Should I start Nico Collins or A.J. Brown in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Nico Collins, and the board ranks him 29th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on A.J. Brown, and the board ranks him 142nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 23.

The market-based projections

Nico Collins's market-based projection is 14.6 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 9 market sources. That is the 42nd highest figure of the 220 players with a market-based projection.

The market has A.J. Brown at 2.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 3 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

A.J. Brown's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Nico Collins has been on the field for 71 percent of HOU snaps, drawn 22 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 8 of the offence's 34 third down targets, had 0 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 35 targets have averaged 12.5 air yards.

In Week 5 against TEN he caught 5 of 7 targets for 56 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against JAX he carried 1 time for 5 yards, caught 3 of 5 targets for 74 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against NYG he caught 2 of 5 targets for 6 yards and did not score.

Through Week 7, A.J. Brown has been on the field for 68 percent of NE snaps, drawn 22 percent of the targets and had 15 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 26 third down targets, had 0 of its 1 chance inside the five and seen 7 of its 21 two minute targets.

His 20 targets have averaged 13.4 air yards.

In Week 1 against SEA he caught 3 of 4 targets for 26 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against NYJ he caught 3 of 10 targets for 27 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CHI he caught 3 of 6 targets for 48 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Nico Collins played 15 games and scored 226.2 PPR points, 15.1 a game, finishing WR8.

He caught 71 of 120 targets for 1117 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 16 red zone targets.

That came to 8.0 targets a game, a 59 percent catch rate and 15.7 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 77 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 A.J. Brown played 15 games and scored 220.3 PPR points, 14.7 a game, finishing WR11.

He caught 78 of 121 targets for 1003 yards and 7 touchdowns, with 12 red zone targets.

That came to 8.1 targets a game, a 64 percent catch rate and 12.9 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 91 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 15 games that season.

Head to head

In 2025 Nico Collins scored 15.1 PPR points a game and A.J. Brown 14.7, 0.4 a game between them.

Nico Collins finished WR8 that year and A.J. Brown WR11.

A.J. Brown had 1 more targets than Nico Collins, 121 to 120.

Nico Collins had 114 more receiving yards than A.J. Brown, 1117 to 1003.

This season Nico Collins holds the bigger snap share, 71 percent against 68 percent.

Their target share this season is the same, 22 percent each.

Byes and availability

Nico Collins is off in Week 8 and A.J. Brown in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.

A.J. Brown is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

A.J. Brown has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.