Should I start Quinshon Judkins or Michael Penix Jr. in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Quinshon Judkins, and the board ranks him 102nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Michael Penix Jr., and the board ranks him 104th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Quinshon Judkins is 3.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market has Michael Penix Jr. at 16.1 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 14 market sources. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Quinshon Judkins has been on the field for 55 percent of CLE snaps, taken 62 percent of the carries, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 41 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 53 third down targets, had 7 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 41 two minute targets.

His 23 targets have come 1.6 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 5 against NYJ he carried 14 times for 44 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 6 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against TEN he carried 17 times for 96 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 8 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 8 against PIT he carried 11 times for 25 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 24 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, Michael Penix Jr. has been on the field for 99 percent of ATL snaps, dropped back 59 times and thrown 7.2 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 0 of 59 dropbacks and scrambled 2 times.

In Week 7 against SF he completed 25 of 33 passes for 213 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 2 yards.

In Week 8 against TB he completed 8 of 24 passes for 125 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 4 interceptions and ran 5 times for 11 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Quinshon Judkins played 15 games and scored 169.8 PPR points, 11.3 a game, finishing RB26.

He carried 230 times for 827 yards and 7 touchdowns, and caught 26 of 36 targets for 171 more yards.

That came to 15.3 carries a game at 3.6 yards a carry and 1.7 catches a game.

He was on the field for 50 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Michael Penix Jr. played 9 games and scored 123.3 PPR points, 13.7 a game, finishing QB33.

He threw for 1982 yards on 276 attempts with 9 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, and ran for 70 yards and 1 touchdown.

That came to 30.7 attempts a game at 7.2 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 93 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Quinshon Judkins was available for 6 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Michael Penix Jr. scored 13.7 PPR points a game and Quinshon Judkins 11.3, 2.4 a game between them.

Quinshon Judkins finished RB26 and Michael Penix Jr. QB33, which are two different ladders.

Quinshon Judkins is a running back and Michael Penix Jr. a quarterback, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Both are off in Week 11, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.