Start Sione Vaki or Seth McGowan? Week 9

Our Week 9 call

Start Seth McGowan over Sione Vaki in Week 9.

Market-based projections have Seth McGowan at 4.1 points and Sione Vaki at 3.6, a gap of 0.5. 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 Seth McGowan this week yet, so his 4.1 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (3.6, 2.7 and 6.0); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 9 player market is posted for Seth McGowan yet. His market-based projections were 3.6, 2.7 and 6.0 points in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, an average of 4.1, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.

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).

That puts Seth McGowan 0.5 points ahead of Sione Vaki on these projections.

Week 9 matchups

Seth McGowan and IND host DAL on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

DAL allowed 26.5 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 8 games, the 4th most in the league.

Running backs ran for 116 yards and a touchdown a game against DAL and caught passes for 29 more yards.

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.

By points allowed to the position, Seth McGowan has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Seth McGowan is not on the injury report.

Sione Vaki is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 9

Through Week 8, Seth McGowan played 21 percent of IND snaps, took 17 percent of the carries, drew 2 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

Seth McGowan, Week 5 against PIT: 19 of 71 snaps, 5 carries for 16 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 3 yards.

Seth McGowan, Week 6 against TEN: 19 of 83 snaps, 4 carries for 27 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Seth McGowan, Week 7 against MIN: 20 of 58 snaps, 11 carries for 46 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 2 yards.

Seth McGowan, Week 8 against JAX: 15 of 61 snaps, 5 carries for 29 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

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.

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 Seth McGowan over CJ Donaldson.
• Start Corey Kiner over Seth McGowan.
• Start George Holani over Seth McGowan.
• Start Sione Vaki over CJ Donaldson.
• Start Corey Kiner over Sione Vaki.
• Start George Holani over Sione Vaki.