Sam Darnold or Lamar Jackson: who should I start in Week 5?
Both players' season market price, their usage this season and their last full season's numbers, with the draft market's own figures wherever it still has them.
Updated Oct 13, 2026 at 1:56 AM ET
Neither is in the consensus draft sample any more, and the market has not posted a whole price on Lamar Jackson, 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.
QB11 · SEA · bye 11
2026 vs pass yds line 1-3
- Market price
- 14.3 pts a game
- Draft pick
- no consensus
QB13 · BAL · bye 13
2026 vs pass yds line 3-1
- Overall rank
- 113
- Draft pick
- no consensus
- Tier
- 7
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The gap
- Pick differencenot comparable without a consensus on both
- Board size168 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 market price and nothing else.
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Where the draft room stands
Drafters have formed no consensus on Sam Darnold: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 29th overall on the rest of his evidence.
In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.
Drafters have formed no consensus on Lamar Jackson: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 113th overall on the rest of his evidence.
In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 3.
What the player markets price
The player markets price Sam Darnold at 14.3 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 16th highest figure of the 107 players the market prices.
The market has Lamar Jackson at 1.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 0 percent of what a quarterback's price needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.
Lamar Jackson's price is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.
This season so far
Through Week 5, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 75 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 110 times and thrown 6.7 air yards an attempt.
He has been sacked or hit on 22 of 110 dropbacks and scrambled 3 times.
In Week 3 against WAS he completed 31 of 45 passes for 379 yards, threw 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and ran 1 time for 5 yards.
In Week 4 against LAC he completed 13 of 22 passes for 168 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 8 yards.
In Week 5 against SF he completed 18 of 29 passes for 195 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions and ran 1 time for 5 yards.
Through Week 4, Lamar Jackson has been on the field for 88 percent of BAL snaps, dropped back 111 times and thrown 10.4 air yards an attempt.
He has been sacked or hit on 13 of 111 dropbacks and scrambled 10 times.
In Week 2 against NO he completed 21 of 30 passes for 235 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 4 times for 34 yards.
In Week 3 against DAL he completed 15 of 20 passes for 186 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 6 times for 50 yards.
In Week 4 against TEN he completed 15 of 20 passes for 222 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 20 yards.
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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 Lamar Jackson played 13 games and scored 221.9 PPR points, 17.1 a game, finishing QB20.
He threw for 2549 yards on 302 attempts with 21 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, and ran for 349 yards and 2 touchdowns.
That came to 23.2 attempts a game at 8.4 yards an attempt.
He was on the field for 92 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
Sam Darnold was available for 4 games more.
Head to head
In 2025 Lamar Jackson scored 17.1 PPR points a game and Sam Darnold 14.7, 2.4 a game between them.
Sam Darnold finished QB13 that year and Lamar Jackson QB20.
Sam Darnold had 175 more pass attempts than Lamar Jackson, 477 to 302.
Sam Darnold had 1499 more passing yards than Lamar Jackson, 4048 to 2549.
This season Lamar Jackson holds the bigger snap share, 88 percent against 75 percent.
Their target share this season is the same, 0 percent each.
Byes and availability
Sam Darnold is off in Week 11 and Lamar Jackson in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.
Lamar Jackson is listed as out on the injury report.
What would change the answer
Lamar Jackson is only part priced, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.
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