Should I start Sam Darnold or Pat Freiermuth in Week 7?

The market-based projections

Sam Darnold's market-based projection is 15.5 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 39th highest figure of the 210 players with a market-based projection.

Pat Freiermuth's market-based projection is 6.8 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 107th highest figure of the 210 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 115th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Pat Freiermuth, and the board ranks him 114th 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, Pat Freiermuth has been on the field for 69 percent of PIT snaps, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 8 of the offence's 52 third down targets, had 2 of its 6 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 34 two minute targets.

His 29 targets have averaged 8.4 air yards.

In Week 4 against CLE he caught 3 of 5 targets for 17 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against IND he carried 1 time for 1 yards, caught 5 of 7 targets for 44 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 6 against TB he caught 2 of 3 targets for 11 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 Pat Freiermuth played 17 games and scored 113.6 PPR points, 6.7 a game, finishing TE25.

He caught 41 of 54 targets for 486 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 9 red zone targets.

That came to 3.2 targets a game, a 76 percent catch rate and 11.9 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 49 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Pat Freiermuth 6.7, 8.0 a game between them.

Sam Darnold finished QB13 and Pat Freiermuth TE25, which are two different ladders.

Sam Darnold is a quarterback and Pat Freiermuth 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 Pat Freiermuth in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

8.6 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.