Should I start Kimani Vidal or Sam Darnold in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kimani Vidal, and the board ranks him 93rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Sam Darnold, and the board ranks him 119th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Kimani Vidal is 5.8 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 12 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Sam Darnold's market-based projection is 15.5 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 36th highest figure of the 224 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Kimani Vidal has been on the field for 29 percent of LAC snaps, taken 15 percent of the carries, drawn 7 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 68 third down targets, had 0 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 28 two minute targets.

His 14 targets have averaged 0.0 air yards.

In Week 5 against DEN he carried 8 times for 57 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for -1 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against KC he carried 7 times for 21 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 19 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against LAR he carried 8 times for 23 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 7 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 90 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 235 times and thrown 6.9 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 45 of 235 dropbacks and scrambled 9 times.

In Week 6 against DEN he completed 27 of 49 passes for 278 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and ran 2 times for 19 yards.

In Week 7 against KC he completed 20 of 28 passes for 257 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 17 yards.

In Week 8 against CHI he completed 17 of 34 passes for 188 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 20 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Kimani Vidal played 13 games and scored 117.9 PPR points, 9.1 a game, finishing RB42.

He carried 155 times for 643 yards and 3 touchdowns, and caught 16 of 22 targets for 136 more yards.

That came to 11.9 carries a game at 4.1 yards a carry and 1.2 catches a game.

He was on the field for 58 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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 9 yards an attempt.

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

Sam Darnold was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Kimani Vidal 9.1, 5.6 a game between them.

Kimani Vidal finished RB42 and Sam Darnold QB13, which are two different ladders.

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

Byes and availability

Kimani Vidal is off in Week 7 and Sam Darnold in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.

Sam Darnold is listed as out on the injury report.

What would change the answer

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