Start Deshaun Watson or Sam Darnold? Week 5
Locks at kickoff, graded after.
Start Deshaun Watson over Sam Darnold
- Market projects
- 16.9
- fantasy pts
- Snap share
- 100%
- Through Week 4
- Market projects
- 15.4
- fantasy pts
- Snap share
- 75%
- Through Week 4
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Our Week 5 call
Start Deshaun Watson over Sam Darnold in Week 5.
Market-based projections have Deshaun Watson at 16.9 points and Sam Darnold at 15.4, a gap of 1.4. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip.
What the market projects
Player markets imply 16.9 fantasy points for Deshaun Watson, with 100 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.
The market has Deshaun Watson at 203.5 passing yards, 1.5 passing touchdowns and 25.5 rushing yards, with a 20% chance to score a touchdown (13, 16, 13 and 14 market sources).
Player markets imply 15.5 fantasy points for Sam Darnold, with 100 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.
The market has Sam Darnold at 227.5 passing yards, 1.5 passing touchdowns and 4.5 rushing yards, with a 10% chance to score a touchdown (15, 16, 13 and 15 market sources).
That puts Deshaun Watson 1.4 points ahead of Sam Darnold on the market projections.
Injury status
Deshaun Watson is not on the injury report.
Sam Darnold is not on the injury report.
Usage before Week 5
Through Week 4, Deshaun Watson played 100 percent of CLE snaps, dropped back 139 times and threw an average of 6.6 air yards per attempt.
Deshaun Watson, Week 1 against JAX: 51 of 51 snaps, 16 of 22 passes for 205 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception, 6 carries for 38 yards.
Deshaun Watson, Week 2 against TB: 58 of 58 snaps, 24 of 30 passes for 238 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 5 carries for 24 yards.
Deshaun Watson, Week 3 against CAR: 69 of 70 snaps, 16 of 30 passes for 144 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 9 carries for 47 yards.
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.
Through Week 4, Sam Darnold played 75 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 75 times and threw an average of 6.8 air yards per attempt.
Sam Darnold, Week 1 against NE: 5 of 50 snaps, 1 of 2 passes for 13 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.
Sam Darnold, Week 3 against WAS: 67 of 67 snaps, 31 of 45 passes for 379 yards, 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, 1 carry for 5 yards.
Sam Darnold, Week 4 against LAC: 60 of 60 snaps, 13 of 22 passes for 168 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception, 1 carry for 8 yards.
Their 2025 seasons
In 2025, Sam Darnold played 17 games for SEA and scored 249.4 PPR points, 14.7 a game, finishing QB13.
He completed 323 of 477 passes for 4048 yards, 25 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, and ran 35 times for 95 yards and 0 touchdowns.
He was on the field for 96 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.
Their other Week 5 calls
On the draft board
Ranked ahead
QB10 · CLE · bye unlisted
2026 vs pass yds line 3-1
- Overall rank
- 80
- Draft pick
- no consensus
- Tier
- 6
Ranked behind
QB22 · SEA · bye 11
2025 vs pass yds line 9-8
- Overall rank
- 109
- Draft pick
- no consensus
- Tier
- 6
The board cards are draft figures, not the week's call. Locks at kickoff, graded after. When the start/sit engine grades week 5, the call and the result appear on the public record, wrong ones included.
The gap between them
- Spots apart on the board29
- Pick differencenot comparable without a consensus on both
- Tiersboth in tier 6
- Board size223 draftable players
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