Should I start Puka Nacua or Troy Franklin in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Puka Nacua, and the board ranks him 91st overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 6.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Troy Franklin, and the board ranks him 98th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Puka Nacua is 3.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Troy Franklin's market-based projection is 3.6 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 102nd highest figure of the 215 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Puka Nacua has been on the field for 86 percent of LAR snaps, drawn 34 percent of the targets and had 22 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 20 of the offence's 48 third down targets, had 3 of its 18 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 74 targets have averaged 7.7 air yards.

In Week 6 against ARI he caught 6 of 7 targets for 80 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against LV he carried 2 times for 10 yards, caught 8 of 10 targets for 68 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against LAC he caught 11 of 12 targets for 80 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, Troy Franklin has been on the field for 44 percent of DEN snaps, drawn 5 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 66 third down targets, had 0 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 11 targets have averaged 15.0 air yards.

In Week 6 against SEA he caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against ARI he caught 0 of 2 targets for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against KC he caught 1 of 2 targets for 3 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Puka Nacua played 16 games and scored 375.0 PPR points, 23.4 a game, finishing WR1.

He caught 129 of 166 targets for 1715 yards and 10 touchdowns, with 16 red zone targets.

That came to 10.4 targets a game, a 78 percent catch rate and 13.3 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 68 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Troy Franklin played 17 games and scored 177.1 PPR points, 10.4 a game, finishing WR31.

He caught 65 of 104 targets for 709 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 18 red zone targets.

That came to 6.1 targets a game, a 63 percent catch rate and 10.9 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 60 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Troy Franklin was available for 1 game more.

Head to head

In 2025 Puka Nacua scored 23.4 PPR points a game and Troy Franklin 10.4, 13.0 a game between them.

Puka Nacua finished WR1 that year and Troy Franklin WR31.

Puka Nacua had 62 more targets than Troy Franklin, 166 to 104.

Puka Nacua had 1006 more receiving yards than Troy Franklin, 1715 to 709.

This season Puka Nacua holds the bigger snap share, 86 percent against 44 percent.

This season Puka Nacua holds the bigger target share, 34 percent against 5 percent.

Byes and availability

Puka Nacua is off in Week 11 and Troy Franklin in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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