Should I start Puka Nacua or Brian Thomas Jr. in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Puka Nacua, and the board ranks him 102nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 6.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Brian Thomas Jr., and the board ranks him 108th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Puka Nacua is 3.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 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.

Brian Thomas Jr.'s market-based projection is 3.7 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 119th highest figure of the 219 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Puka Nacua has been on the field for 86 percent of LAR snaps, drawn 34 percent of the targets and had 22 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 20 of the offence's 48 third down targets, had 3 of its 18 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 74 targets have averaged 7.7 air yards.

In Week 6 against ARI he caught 6 of 7 targets for 80 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against LV he carried 2 times for 10 yards, caught 8 of 10 targets for 68 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against LAC he caught 11 of 12 targets for 80 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Puka Nacua played 16 games and scored 375.0 PPR points, 23.4 a game, finishing WR1.

He caught 129 of 166 targets for 1715 yards and 10 touchdowns, with 16 red zone targets.

That came to 10.4 targets a game, a 78 percent catch rate and 13.3 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 68 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 6-7 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.

Puka Nacua was available for 2 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Puka Nacua scored 23.4 PPR points a game and Brian Thomas Jr. 9.9, 13.5 a game between them.

Puka Nacua finished WR1 that year and Brian Thomas Jr. WR42.

Puka Nacua had 75 more targets than Brian Thomas Jr., 166 to 91.

Puka Nacua had 1008 more receiving yards than Brian Thomas Jr., 1715 to 707.

This season Puka Nacua holds the bigger snap share, 86 percent against 52 percent.

This season Puka Nacua holds the bigger target share, 34 percent against 12 percent.

Byes and availability

Puka Nacua is off in Week 11 and Brian Thomas Jr. in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

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