Should I start Ja'Marr Chase or Bucky Irving in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Ja'Marr Chase, and the board ranks him 12th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 5.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Bucky Irving, and the board ranks him 13th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Ja'Marr Chase's market-based projection is 19.1 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 8th highest figure of the 214 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Bucky Irving is 15.9 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 13 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season so far

Through Week 5, Ja'Marr Chase has been on the field for 75 percent of CIN snaps, drawn 20 percent of the targets and had 14 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 9 of the offence's 46 third down targets, had 2 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 33 two minute targets.

His 38 targets have averaged 9.2 air yards.

In Week 3 against PIT he caught 9 of 12 targets for 98 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 4 against JAX he caught 3 of 3 targets for 27 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against MIA he caught 6 of 10 targets for 77 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 6, Bucky Irving has been on the field for 65 percent of TB snaps, taken 61 percent of the carries, drawn 11 percent of the targets and had 38 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 53 third down targets, had 2 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 41 two minute targets.

His 21 targets have come 2.0 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

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

In Week 5 against DAL he carried 21 times for 165 yards, caught 2 of 3 targets for 10 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 6 against PIT he carried 19 times for 46 yards, caught 2 of 3 targets for 3 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Ja'Marr Chase played 16 games and scored 313.6 PPR points, 19.6 a game, finishing WR4.

He caught 125 of 185 targets for 1412 yards and 8 touchdowns, with 21 red zone targets.

That came to 11.6 targets a game, a 68 percent catch rate and 11.3 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 94 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Ja'Marr Chase was available for 6 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Ja'Marr Chase scored 19.6 PPR points a game and Bucky Irving 13.9, 5.8 a game between them.

Ja'Marr Chase finished WR4 and Bucky Irving RB34, which are two different ladders.

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

Byes and availability

Ja'Marr Chase is off in Week 6 and Bucky Irving in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.

Bucky Irving is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

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