Start Sione Vaki or CJ Donaldson? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Sione Vaki over CJ Donaldson in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Sione Vaki at 3.6 points and CJ Donaldson at 3.2, a gap of 0.4. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. Sione Vaki's number is scaled up from a partial market: not every stat the position needs is posted yet, so the rest is estimated from what is. No player market is posted for CJ Donaldson this week yet, so his 3.2 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6 and 7 (3.4 and 3.0); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 3.7 fantasy points for Sione Vaki, with 90 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Sione Vaki is 16 rushing yards and 0.2 touchdowns (10 and 12 market sources).

No Week 9 player market is posted for CJ Donaldson yet. His market-based projections were 3.4 and 3.0 points in Weeks 6 and 7, an average of 3.2, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

That puts Sione Vaki 0.4 points ahead of CJ Donaldson on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Sione Vaki and DET visit MIA on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

MIA allowed 25.0 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 7 games, the 8th most in the league.

Running backs ran for 106 yards and 0.4 touchdowns a game against MIA and caught passes for 41 more yards.

CJ Donaldson and NO host CLE on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CLE allowed 21.1 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 8 games, the 15th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 116 yards and 0.8 touchdowns a game against CLE and caught passes for 18 more yards.

By points allowed to the position, Sione Vaki has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Sione Vaki is not on the injury report.

CJ Donaldson is listed as questionable with a shoulder injury.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Sione Vaki played 24 percent of DET snaps, took 14 percent of the carries, drew 2 percent of the targets and had 1 percent of the red zone chances.

Sione Vaki, Week 4 against CAR: 12 of 71 snaps, 0 carries for 0 yards, 2 targets and 1 catch for 17 yards.

Sione Vaki, Week 5 against ARI: 23 of 66 snaps, 6 carries for 11 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Sione Vaki, Week 7 against GB: 9 of 68 snaps, 1 carry for 5 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Sione Vaki, Week 8 against MIN: 20 of 72 snaps, 11 carries for 65 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 5 yards.

Through Week 7, CJ Donaldson played 25 percent of NO snaps, took 10 percent of the carries, drew 2 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

CJ Donaldson, Week 4 against ATL: 28 of 74 snaps, 3 carries for 18 yards, 2 targets and 2 catches for 5 yards.

CJ Donaldson, Week 5 against MIN: 19 of 45 snaps, 4 carries for 13 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 7 yards.

CJ Donaldson, Week 6 against NYG: 24 of 72 snaps, 6 carries for 39 yards, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 yards.

CJ Donaldson, Week 7 against PIT: 4 of 57 snaps, 0 carries for 0 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Sione Vaki played 11 games for DET and scored 0.4 PPR points, 0.0 a game, finishing RB143.

He ran 1 time for 4 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 0 of 0 targets for 0 yards.

He was on the field for 0 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Corey Kiner over Sione Vaki.
• Start George Holani over Sione Vaki.
• Start Sione Vaki over Isaiah Davis.
• Start Corey Kiner over CJ Donaldson.
• Start George Holani over CJ Donaldson.
• Start CJ Donaldson over Isaiah Davis.