Should I start Saquon Barkley or Rashee Rice in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Saquon Barkley, and the board ranks him 70th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 3; 2QB: ADP 14.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rashee Rice, and the board ranks him 71st overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Saquon Barkley is 3.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 3 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Rashee Rice is 2.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season so far

Through Week 7, Saquon Barkley has been on the field for 33 percent of PHI snaps, taken 34 percent of the carries, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 44 third down targets, had 2 of its 11 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 32 two minute targets.

His 9 targets have come 0.6 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 3 against CHI he carried 15 times for 82 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for -2 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against LAR he carried 2 times for 8 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against DAL he carried 7 times for 62 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 9 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 4, Rashee Rice has been on the field for 64 percent of KC snaps, drawn 14 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 33 third down targets, had 0 of its 14 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 16 two minute targets.

His 17 targets have averaged 7.4 air yards.

In Week 2 against IND he caught 4 of 6 targets for 83 yards and did not score.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Saquon Barkley played 16 games and scored 232.3 PPR points, 14.5 a game, finishing RB14.

He carried 280 times for 1140 yards and 7 touchdowns, and caught 37 of 50 targets for 273 more yards.

That came to 17-18 carries a game at 4.1 yards a carry and 2.3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 78 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.

Saquon Barkley was available for 8 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Rashee Rice scored 18.8 PPR points a game and Saquon Barkley 14.5, 4.2 a game between them.

Saquon Barkley finished RB14 and Rashee Rice WR40, which are two different ladders.

Saquon Barkley is a running back and Rashee Rice a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Saquon Barkley is off in Week 10 and Rashee Rice in Week 5, so either can cover the other's bye.

Saquon Barkley is listed as questionable on the injury report.

Rashee Rice is listed as out on the injury report.