Sam Darnold or Kenny Gainwell: who should I start in Week 3?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Sam Darnold: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 133rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 62.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Kenny Gainwell: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 134th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 135.

What the sportsbooks price

The books have Sam Darnold at 14.9 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 11 books. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's price needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The player markets price Kenny Gainwell at 6.1 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 15 books. That is the 146th highest figure of the 175 players the books price.

Sam Darnold's price is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 1, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 10 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 3 times and thrown 7.5 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 1 of 3 dropbacks.

In Week 1 against NE he completed 1 of 2 passes for 13 yards and threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

Through Week 2, Kenny Gainwell has been on the field for 40 percent of TB snaps, taken 16 percent of the carries, drawn 8 percent of the targets and had 10 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 14 third down targets, had 0 of its 1 chance inside the five and seen 2 of its 8 two minute targets.

His 5 targets have come 4.0 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 1 against CIN he carried 5 times for 15 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 3 yards and did not score.

In Week 2 against CLE he carried 2 times for 10 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 5 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Sam Darnold played 17 games and scored 249.4 PPR points, 14.7 a game, finishing QB13.

He threw for 4048 yards on 477 attempts with 25 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, and ran for 95 yards and 0 touchdowns.

That came to 28.1 attempts a game at 8.5 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 96 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Kenny Gainwell 13.1, 1.6 a game between them.

Sam Darnold finished QB13 and Kenny Gainwell RB16, which are two different ladders.

Sam Darnold is a quarterback and Kenny Gainwell a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

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

What would change the answer

Sam Darnold is only part priced, so the books' half of this page is whole for only one of them.