Jaxon Smith-Njigba or Chase Brown: who should I start in Week 5?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Jaxon Smith-Njigba: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 5th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 8.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Chase Brown: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 10th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 5; 2QB: ADP 19.

What the player markets price

The player markets price Jaxon Smith-Njigba at 20.1 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 15 market sources. That is the 9th highest figure of the 184 players the market prices.

The market has Chase Brown at 18.4 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 11 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a running back's price needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Chase Brown's price is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season through Week 4

Through Week 4, Jaxon Smith-Njigba has been on the field for 82 percent of SEA snaps, drawn 37 percent of the targets and had 22 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 15 of the offence's 31 third down targets, had 2 of its 15 chances inside the five and seen 6 of its 15 two minute targets.

His 42 targets have averaged 9.9 air yards.

In Week 2 against ARI he caught 9 of 11 targets for 155 yards and scored 3 touchdowns.

In Week 3 against WAS he caught 10 of 14 targets for 128 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 4 against LAC he caught 5 of 6 targets for 76 yards and did not score.

Through Week 4, Chase Brown has been on the field for 73 percent of CIN snaps, taken 72 percent of the carries, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 26 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 5 of the offence's 37 third down targets, had 3 of its 8 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 31 two minute targets.

His 24 targets have come 0.8 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 2 against HOU he carried 20 times for 80 yards, caught 3 of 5 targets for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against PIT he carried 13 times for 61 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 8 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against JAX he carried 9 times for 10 yards, caught 11 of 11 targets for 71 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Jaxon Smith-Njigba played 17 games and scored 359.9 PPR points, 21.2 a game, finishing WR2.

He caught 119 of 163 targets for 1793 yards and 10 touchdowns, with 17 red zone targets.

That came to 9.6 targets a game, a 73 percent catch rate and 15.1 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 78 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Chase Brown played 17 games and scored 282.6 PPR points, 16.6 a game, finishing RB7.

He carried 232 times for 1019 yards and 6 touchdowns, and caught 69 of 88 targets for 437 more yards.

That came to 13.6 carries a game at 4.4 yards a carry and 4.1 catches a game.

He was on the field for 67 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Jaxon Smith-Njigba scored 21.2 PPR points a game and Chase Brown 16.6, 4.5 a game between them.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba finished WR2 and Chase Brown RB7, which are two different ladders.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a wide receiver and Chase Brown a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Jaxon Smith-Njigba is off in Week 11 and Chase Brown in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

Chase Brown is only part priced, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.