Should I start Bucky Irving or Zachariah Branch in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Bucky Irving, and the board ranks him 75th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Bucky Irving is 4.0 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

No season market is posted for Zachariah Branch, so the only market valuing him on this page is the draft room.

This season through Week 6

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.

Through Week 6, Zachariah Branch has been on the field for 24 percent of ATL snaps, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 47 third down targets, had 0 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 18 two minute targets.

His 10 targets have averaged 1.1 air yards.

In Week 4 against NO he caught 2 of 2 targets for 10 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against BAL he caught 2 of 2 targets for 15 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against CHI he caught 2 of 2 targets for 9 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.

Zachariah Branch is a rookie, so there is no NFL season behind him to price him against.

Side by side

Bucky Irving is a running back and Zachariah Branch 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 Zachariah Branch in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.