Kirk Cousins or Sam Darnold: who should I start?
Both players' season price from the sportsbooks, their usage this season and their last full season's numbers, with the draft market's own figures wherever it still has them.
Updated Sep 19, 2026 at 11:16 AM ET
Neither is in the consensus draft sample any more, and the books have not posted a whole price on Sam Darnold, so there is no current market order to give between these two. What follows is what each of them has already done.
More fantasy football tools and rankings, all priced from the same board.
QB27 · LV · bye 13
2025 vs pass td line 2-8
- Books price
- 8.4 pts a game
- Draft pick
- no consensus
QB30 · SEA · bye 11
2025 vs pass yds line 9-8
- Overall rank
- 194
- Draft pick
- no consensus
- Tier
- 5
The gap
- Pick differencenot comparable without a consensus on both
- Board size242 draftable players
Consensus average draft position has stopped updating on these two, so the figures that depend on it are left out rather than printed stale. The verdict line above restates the sportsbooks' price and nothing else.
Where the draft room stands
Drafters have formed no consensus on Kirk Cousins: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 164th overall on the rest of his evidence.
In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 168.
Drafters have formed no consensus on Sam Darnold: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 194th overall on the rest of his evidence.
In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 63.
What the sportsbooks price
The player markets price Kirk Cousins at 8.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 17 books. That is the 120th highest figure of the 183 players the books price.
No sportsbook has posted a season market for Sam Darnold, so the only market pricing him on this page is the draft room.
This season through Week 1
Through Week 1, Kirk Cousins has been on the field for 100 percent of LV snaps, dropped back 31 times and thrown 7.5 air yards an attempt.
He has been sacked or hit on 2 of 31 dropbacks and scrambled 1 time.
In Week 1 against MIA he completed 21 of 30 passes for 160 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and ran 2 times for 0 yards.
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.
Their 2025 seasons
In 2025 Kirk Cousins played 10 games and scored 108.5 PPR points, 10.9 a game, finishing QB35.
He threw for 1721 yards on 269 attempts with 10 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, and ran for 7 yards and 1 touchdown.
That came to 26.9 attempts a game at 6.4 yards an attempt.
He was on the field for 46 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 8.5 yards an attempt.
He was on the field for 96 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
Sam Darnold was available for 7 games more.
Head to head
In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Kirk Cousins 10.9, 3.8 a game between them.
Kirk Cousins finished QB35 that year and Sam Darnold QB13.
Sam Darnold had 208 more pass attempts than Kirk Cousins, 477 to 269.
Sam Darnold had 2327 more passing yards than Kirk Cousins, 4048 to 1721.
This season Kirk Cousins holds the bigger snap share, 100 percent against 10 percent.
Their target share this season is the same, 0 percent each.
Byes and availability
Kirk Cousins is off in Week 13 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
Sam Darnold has no posted market, so one half of the evidence on this page exists for only one of them.
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