Start Kenny Gainwell or Tyjae Spears? Week 8

Updated Oct 28, 4:27 AM ET. Locks at kickoff, graded after. Week 9 answer posts Tuesday.

Latest

Oct 25, 3:13 PM ET: Kenny Gainwell: Listed Questionable (Hip) (Sleeper injury feed)
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)

Start Kenny Gainwell over Tyjae Spears

Start

Kenny Gainwell

RB · TB · vs ATL

Market projects: 6.5; fantasy pts
ATL D vs RB: 24.6; 8th most to RBs (2026)
Upside: Limited; 37 of 100 at RB
Snap share: 35%; Through Week 7
Target share: 9%; Through Week 7

Sit

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)
Snap share: 42%; Through Week 6
Target share: 10%; Through Week 6

Should I drop Tyjae Spears for Kenny Gainwell?

Yes, on the rest of the season. Kenny Gainwell projects 55 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (6.1 a game over 9 games), Tyjae Spears 51 (5.7 a game over 9 games). For Week 8 the call starts Kenny Gainwell over Tyjae Spears. Tyjae Spears is listed questionable.

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Our Week 8 call

Start Kenny Gainwell over Tyjae Spears in Week 8.

Market-based projections have Kenny Gainwell at 6.5 points and Tyjae Spears at 5.6, a gap of 0.9. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. Kenny Gainwell'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 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. Drafters take Kenny Gainwell at ADP 95 and Tyjae Spears at 132. Market coverage on Kenny Gainwell is 40 percent of what his position needs, so the market side of this carries proportionally less weight.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 6.5 fantasy points for Kenny Gainwell, with 40 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Kenny Gainwell is 11 receiving yards and 0.3 touchdowns (5 and 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 (6 market sources).

That puts Kenny Gainwell 0.9 points ahead of Tyjae Spears on these projections.

Week 8 matchups

Kenny Gainwell and TB host ATL on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

ATL allowed 24.6 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 7 games, the 8th most in the league.

Running backs ran for 82 yards and a touchdown a game against ATL and caught passes for 39 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, Kenny Gainwell has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Kenny Gainwell is not on the injury report.

Tyjae Spears is listed as questionable with a knee injury.

Usage before Week 8

Through Week 7, Kenny Gainwell played 35 percent of TB snaps, took 16 percent of the carries, drew 9 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

Kenny Gainwell, Week 4 against GB: 27 of 64 snaps, 3 carries for 5 yards, 2 targets and 2 catches for 22 yards, 1 touchdown.

Kenny Gainwell, Week 5 against DAL: 26 of 72 snaps, 4 carries for 18 yards, 4 targets and 3 catches for 10 yards.

Kenny Gainwell, Week 6 against PIT: 11 of 74 snaps, 2 carries for 17 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 7 yards.

Kenny Gainwell, Week 7 against CAR: 19 of 63 snaps, 14 carries for 88 yards, 0 targets 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, Kenny Gainwell played 17 games for PIT and scored 222.3 PPR points, 13.1 a game, finishing RB16.

He ran 114 times for 537 yards and 5 touchdowns, and caught 73 of 85 targets for 486 yards.

He was on the field for 49 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 Tyjae Spears for Kenny Gainwell?
Yes, on the rest of the season. Kenny Gainwell projects 55 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (6.1 a game over 9 games), Tyjae Spears 51 (5.7 a game over 9 games). For Week 8 the call starts Kenny Gainwell over Tyjae Spears. Tyjae Spears is listed questionable.
Should I drop Kenny Gainwell for Tyjae Spears?
No. Keep Kenny Gainwell: he projects 55 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (6.1 a game over 9 games), Tyjae Spears 51 (5.7 a game over 9 games). For Week 8 the call starts Kenny Gainwell over Tyjae Spears. Tyjae Spears is listed questionable.

Should I drop Kenny Gainwell?