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Should I start Sam Darnold or Tee Higgins in Week 9?

Updated Nov 3, 6:16 AM ET.

Start Sam Darnold: 100 percent of the snaps and 0 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against Tee Higgins's 78 percent of the snaps and 24 percent of the targets. No market projection is posted on either of them this week, so this is a usage call, and a lower confidence one than a call made on a projection. What follows is what each of them has done.

Should I drop Sam Darnold for Tee Higgins?

Not on these numbers alone. Sam Darnold projects 122 market-implied PPR points from Week 9 through Week 17 (15.3 a game over 8 games) and Tee Higgins 122 (13.6 a game over 9 games), too close to separate, so the roster spot decides it.

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Both players' season market-based projection, their usage this season and their last full season's numbers.

Sam Darnold

QB10 · SEA · bye 11

2026 vs pass yds line 3-4

Market-based projection
15.8 pts a game Wk 8 price
Overall rank
15

Tee Higgins

WR4 · CIN · bye 6

2026 vs anytime td line 3-4

Market-based projection
16.3 pts a game

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The gap

  • Board size297 draftable players

Draft data is not current for these two, so the figures that depend on it are left out. The call above comes from each player's usage.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Sam Darnold, and the board ranks him 15th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Tee Higgins, and the board ranks him 16th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

No season market is posted for Sam Darnold, so the only market valuing him on this page is the draft room.

Tee Higgins's market-based projection is 16.3 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 7 market sources. That is the 8th highest figure of the 175 players with a market-based projection.

This season so far

Through Week 7, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 89 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 196 times and thrown 7.0 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 39 of 196 dropbacks and scrambled 7 times.

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.

In Week 7 against KC he completed 20 of 28 passes for 257 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 17 yards.

Through Week 8, Tee Higgins has been on the field for 78 percent of CIN snaps, drawn 23 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 15 of the offence's 61 third down targets, had 0 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 11 of its 43 two minute targets.

His 61 targets have averaged 13.6 air yards.

In Week 5 against MIA he caught 2 of 4 targets for 22 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against BAL he caught 6 of 7 targets for 148 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against TEN he caught 10 of 11 targets for 155 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

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 Tee Higgins played 15 games and scored 211.6 PPR points, 14.1 a game, finishing WR15.

He caught 59 of 98 targets for 846 yards and 11 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets.

That came to 6-7 targets a game, a 60 percent catch rate and 14.3 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 80 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Sam Darnold was available for 2 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Tee Higgins 14.1, 0.6 a game between them.

Sam Darnold finished QB13 and Tee Higgins WR15, which are two different ladders.

Sam Darnold is a quarterback and Tee Higgins a wide receiver, 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 and Tee Higgins in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

Sam Darnold has no posted market, so one half of the evidence on this page exists for only one of them.

Drop or keep

  • Should I drop Sam Darnold for Tee Higgins?

    Not on these numbers alone. Sam Darnold projects 122 market-implied PPR points from Week 9 through Week 17 (15.3 a game over 8 games) and Tee Higgins 122 (13.6 a game over 9 games), too close to separate, so the roster spot decides it.

  • Should I drop Tee Higgins for Sam Darnold?

    Not on these numbers alone. Tee Higgins projects 122 market-implied PPR points from Week 9 through Week 17 (13.6 a game over 9 games) and Sam Darnold 122 (15.3 a game over 8 games), too close to separate, so the roster spot decides it.

Both players in full

Week 9 on the board

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