Should I start Sam Darnold or Patrick Mahomes in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Sam Darnold, and the board ranks him 38th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Patrick Mahomes, and the board ranks him 39th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Sam Darnold is 16.5 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 8 market sources. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Patrick Mahomes's market-based projection is 16.3 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 8 market sources. That is the 11th highest figure of the 182 players with a market-based projection.

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

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, Patrick Mahomes has been on the field for 100 percent of KC snaps, dropped back 174 times and thrown 6.3 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 24 of 174 dropbacks and scrambled 10 times.

In Week 3 against MIA he completed 20 of 24 passes for 246 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

In Week 4 against LV he completed 15 of 30 passes for 225 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

In Week 6 against LAC he completed 23 of 30 passes for 272 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 3 times for 19 yards.

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 Patrick Mahomes played 14 games and scored 296.7 PPR points, 21.2 a game, finishing QB11.

He threw for 3587 yards on 502 attempts with 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and ran for 422 yards and 5 touchdowns.

That came to 35.9 attempts a game at 7.1 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 97 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Sam Darnold was available for 3 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Patrick Mahomes scored 21.2 PPR points a game and Sam Darnold 14.7, 6.5 a game between them.

Sam Darnold finished QB13 that year and Patrick Mahomes QB11.

Patrick Mahomes had 25 more pass attempts than Sam Darnold, 502 to 477.

Sam Darnold had 461 more passing yards than Patrick Mahomes, 4048 to 3587.

This season Patrick Mahomes holds the bigger snap share, 100 percent against 86 percent.

Their target share this season is the same, 0 percent each.

Byes and availability

Sam Darnold is off in Week 11 and Patrick Mahomes in Week 5, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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