Should I start Sam Darnold or Michael Mayer in Week 7?

The market-based projections

Sam Darnold's market-based projection is 15.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 40th highest figure of the 214 players with a market-based projection.

Michael Mayer's market-based projection is 7.8 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 104th highest figure of the 214 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Sam Darnold, and the board ranks him 108th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Michael Mayer, and the board ranks him 106th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 6

Through Week 6, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 86 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 166 times and thrown 7.3 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 37 of 166 dropbacks and scrambled 5 times.

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.

In Week 6 against DEN he completed 27 of 49 passes for 278 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and ran 2 times for 19 yards.

Through Week 6, Michael Mayer has been on the field for 81 percent of LV snaps, drawn 16 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 61 third down targets, had 1 of its 15 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 36 two minute targets.

His 34 targets have averaged 4.5 air yards.

In Week 4 against KC he caught 8 of 10 targets for 82 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against NE he caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against BUF he caught 7 of 9 targets for 95 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 9 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 96 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Michael Mayer played 13 games and scored 73.8 PPR points, 5.7 a game, finishing TE38.

He caught 35 of 50 targets for 328 yards and 1 touchdown, with 6 red zone targets.

That came to 3.8 targets a game, a 70 percent catch rate and 9.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 57 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Sam Darnold was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Michael Mayer 5.7, 9.0 a game between them.

Sam Darnold finished QB13 and Michael Mayer TE38, which are two different ladders.

Sam Darnold is a quarterback and Michael Mayer a tight end, 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 Michael Mayer in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

7.6 points a game is the entire case. The market restates it every week, and a line that moves moves the order with it.

The draft market is the half that is missing: when live drafts hold these two again they can order them differently from the projection, and this page will follow the drafts rather than the market-based projection when they do.