Seth McGowan or Sam Darnold: who should I start in Week 6?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Seth McGowan: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 122nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Sam Darnold: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 123rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Seth McGowan is 3.2 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 13 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Sam Darnold's market-based projection is 14.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 48th highest figure of the 157 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season through Week 5

Through Week 5, Seth McGowan has been on the field for 18 percent of IND snaps, taken 13 percent of the carries, drawn 2 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 41 third down targets, had 0 of its 16 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 16 two minute targets.

His 4 targets have averaged 0.8 air yards.

In Week 3 against HOU he carried 4 times for 14 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against WAS he carried 6 times for 31 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 7 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against PIT he carried 5 times for 16 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 3 yards and did not score.

Through Week 5, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 81 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 110 times and thrown 6.7 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 22 of 110 dropbacks and scrambled 3 times.

In Week 3 against WAS he completed 31 of 45 passes for 379 yards, threw 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and ran 1 time for 5 yards.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

Seth McGowan is a rookie, so there is no NFL season behind him to price him against.

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.

Side by side

Seth McGowan is a running back and Sam Darnold a quarterback, 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. No bye is listed for Seth McGowan.

What would change the answer

Seth McGowan is only part priced, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.