Should I start Rashod Bateman or Rashee Rice in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rashod Bateman, and the board ranks him 131st overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rashee Rice, and the board ranks him 134th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Rashod Bateman's market-based projection is 3.7 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 130th highest figure of the 220 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Rashee Rice is 3.5 PPR points a game off 1 market across 9 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.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Rashod Bateman has been on the field for 71 percent of BAL snaps, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 66 third down targets, had 1 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 47 two minute targets.

His 29 targets have averaged 13.8 air yards.

In Week 6 against CLE he caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CIN he caught 2 of 4 targets for 33 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against BUF he caught 1 of 3 targets for 22 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, Rashee Rice has been on the field for 62 percent of KC snaps, drawn 16 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 5 of the offence's 42 third down targets, had 0 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 22 two minute targets.

His 25 targets have averaged 6.1 air yards.

In Week 3 against MIA he caught 7 of 9 targets for 88 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against LV he was not given the ball.

In Week 8 against DEN he caught 7 of 8 targets for 53 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Rashod Bateman played 13 games and scored 55.4 PPR points, 4.3 a game, finishing WR102.

He caught 19 of 38 targets for 224 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets.

That came to 2.9 targets a game, a 50 percent catch rate and 11.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 69 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Rashee Rice played 8 games and scored 150.1 PPR points, 18.8 a game, finishing WR40.

He caught 53 of 78 targets for 571 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 18 red zone targets.

That came to 9.8 targets a game, a 68 percent catch rate and 10.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 73 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Rashod Bateman was available for 5 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Rashee Rice scored 18.8 PPR points a game and Rashod Bateman 4.3, 14.5 a game between them.

Rashod Bateman finished WR102 that year and Rashee Rice WR40.

Rashee Rice had 40 more targets than Rashod Bateman, 78 to 38.

Rashee Rice had 347 more receiving yards than Rashod Bateman, 571 to 224.

This season Rashod Bateman holds the bigger snap share, 71 percent against 62 percent.

This season Rashee Rice holds the bigger target share, 16 percent against 13 percent.

Byes and availability

Rashod Bateman is off in Week 13 and Rashee Rice in Week 5, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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