed as questionable on the injury report.

Ladd McConkey is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

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