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

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kimani Vidal, and the board ranks him 72nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Sam LaPorta, and the board ranks him 73rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Kimani Vidal is 6.0 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 8 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 LaPorta's market-based projection is 10.2 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 10 market sources. That is the 61st highest figure of the 219 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 LaPorta has been on the field for 90 percent of DET snaps, drawn 18 percent of the targets and had 12 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 8 of the offence's 60 third down targets, had 2 of its 22 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 30 two minute targets.

His 44 targets have averaged 6.1 air yards.

In Week 5 against ARI he caught 5 of 5 targets for 88 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against GB he caught 1 of 2 targets for 18 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against MIN he carried 1 time for 2 yards, caught 3 of 5 targets for 33 yards and did not score.

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 LaPorta played 9 games and scored 106.9 PPR points, 11.9 a game, finishing TE27.

He caught 40 of 49 targets for 489 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 4 red zone targets.

That came to 5.4 targets a game, a 82 percent catch rate and 12.2 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 90 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Kimani Vidal was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Sam LaPorta scored 11.9 PPR points a game and Kimani Vidal 9.1, 2.8 a game between them.

Kimani Vidal finished RB42 and Sam LaPorta TE27, which are two different ladders.

Kimani Vidal is a running back and Sam LaPorta a tight end, 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 LaPorta in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.

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.