Should I start Sam Darnold or Troy Franklin in Week 9?

The market-based projections

Sam Darnold's market-based projection is 15.7 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 5 market sources. That is the 23rd highest figure of the 219 players with a market-based 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 121st highest figure of the 219 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Sam Darnold, and the board ranks him 113th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 26.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Troy Franklin, and the board ranks him 112th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Sam Darnold has been on the field for 89 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 235 times and thrown 6.9 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 45 of 235 dropbacks and scrambled 9 times.

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.

In Week 8 against CHI he completed 17 of 34 passes for 188 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 20 yards.

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 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 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.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Sam Darnold scored 14.7 PPR points a game and Troy Franklin 10.4, 4.3 a game between them.

Sam Darnold finished QB13 and Troy Franklin WR31, which are two different ladders.

Sam Darnold is a quarterback and Troy Franklin 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 Troy Franklin in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

12.2 points a game is the entire case. The market restates it every week, and a line that moves moves the order with it.

The draft market is the half that is missing: when live drafts hold these two again they can order them differently from the projection, and this page will follow the drafts rather than the market-based projection when they do.