Start Keaton Mitchell or Tyjae Spears? Week 8

Updated Oct 28, 3:41 PM ET. Locks at kickoff, graded after. Week 9 answer posts Tuesday.

Latest

Oct 25, 11:43 AM ET: Tyjae Spears: Questionable to Out (Knee) (Sleeper injury feed)
Oct 23, 4:13 PM ET: Tyjae Spears: Listed Questionable (Knee) (Sleeper injury feed)

Spears projects lower, 5.6 to 7.8, and still gets the call because it also weighs where drafters take each player: ADP 132 for Spears, 190 for Mitchell.

Start

Tyjae Spears

RB · TEN · at CIN · Questionable

Market projects: 5.6; recent weeks avg
CIN D vs RB: 17.9; 4th fewest to RBs (2026)
Upside: Limited; 7 of 100 at RB
Snap share: 42%; Through Week 6
Target share: 10%; Through Week 6

Sit

Keaton Mitchell

RB · LAC · at LAR

Market projects: 7.8; recent weeks avg
LAR D vs RB: 20.6; 14th fewest to RBs (2026)
Upside: Limited; 14 of 100 at RB
Snap share: 32%; Through Week 6
Target share: 9%; Through Week 6

Should I drop Keaton Mitchell for Tyjae Spears?

Yes, on the rest of the season. Tyjae Spears projects 51 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (5.7 a game over 9 games), Keaton Mitchell 28 (2.8 a game over 10 games). For Week 8 the call starts Tyjae Spears over Keaton Mitchell. Tyjae Spears is listed questionable.

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Our Week 8 call

Start Tyjae Spears over Keaton Mitchell in Week 8.

Market-based projections have Tyjae Spears at 5.6 points and Keaton Mitchell at 7.8, a gap of 2.2. Tyjae Spears still gets the call because it also weighs where drafters take each player, ADP 132 against 190, and that outweighs a gap this size. No player market is posted for Tyjae Spears this week yet, so his 5.6 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 5, 6 and 7 (5.0, 6.3 and 5.5); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for Keaton Mitchell this week yet, so his 7.8 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 5 and 6 (8.6 and 7.0); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 8 player market is posted for Keaton Mitchell yet. His market-based projections were 8.6 and 7.0 points in Weeks 5 and 6, an average of 7.8, which stands in until his Week 8 market posts.

The market-based projection for Keaton Mitchell is 0.2 touchdowns (8 market sources).

No Week 8 player market is posted for Tyjae Spears yet. His market-based projections were 5.0, 6.4 and 5.5 points in Weeks 5, 6 and 7, an average of 5.6, which stands in until his Week 8 market posts.

The market-based projection for Tyjae Spears is 0.2 touchdowns (11 market sources).

That puts Keaton Mitchell 2.2 points ahead of Tyjae Spears on these projections.

Week 8 matchups

Keaton Mitchell and LAC visit LAR on Sunday at 4:05 PM ET.

LAR allowed 20.6 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 7 games, the 14th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 86 yards and 0.3 touchdowns a game against LAR and caught passes for 45 more yards.

Tyjae Spears and TEN visit CIN on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CIN allowed 17.9 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 6 games, the 4th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 81 yards and 0-1 touchdowns a game against CIN and caught passes for 32 more yards.

By points allowed to the position, Keaton Mitchell has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Keaton Mitchell is not on the injury report.

Tyjae Spears is listed as questionable with a knee injury.

Usage before Week 8

Through Week 6, Keaton Mitchell played 32 percent of LAC snaps, took 21 percent of the carries, drew 9 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

Keaton Mitchell, Week 3 against BUF: 26 of 69 snaps, 8 carries for 52 yards, 3 targets and 3 catches for -5 yards, 1 touchdown.

Keaton Mitchell, Week 4 against SEA: 26 of 71 snaps, 10 carries for 39 yards, 6 targets and 5 catches for 24 yards.

Keaton Mitchell, Week 5 against DEN: 23 of 67 snaps, 6 carries for 11 yards, 4 targets and 3 catches for 18 yards.

Keaton Mitchell, Week 6 against KC: 17 of 68 snaps, 2 carries for 4 yards, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Through Week 6, Tyjae Spears played 42 percent of TEN snaps, took 14 percent of the carries, drew 10 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

Tyjae Spears, Week 3 against NYG: 28 of 60 snaps, 3 carries for 5 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Tyjae Spears, Week 4 against BAL: 23 of 64 snaps, 2 carries for 7 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for -1 yards.

Tyjae Spears, Week 5 against HOU: 34 of 63 snaps, 2 carries for 0 yards, 9 targets and 9 catches for 28 yards.

Tyjae Spears, Week 6 against IND: 11 of 46 snaps, 1 carry for 1 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 7 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Keaton Mitchell played 13 games for BAL and scored 55.4 PPR points, 4.3 a game, finishing RB67.

He ran 59 times for 341 yards and 1 touchdown, and caught 9 of 12 targets for 63 yards.

He was on the field for 17 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Tyjae Spears played 13 games for TEN and scored 111.7 PPR points, 8.6 a game, finishing RB44.

He ran 72 times for 283 yards and 2 touchdowns, and caught 45 of 50 targets for 264 yards.

He was on the field for 46 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 8 calls

Locks at kickoff, graded after. When the start/sit engine grades week 8, the call and the result appear on the public record, wrong ones included.

Drop or keep

Should I drop Keaton Mitchell for Tyjae Spears?
Yes, on the rest of the season. Tyjae Spears projects 51 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (5.7 a game over 9 games), Keaton Mitchell 28 (2.8 a game over 10 games). For Week 8 the call starts Tyjae Spears over Keaton Mitchell. Tyjae Spears is listed questionable.
Should I drop Tyjae Spears for Keaton Mitchell?
No. Keep Tyjae Spears: he projects 51 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (5.7 a game over 9 games), Keaton Mitchell 28 (2.8 a game over 10 games). For Week 8 the call starts Tyjae Spears over Keaton Mitchell. Tyjae Spears is listed questionable.

Should I drop Keaton Mitchell?Should I drop Tyjae Spears?