Should I start Patrick Mahomes or Malik Washington in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Patrick Mahomes, and the board ranks him 133rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Malik Washington, and the board ranks him 134th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Patrick Mahomes is 1.2 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 0 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Malik Washington is 1.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Patrick Mahomes has been on the field for 100 percent of KC snaps, dropped back 210 times and thrown 6.0 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 31 of 210 dropbacks and scrambled 12 times.

In Week 4 against LV he completed 15 of 30 passes for 225 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

In Week 6 against LAC he completed 23 of 30 passes for 272 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 3 times for 19 yards.

In Week 7 against SEA he completed 19 of 33 passes for 165 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 14 yards.

Through Week 7, Malik Washington has been on the field for 84 percent of MIA snaps, drawn 26 percent of the targets and had 10 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 41 third down targets, had 0 of its 15 chances inside the five and seen 6 of its 19 two minute targets.

His 39 targets have averaged 11.2 air yards.

In Week 4 against MIN he carried 2 times for 3 yards, caught 5 of 5 targets for 67 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against CIN he carried 1 time for 18 yards, caught 6 of 8 targets for 43 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against NYJ he carried 2 times for 8 yards, caught 3 of 3 targets for 27 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Patrick Mahomes played 14 games and scored 296.7 PPR points, 21.2 a game, finishing QB11.

He threw for 3587 yards on 502 attempts with 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and ran for 422 yards and 5 touchdowns.

That came to 35.9 attempts a game at 7.1 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 97 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Malik Washington played 17 games and scored 116.7 PPR points, 6.9 a game, finishing WR54.

He caught 46 of 65 targets for 317 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets.

That came to 3.8 targets a game, a 71 percent catch rate and 6.9 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 56 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Malik Washington was available for 3 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Patrick Mahomes scored 21.2 PPR points a game and Malik Washington 6.9, 14.3 a game between them.

Patrick Mahomes finished QB11 and Malik Washington WR54, which are two different ladders.

Patrick Mahomes is a quarterback and Malik Washington a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Patrick Mahomes is off in Week 5 and Malik Washington in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.