Who Should I Start? Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones


Week 1 Projections

Fant.
Pts.
Rush.
Yds.
Rush
TD
Rec. Rec.
Yds.
Rec
TD
22.2 8.6 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

Sam Darnold News

Sam Darnold Should Benefit From a Strong Supporting Cast

Tuesday, August 25, 8:18 PM

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold has a talented group of weapons around him at wide receiver, running back, and tight end. Although Jake Bobo (knee) went down with a season-ending ACL tear, this is still a very talented wide receiver room headlined by Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, and Rashid Shaheed. All three have different skill sets that should give Darnold plenty of options in the passing game. At tight end, AJ Barner is coming off a big 2025 campaign, while Elijah Arroyo has a second-round draft stock. Meanwhile, the Seahawks have an impressive backfield featuring Jadarian Price and Zach Charbonnet (knee). Rounding out the offense is a very dependable offensive line. The Seahawks didn't make many additions in the trenches, but mostly because it was already a strong unit. Grey Zabel and Charles Cross are terrific blindside protectors for Darnold, who only took 27 sacks last year (as opposed to 48 in 2024 with Minnesota). Despite having limited mobility, the veteran signal caller has ranked as a top-13 quarterback in fantasy football for each of the last two seasons. He enters the 2026 season as the QB23 in RotoBaller's latest draft rankings.


Week 1 Projections

Fant.
Pts.
Rush.
Yds.
Rush
TD
Rec. Rec.
Yds.
Rec
TD
21.3 15.5 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

Daniel Jones News

Daniel Jones Gives QB2 Drafters More to Like

Sunday, August 23, 9:37 AM

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones has done a lot this summer to quiet the concern around last December's torn Achilles. He was fully cleared for the first day of training camp and has looked like himself moving around, with Colts.com noting his mobility was almost entirely unaffected by the injury by the end of camp. That's a big deal for a quarterback who added 164 rushing yards and five scores in 13 games last season. Jones was also good through the air, completing 68% of his passes for 3,101 yards, 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions while averaging 19.4 fantasy points per game before he went down. Indianapolis hasn't needed to see him in preseason games. Shane Steichen has already made it clear Jones is the QB1, and the Colts added Keenan Allen this week to a group that includes Josh Downs, Alec Pierce and Tyler Warren. The Achilles still makes his rushing ceiling harder to project, but the recovery has gone about as well as fantasy managers could have hoped. RotoBaller has Jones at QB24, leaving some room for profit in two-quarterback and Superflex formats.


Sam Darnold vs. Daniel Jones

Still trying to decide between Darnold and Jones? Check on the latest news to make sure both players are active and healthy. Our PPR projections show that Sam Darnold is projected to score 22.2 points this week while Daniel Jones is projected to score 21.3 points.