Should I start Brian Thomas Jr. or George Pickens in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Brian Thomas Jr., and the board ranks him 100th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on George Pickens, and the board ranks him 111th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Brian Thomas Jr.'s market-based projection is 3.5 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 101st highest figure of the 214 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for George Pickens is 3.2 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 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.

George Pickens's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Brian Thomas Jr. has been on the field for 52 percent of JAX snaps, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 25 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 5 third down targets.

His 2 targets have averaged 19.0 air yards.

In Week 8 against IND he caught 1 of 2 targets for 12 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, George Pickens has been on the field for 78 percent of DAL snaps, drawn 21 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 23 of the offence's 69 third down targets, had 3 of its 31 chances inside the five and seen 11 of its 50 two minute targets.

His 62 targets have averaged 11.6 air yards.

In Week 6 against GB he caught 6 of 11 targets for 73 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against PHI he caught 4 of 6 targets for 57 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against ARI he caught 2 of 4 targets for 48 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Brian Thomas Jr. played 14 games and scored 138.8 PPR points, 9.9 a game, finishing WR42.

He caught 48 of 91 targets for 707 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 6 red zone targets.

That came to 6-7 targets a game, a 53 percent catch rate and 14.7 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 79 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 George Pickens played 17 games and scored 291.9 PPR points, 17.2 a game, finishing WR5.

He caught 93 of 137 targets for 1429 yards and 9 touchdowns, with 21 red zone targets.

That came to 8.1 targets a game, a 68 percent catch rate and 15.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 83 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

George Pickens was available for 3 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 George Pickens scored 17.2 PPR points a game and Brian Thomas Jr. 9.9, 7.3 a game between them.

Brian Thomas Jr. finished WR42 that year and George Pickens WR5.

George Pickens had 46 more targets than Brian Thomas Jr., 137 to 91.

George Pickens had 722 more receiving yards than Brian Thomas Jr., 1429 to 707.

This season George Pickens holds the bigger snap share, 78 percent against 52 percent.

This season George Pickens holds the bigger target share, 21 percent against 12 percent.

Byes and availability

Brian Thomas Jr. is off in Week 7 and George Pickens in Week 14, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

George Pickens has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.