Brock Bowers or James Cook III: who should I start in Week 5?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Brock Bowers: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 19th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 17; 2QB: ADP 33.

Drafters have formed no consensus on James Cook III: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 22nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 2; 2QB: ADP 10.

What the player markets price

The player markets price Brock Bowers at 16.8 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 15 market sources. That is the 24th highest figure of the 184 players the market prices.

The market has James Cook III at 16.5 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 15 market sources. That is 80 percent of what a running back's price needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

James Cook III's price is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season through Week 4

Through Week 4, Brock Bowers has been on the field for 81 percent of LV snaps, drawn 31 percent of the targets and had 24 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 13 of the offence's 22 third down targets, had 1 of its 5 chances inside the five and seen 6 of its 21 two minute targets.

His 24 targets have averaged 10.6 air yards.

In Week 3 against NO he caught 10 of 13 targets for 116 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 4 against KC he caught 6 of 11 targets for 86 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 4, James Cook III has been on the field for 68 percent of BUF snaps, taken 67 percent of the carries, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 38 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 31 third down targets, had 4 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 22 two minute targets.

His 10 targets have come 0.8 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 2 against DET he carried 21 times for 135 yards, caught 1 of 3 targets for 4 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 3 against LAC he carried 24 times for 154 yards, caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 4 against NE he carried 12 times for 75 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 8 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Brock Bowers played 12 games and scored 176.2 PPR points, 14.7 a game, finishing TE11.

He caught 64 of 86 targets for 680 yards and 7 touchdowns, with 16 red zone targets.

That came to 7.2 targets a game, a 74 percent catch rate and 10.6 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 85 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 James Cook III played 17 games and scored 302.2 PPR points, 17.8 a game, finishing RB6.

He carried 309 times for 1621 yards and 12 touchdowns, and caught 33 of 40 targets for 291 more yards.

That came to 18.2 carries a game at 5.2 yards a carry and 1.9 catches a game.

He was on the field for 60 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

James Cook III was available for 5 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 James Cook III scored 17.8 PPR points a game and Brock Bowers 14.7, 3.1 a game between them.

Brock Bowers finished TE11 and James Cook III RB6, which are two different ladders.

Brock Bowers is a tight end and James Cook III a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Brock Bowers is off in Week 13 and James Cook III in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.

Brock Bowers is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

James Cook III is only part priced, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.