Bucky Irving or DK Metcalf: who should I start in Week 5?

What the player markets price

The player markets price Bucky Irving at 11.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 17 market sources. That is the 71st highest figure of the 185 players the market prices.

The player markets price DK Metcalf at 11.1 PPR points a game, built from 4 markets across 15 market sources. That is the 78th highest figure of the 185 players the market prices.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Bucky Irving: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 53rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on DK Metcalf: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 52nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 4

Through Week 4, Bucky Irving has been on the field for 62 percent of TB snaps, taken 58 percent of the carries, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 29 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 32 third down targets, had 0 of its 2 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 15 targets have come 2.2 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 2 against CLE he carried 17 times for 89 yards, caught 4 of 4 targets for 1 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against MIN he carried 15 times for 46 yards, caught 2 of 4 targets for 12 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against GB he carried 16 times for 61 yards and did not score.

Through Week 4, DK Metcalf has been on the field for 96 percent of PIT snaps, drawn 23 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 10 of the offence's 32 third down targets, had 0 of its 1 chance inside the five and seen 0 of its 20 two minute targets.

His 33 targets have averaged 15.0 air yards.

In Week 2 against NE he caught 4 of 9 targets for 27 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against CIN he caught 3 of 5 targets for 31 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 4 against CLE he caught 5 of 9 targets for 115 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Bucky Irving played 10 games and scored 138.5 PPR points, 13.9 a game, finishing RB34.

He carried 173 times for 588 yards and 1 touchdown, and caught 30 of 35 targets for 277 more yards.

That came to 17.3 carries a game at 3.4 yards a carry and 3.0 catches a game.

He was on the field for 62 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 DK Metcalf played 15 games and scored 187.2 PPR points, 12.5 a game, finishing WR26.

He caught 59 of 99 targets for 850 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 13 red zone targets.

That came to 6.6 targets a game, a 60 percent catch rate and 14.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 87 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

DK Metcalf was available for 5 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Bucky Irving scored 13.9 PPR points a game and DK Metcalf 12.5, 1.4 a game between them.

Bucky Irving finished RB34 and DK Metcalf WR26, which are two different ladders.

Bucky Irving is a running back and DK Metcalf a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Bucky Irving is off in Week 10 and DK Metcalf in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

0.3 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.