Kenny Gainwell or Patrick Mahomes: who should I start in Week 6?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Kenny Gainwell: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 83rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Patrick Mahomes: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 84th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Kenny Gainwell's market-based projection is 6.0 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 110th highest figure of the 157 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Patrick Mahomes is 17.2 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 13 market sources. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Patrick Mahomes's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 5, Kenny Gainwell has been on the field for 41 percent of TB snaps, taken 13 percent of the carries, drawn 11 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 5 of the offence's 40 third down targets, had 0 of its 6 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 29 two minute targets.

His 16 targets have come 2.1 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 3 against MIN he carried 3 times for -4 yards, caught 2 of 5 targets for 14 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against GB he carried 3 times for 5 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 22 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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

Through Week 4, Patrick Mahomes has been on the field for 100 percent of KC snaps, dropped back 142 times and thrown 7.0 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 21 of 142 dropbacks and scrambled 8 times.

In Week 2 against IND he completed 32 of 47 passes for 382 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 17 yards.

In Week 3 against MIA he completed 20 of 24 passes for 246 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

In Week 4 against LV he completed 15 of 30 passes for 225 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 1 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 Patrick Mahomes played 14 games and scored 296.7 PPR points, 21.2 a game, finishing QB11.

He threw for 3587 yards on 502 attempts with 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and ran for 422 yards and 5 touchdowns.

That came to 35.9 attempts a game at 7.1 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 97 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Kenny Gainwell was available for 3 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Patrick Mahomes scored 21.2 PPR points a game and Kenny Gainwell 13.1, 8.1 a game between them.

Kenny Gainwell finished RB16 and Patrick Mahomes QB11, which are two different ladders.

Kenny Gainwell is a running back and Patrick Mahomes 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 Patrick Mahomes in Week 5, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

Patrick Mahomes is only part priced, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.