Should I start Saquon Barkley or Michael Penix Jr. in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Saquon Barkley, and the board ranks him 81st overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 3; 2QB: ADP 14.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Michael Penix Jr., and the board ranks him 124th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Saquon Barkley is 3.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 3 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.

Michael Penix Jr.'s market-based projection is 14.9 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 5 market sources. That is the 32nd highest figure of the 194 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season so far

Through Week 4, Saquon Barkley has been on the field for 38 percent of PHI snaps, taken 36 percent of the carries, drawn 7 percent of the targets and had 14 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 33 third down targets, had 2 of its 8 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 24 two minute targets.

His 7 targets have come 0.3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 2 against TEN he carried 4 times for 9 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 11 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against CHI he carried 15 times for 82 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for -2 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against LAR he carried 2 times for 8 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

Through Week 6, Michael Penix Jr. has been on the field for 99 percent of ATL snaps, dropped back 122 times and thrown 7.4 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 15 of 122 dropbacks and scrambled 3 times.

In Week 4 against NO he completed 15 of 20 passes for 223 yards and threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions.

In Week 5 against BAL he completed 19 of 32 passes for 240 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 8 yards.

In Week 6 against CHI he completed 19 of 33 passes for 225 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Saquon Barkley played 16 games and scored 232.3 PPR points, 14.5 a game, finishing RB14.

He carried 280 times for 1140 yards and 7 touchdowns, and caught 37 of 50 targets for 273 more yards.

That came to 17-18 carries a game at 4.1 yards a carry and 2.3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 78 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.

Saquon Barkley was available for 7 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Saquon Barkley scored 14.5 PPR points a game and Michael Penix Jr. 13.7, 0.8 a game between them.

Saquon Barkley finished RB14 and Michael Penix Jr. QB33, which are two different ladders.

Saquon Barkley 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

Saquon Barkley is off in Week 10 and Michael Penix Jr. in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.

Saquon Barkley is listed as out on the injury report.

Michael Penix Jr. is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

Saquon Barkley has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.