Should I start Sam Darnold or Mike Gesicki in Week 9?

The market-based projections

Sam Darnold's market-based projection is 15.5 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 36th highest figure of the 224 players with a market-based projection.

Mike Gesicki's market-based projection is 7.5 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 104th highest figure of the 224 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 119th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Mike Gesicki, and the board ranks him 107th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 90 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 235 times and thrown 6.9 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 45 of 235 dropbacks and scrambled 9 times.

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.

In Week 7 against KC he completed 20 of 28 passes for 257 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 17 yards.

In Week 8 against CHI he completed 17 of 34 passes for 188 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 20 yards.

Through Week 8, Mike Gesicki has been on the field for 48 percent of CIN snaps, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 61 third down targets, had 3 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 43 two minute targets.

His 24 targets have averaged 11.1 air yards.

In Week 5 against MIA he caught 1 of 2 targets for 4 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against BAL he caught 1 of 1 target for 6 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against TEN he caught 4 of 6 targets for 76 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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 Mike Gesicki played 13 games and scored 70.7 PPR points, 5.4 a game, finishing TE41.

He caught 28 of 42 targets for 307 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets.

That came to 3.2 targets a game, a 67 percent catch rate and 11.0 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 38 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 Mike Gesicki 5.4, 9.2 a game between them.

Sam Darnold finished QB13 and Mike Gesicki TE41, which are two different ladders.

Sam Darnold is a quarterback and Mike Gesicki 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 Mike Gesicki in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.

Sam Darnold is listed as out on the injury report.

What would change the answer

8.0 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.