Start Sam Darnold or Gardner Minshew II? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Sam Darnold over Gardner Minshew II in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Sam Darnold at 15.5 points and Gardner Minshew II at 10.1, a gap of 5.5.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 15.5 fantasy points for Sam Darnold, with 100 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Sam Darnold is 225 passing yards, 1-2 passing touchdowns, 0-1 interceptions, 6 rushing yards and 0.1 rushing touchdowns (7, 8, 7, 7 and 8 market sources).

Player markets imply 10.1 fantasy points for Gardner Minshew II, with 100 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Gardner Minshew II is 200 passing yards, 0-1 passing touchdowns, 0-1 interceptions, 6 rushing yards and 0.1 rushing touchdowns (7, 7, 7, 7 and 9 market sources).

That puts Sam Darnold 5.5 points ahead of Gardner Minshew II on the market projections.

Week 9 matchups

Sam Darnold and SEA host ARI on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

ARI allowed 22.4 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 8 games, the 2nd most in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 238 yards and 2.3 touchdowns a game against ARI, with 0.4 interceptions a game.

Gardner Minshew II and ARI visit SEA on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

SEA allowed 11.9 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 8 games, the 2nd fewest in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 169 yards and 1.1 touchdowns a game against SEA, with an interception a game.

By points allowed to the position, Sam Darnold has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Sam Darnold is not on the injury report.

Gardner Minshew II is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Sam Darnold played 90 percent of SEA snaps, dropped back 235 times and threw an average of 6.9 air yards per attempt.

Sam Darnold, Week 5 against SF: 63 of 63 snaps, 18 of 29 passes for 195 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, 1 carry for 5 yards.

Sam Darnold, Week 6 against DEN: 85 of 85 snaps, 27 of 49 passes for 278 yards, 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, 2 carries for 19 yards.

Sam Darnold, Week 7 against KC: 69 of 69 snaps, 20 of 28 passes for 257 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception, 2 carries for 17 yards.

Sam Darnold, Week 8 against CHI: 63 of 63 snaps, 17 of 34 passes for 188 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception, 2 carries for 20 yards.

Through Week 8, Gardner Minshew II played 42 percent of ARI snaps, dropped back 21 times and threw an average of 6.8 air yards per attempt.

Gardner Minshew II, Week 8 against DAL: 34 of 81 snaps, 17 of 20 passes for 188 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

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.

In 2025, Gardner Minshew II played 4 games for KC and scored 0.7 PPR points, 0.2 a game, finishing QB72.

He completed 6 of 13 passes for 37 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception, and ran 6 times for 2 yards and 0 touchdowns.

He was on the field for 4 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Gardner Minshew II, Week 16 of 2025 against TEN: 14 of 45 snaps, 3 of 8 passes for 15 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 1 carry for 8 yards, 1.4 PPR points.

Gardner Minshew II, Week 15 of 2025 against LAC: 5 of 61 snaps, 3 of 5 passes for 22 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception, -0.1 PPR points.

Their other Week 9 calls

• Start Baker Mayfield over Sam Darnold.
• Start Bo Nix over Sam Darnold.
• Start Sam Darnold over Bryce Young.
• Start Baker Mayfield over Gardner Minshew II.
• Start Bryce Young over Gardner Minshew II.
• Start Daniel Jones over Gardner Minshew II.