Should I start Bryce Young or Josh Downs in Week 7?

The market-based projections

Bryce Young's market-based projection is 17.3 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 18th highest figure of the 213 players with a market-based projection.

Josh Downs's market-based projection is 10.9 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 80th highest figure of the 213 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Bryce Young, and the board ranks him 77th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 40.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Josh Downs, and the board ranks him 76th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 6

Through Week 6, Bryce Young has been on the field for 97 percent of CAR snaps, dropped back 217 times and thrown 9.2 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 35 of 217 dropbacks and scrambled 5 times.

In Week 3 against CLE he completed 26 of 47 passes for 291 yards and threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

In Week 4 against DET he completed 29 of 41 passes for 329 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 7 yards.

In Week 6 against PHI he completed 20 of 39 passes for 281 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 8 yards.

Through Week 6, Josh Downs has been on the field for 81 percent of IND snaps, drawn 21 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 13 of the offence's 49 third down targets, had 0 of its 19 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 25 two minute targets.

His 42 targets have averaged 10.7 air yards.

In Week 4 against WAS he caught 3 of 4 targets for 16 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against PIT he caught 3 of 6 targets for 47 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against TEN he carried 1 time for 7 yards, caught 4 of 8 targets for 40 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Bryce Young played 16 games and scored 229.0 PPR points, 14.3 a game, finishing QB19.

He threw for 3011 yards on 478 attempts with 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and ran for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns.

That came to 29.9 attempts a game at 6.3 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 96 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Josh Downs played 16 games and scored 136.4 PPR points, 8.5 a game, finishing WR44.

He caught 58 of 88 targets for 566 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets.

That came to 5-6 targets a game, a 66 percent catch rate and 9.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 58 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 16 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Bryce Young scored 14.3 PPR points a game and Josh Downs 8.5, 5.8 a game between them.

Bryce Young finished QB19 and Josh Downs WR44, which are two different ladders.

Bryce Young is a quarterback and Josh Downs a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Bryce Young is off in Week 5 and Josh Downs in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

6.4 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 live drafts hold these two again they can order them differently from the projection, and this page will follow the drafts rather than the market-based projection when they do.