Should I start Josh Downs or Chig Okonkwo in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Josh Downs, and the board ranks him 146th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Chig Okonkwo, and the board ranks him 147th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Josh Downs is 1.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Chig Okonkwo is 1.6 PPR points a game off 1 market across 2 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a tight end's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Josh Downs has been on the field for 81 percent of IND snaps, drawn 20 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 16 of the offence's 64 third down targets, had 0 of its 21 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 35 two minute targets.

His 51 targets have averaged 10.4 air yards.

In Week 6 against TEN he carried 1 time for 7 yards, caught 4 of 8 targets for 40 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against MIN he caught 2 of 4 targets for 18 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against JAX he caught 4 of 5 targets for 23 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, Chig Okonkwo has been on the field for 67 percent of WAS snaps, drawn 16 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 42 third down targets, had 0 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 19 two minute targets.

His 24 targets have averaged 7.9 air yards.

In Week 5 against NYG he caught 4 of 6 targets for 60 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against SF he caught 7 of 7 targets for 69 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against PHI he caught 2 of 4 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Josh Downs played 16 games and scored 136.4 PPR points, 8.5 a game, finishing WR44.

He caught 58 of 88 targets for 566 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets.

That came to 5-6 targets a game, a 66 percent catch rate and 9.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 58 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Chig Okonkwo played 17 games and scored 124.0 PPR points, 7.3 a game, finishing TE21.

He caught 56 of 79 targets for 560 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 5 red zone targets.

That came to 4.6 targets a game, a 71 percent catch rate and 10.0 yards a catch.

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

Chig Okonkwo was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Josh Downs scored 8.5 PPR points a game and Chig Okonkwo 7.3, 1.2 a game between them.

Josh Downs finished WR44 and Chig Okonkwo TE21, which are two different ladders.

Josh Downs is a wide receiver and Chig Okonkwo a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Josh Downs is off in Week 13 and Chig Okonkwo in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.