Matthew Stafford or Sam Darnold: who should I start in Week 3?
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 26, 2026 at 6:51 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.
QB22 · LAR · bye 11
2025 vs pass yds line 9-8
- Books price
- 15.1 pts a game
- Draft pick
- no consensus
QB24 · SEA · bye 11
2025 vs pass yds line 9-8
- Overall rank
- 134
- Draft pick
- no consensus
- Tier
- 6
The gap
- Pick differencenot comparable without a consensus on both
- Board size222 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 Matthew Stafford: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 127th overall on the rest of his evidence.
In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 17.
Drafters have formed no consensus on Sam Darnold: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 135th overall on the rest of his evidence.
In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 61.
What the sportsbooks price
The player markets price Matthew Stafford at 15.1 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 17 books. That is the 42nd highest figure of the 170 players the books price.
The books have Sam Darnold at 14.7 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 17 books. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's price needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.
Sam Darnold's price is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.
This season so far
Through Week 2, Matthew Stafford has been on the field for 92 percent of LAR snaps, dropped back 57 times and thrown 10.2 air yards an attempt.
He has been sacked or hit on 9 of 57 dropbacks and scrambled 1 time.
In Week 1 against SF he completed 15 of 25 passes for 155 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 0 yards.
In Week 2 against NYG he completed 22 of 30 passes for 327 yards, threw 4 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 2 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 Matthew Stafford played 17 games and scored 358.4 PPR points, 21.1 a game, finishing QB3.
He threw for 4707 yards on 597 attempts with 46 touchdowns and 8 interceptions, and ran for 1 yards and 0 touchdowns.
That came to 35.1 attempts a game at 7.9 yards an attempt.
He was on the field for 99 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.
Both were available for 17 games that season.
Head to head
In 2025 Matthew Stafford scored 21.1 PPR points a game and Sam Darnold 14.7, 6.4 a game between them.
Matthew Stafford finished QB3 that year and Sam Darnold QB13.
Matthew Stafford had 120 more pass attempts than Sam Darnold, 597 to 477.
Matthew Stafford had 659 more passing yards than Sam Darnold, 4707 to 4048.
This season Matthew Stafford holds the bigger snap share, 92 percent against 10 percent.
Their target share this season is the same, 0 percent each.
Byes and availability
Both are off in Week 11, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.
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.
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