David Montgomery or AJ Barner: who should I start in Week 5?

What the player markets price

The player markets price David Montgomery at 10.5 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 85th highest figure of the 209 players the market prices.

The player markets price AJ Barner at 6.9 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 130th highest figure of the 209 players the market prices.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on David Montgomery: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 71st overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 33.

Drafters have formed no consensus on AJ Barner: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 138th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 4

Through Week 4, David Montgomery has been on the field for 54 percent of HOU snaps, taken 52 percent of the carries, drawn 5 percent of the targets and had 35 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 32 third down targets, had 3 of its 5 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 29 two minute targets.

His 7 targets have averaged 3.6 air yards.

In Week 2 against CIN he carried 6 times for 10 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 14 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against IND he carried 11 times for 33 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 15 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against DAL he carried 10 times for 24 yards and did not score.

Through Week 4, AJ Barner has been on the field for 87 percent of SEA snaps, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 31 third down targets, had 3 of its 15 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 15 two minute targets.

His 15 targets have averaged 2.3 air yards.

In Week 2 against ARI he carried 1 time for 1 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 8 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 3 against WAS he caught 5 of 9 targets for 69 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against LAC he caught 1 of 3 targets for 12 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 David Montgomery played 17 games and scored 166.9 PPR points, 9.8 a game, finishing RB27.

He carried 158 times for 716 yards and 8 touchdowns, and caught 24 of 29 targets for 192 more yards.

That came to 9.3 carries a game at 4.5 yards a carry and 1.4 catches a game.

He was on the field for 37 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 AJ Barner played 17 games and scored 147.3 PPR points, 8.7 a game, finishing TE14.

He caught 52 of 68 targets for 519 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 12 red zone targets.

That came to 4.0 targets a game, a 76 percent catch rate and 10.0 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 78 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 David Montgomery scored 9.8 PPR points a game and AJ Barner 8.7, 1.2 a game between them.

David Montgomery finished RB27 and AJ Barner TE14, which are two different ladders.

David Montgomery is a running back and AJ Barner a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

David Montgomery is off in Week 8. No bye is listed for AJ Barner.

What would change the answer

3.7 points a game is the entire case. The market restates it every week, and a line that moves moves the order with it.

The draft market is the half that is missing: when the consensus sample holds these two again it can order them differently from the price, and this page will follow the sample rather than the market price when it does.