Should I start Kenny Gainwell or Lamar Jackson in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kenny Gainwell, and the board ranks him 53rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Lamar Jackson, and the board ranks him 54th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 3.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Kenny Gainwell is 6.6 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.

Lamar Jackson's market-based projection is 19.2 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 9 market sources. That is the 5th highest figure of the 200 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 4, Lamar Jackson has been on the field for 88 percent of BAL snaps, dropped back 111 times and thrown 10.4 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 13 of 111 dropbacks and scrambled 10 times.

In Week 2 against NO he completed 21 of 30 passes for 235 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 4 times for 34 yards.

In Week 3 against DAL he completed 15 of 20 passes for 186 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 6 times for 50 yards.

In Week 4 against TEN he completed 15 of 20 passes for 222 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 20 yards.

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 Lamar Jackson played 13 games and scored 221.9 PPR points, 17.1 a game, finishing QB20.

He threw for 2549 yards on 302 attempts with 21 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, and ran for 349 yards and 2 touchdowns.

That came to 23.2 attempts a game at 8.4 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 92 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Kenny Gainwell was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Lamar Jackson scored 17.1 PPR points a game and Kenny Gainwell 13.1, 4.0 a game between them.

Kenny Gainwell finished RB16 and Lamar Jackson QB20, which are two different ladders.

Kenny Gainwell is a running back and Lamar Jackson a quarterback, 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 Lamar Jackson in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

Kenny Gainwell is listed as questionable on the injury report.

Lamar Jackson is listed as out 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.