Kirk Cousins or Brian Thomas Jr.: who should I start in Week 5?

What the player markets price

The player markets price Kirk Cousins at 14.3 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 16 market sources. That is the 49th highest figure of the 185 players the market prices.

The player markets price Brian Thomas Jr. at 6.5 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 130th highest figure of the 185 players the market prices.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Kirk Cousins: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 128th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Brian Thomas Jr.: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 129th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 4

Through Week 4, Kirk Cousins has been on the field for 100 percent of LV snaps, dropped back 149 times and thrown 8.8 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 27 of 149 dropbacks and scrambled 3 times.

In Week 2 against LAC he completed 19 of 29 passes for 253 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 4 yards.

In Week 3 against NO he completed 22 of 33 passes for 248 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 5 yards.

In Week 4 against KC he completed 31 of 49 passes for 365 yards and threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.

Through Week 4, Brian Thomas Jr. has been on the field for 47 percent of JAX snaps, drawn 14 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 22 third down targets, had 0 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 11 two minute targets.

His 14 targets have averaged 10.5 air yards.

In Week 2 against DEN he caught 3 of 8 targets for 40 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against NE he caught 1 of 1 target for 8 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against CIN he caught 2 of 2 targets for 17 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Kirk Cousins played 10 games and scored 108.5 PPR points, 10.9 a game, finishing QB35.

He threw for 1721 yards on 269 attempts with 10 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, and ran for 7 yards and 1 touchdown.

That came to 26.9 attempts a game at 6.4 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 46 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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 6.5 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.

Brian Thomas Jr. was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Kirk Cousins scored 10.9 PPR points a game and Brian Thomas Jr. 9.9, 0.9 a game between them.

Kirk Cousins finished QB35 and Brian Thomas Jr. WR42, which are two different ladders.

Kirk Cousins is a quarterback and Brian Thomas Jr. a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Brian Thomas Jr. is off in Week 7. No bye is listed for Kirk Cousins.

What would change the answer

7.9 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.