Start Bryce Young or Deshaun Watson? Week 8

Our Week 8 call

Start Bryce Young over Deshaun Watson in Week 8.

Market-based projections have Bryce Young at 16.6 points and Deshaun Watson at 15.5, a gap of 1.0. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Deshaun Watson this week yet, so his 15.5 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 5, 6 and 7 (16.3, 16.9 and 13.5); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 16.6 fantasy points for Bryce Young, with 100 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Bryce Young is 251 passing yards, 1-2 passing touchdowns, 10 rushing yards and 0.1 rushing touchdowns (13, 14, 13 and 13 market sources).

No Week 8 player market is posted for Deshaun Watson yet. His market-based projections were 16.3, 16.9 and 13.5 points in Weeks 5, 6 and 7, an average of 15.5, which stands in until his Week 8 market posts.

That puts Bryce Young 1.0 points ahead of Deshaun Watson on these projections.

Week 8 matchups

Bryce Young and CAR visit GB on Thursday at 8:15 PM ET.

GB allowed 14.3 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 7 games, the 5th fewest in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 223 yards and 1.3 touchdowns a game against GB, with 1.3 interceptions a game.

Deshaun Watson and CLE visit PIT on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

PIT allowed 13.2 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 7 games, the 4th fewest in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 230 yards and a touchdown a game against PIT, with an interception a game.

By points allowed to the position, Bryce Young has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Bryce Young is not on the injury report.

Deshaun Watson is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 8

Through Week 7, Bryce Young played 94 percent of CAR snaps, dropped back 250 times and threw an average of 8.8 air yards per attempt.

Bryce Young, Week 3 against CLE: 77 of 77 snaps, 26 of 47 passes for 291 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

Bryce Young, Week 4 against DET: 75 of 75 snaps, 29 of 41 passes for 329 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 1 carry for 7 yards.

Bryce Young, Week 6 against PHI: 79 of 79 snaps, 20 of 39 passes for 281 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 1 carry for 8 yards.

Bryce Young, Week 7 against TB: 43 of 56 snaps, 14 of 27 passes for 163 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, 1 carry for 9 yards.

Through Week 7, Deshaun Watson played 100 percent of CLE snaps, dropped back 258 times and threw an average of 7.4 air yards per attempt.

Deshaun Watson, Week 4 against PIT: 64 of 64 snaps, 24 of 33 passes for 268 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception, 5 carries for 24 yards.

Deshaun Watson, Week 5 against NYJ: 68 of 68 snaps, 15 of 33 passes for 155 yards, 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions, 6 carries for 40 yards.

Deshaun Watson, Week 6 against BAL: 62 of 62 snaps, 16 of 26 passes for 164 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 8 carries for 29 yards.

Deshaun Watson, Week 7 against TEN: 70 of 70 snaps, 25 of 36 passes for 308 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception, 3 carries for 19 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Bryce Young played 16 games for CAR and scored 229.0 PPR points, 14.3 a game, finishing QB19.

He completed 304 of 478 passes for 3011 yards, 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and ran 54 times for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns.

He was on the field for 96 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 8 calls

• Start Bryce Young over Aaron Rodgers.
• Start Bo Nix over Bryce Young.
• Start Caleb Williams over Bryce Young.
• Start Deshaun Watson over Aaron Rodgers.
• Start Bo Nix over Deshaun Watson.
• Start Caleb Williams over Deshaun Watson.