Should I start Brian Thomas Jr. or Nico Collins in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Brian Thomas Jr., and the board ranks him 72nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Nico Collins, and the board ranks him 73rd 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 11 market sources. That is the 54th highest figure of the 175 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Nico Collins is 3.5 PPR points a game off 1 market across 5 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.

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

This season so far

Through Week 8, Brian Thomas Jr. has 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 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.

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 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.

Nico Collins was available for 1 game more.

Head to head

In 2025 Nico Collins scored 15.1 PPR points a game and Brian Thomas Jr. 9.9, 5.2 a game between them.

Brian Thomas Jr. finished WR42 that year and Nico Collins WR8.

Nico Collins had 29 more targets than Brian Thomas Jr., 120 to 91.

Nico Collins had 410 more receiving yards than Brian Thomas Jr., 1117 to 707.

This season Nico Collins holds the bigger target share, 22 percent against 12 percent.

Byes and availability

Brian Thomas Jr. is off in Week 7 and Nico Collins in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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