Matthew Golden or Bucky Irving: who should I start in Week 6?

The market-based projections

Matthew Golden's market-based projection is 14.0 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 53rd highest figure of the 158 players with a market-based projection.

Bucky Irving's market-based projection is 11.6 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 64th highest figure of the 158 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Matthew Golden: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 38th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Bucky Irving: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 37th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 5

Through Week 5, Matthew Golden has been on the field for 83 percent of GB snaps, drawn 24 percent of the targets and had 15 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 17 of the offence's 50 third down targets, had 1 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 44 targets have averaged 14.0 air yards.

In Week 3 against ATL he caught 5 of 12 targets for 100 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 4 against TB he carried 1 time for 6 yards, caught 3 of 7 targets for 21 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against CHI he caught 6 of 7 targets for 123 yards and did not score.

Through Week 5, Bucky Irving has been on the field for 61 percent of TB snaps, taken 58 percent of the carries, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 38 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 40 third down targets, had 2 of its 6 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 29 two minute targets.

His 18 targets have come 1.8 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

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.

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

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Matthew Golden played 14 games and scored 70.0 PPR points, 5.0 a game, finishing WR89.

He caught 29 of 44 targets for 361 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 2 red zone targets.

That came to 3.1 targets a game, a 66 percent catch rate and 12.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 50 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.

Matthew Golden was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Bucky Irving scored 13.9 PPR points a game and Matthew Golden 5.0, 8.9 a game between them.

Matthew Golden finished WR89 and Bucky Irving RB34, which are two different ladders.

Matthew Golden 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

Matthew Golden is off in Week 11 and Bucky Irving in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

2.3 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 projection, and this page will follow the sample rather than the market-based projection when it does.