Sam Darnold or Makai Lemon: 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 129th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 62.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Makai Lemon: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 146th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 142.

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 Makai Lemon at 6.0 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 15 books. That is the 157th highest figure of the 186 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, Makai Lemon has been on the field for 63 percent of PHI snaps, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 21 third down targets, had 0 of its 2 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 12 two minute targets.

His 5 targets have averaged 2.6 air yards.

In Week 1 against WAS he caught 3 of 4 targets for -5 yards and did not score.

In Week 2 against TEN he carried 1 time for -5 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 14 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.

Makai Lemon is a rookie, so there is no NFL season behind him to price him against.

Side by side

Sam Darnold is a quarterback and Makai Lemon a wide receiver, 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 Makai Lemon 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.