Should I start Josh Downs or Chris Godwin Jr. in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Josh Downs, and the board ranks him 143rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

By format he goes standard: ADP 21; 2QB: ADP 45.

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 has Chris Godwin Jr. at 1.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 9 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver'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, Chris Godwin Jr. has been on the field for 77 percent of TB snaps, drawn 43 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 7 third down targets, had 0 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 3 two minute targets.

His 6 targets have averaged 1.3 air yards.

In Week 7 against CAR he caught 4 of 5 targets for 27 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against ATL he caught 0 of 1 target for 0 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 Chris Godwin Jr. played 9 games and scored 83.0 PPR points, 9.2 a game, finishing WR78.

He caught 33 of 51 targets for 360 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets.

That came to 5.7 targets a game, a 65 percent catch rate and 10.9 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 71 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Josh Downs was available for 7 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Chris Godwin Jr. scored 9.2 PPR points a game and Josh Downs 8.5, 0.7 a game between them.

Josh Downs finished WR44 that year and Chris Godwin Jr. WR78.

Josh Downs had 37 more targets than Chris Godwin Jr., 88 to 51.

Josh Downs had 206 more receiving yards than Chris Godwin Jr., 566 to 360.

This season Josh Downs holds the bigger snap share, 81 percent against 77 percent.

This season Chris Godwin Jr. holds the bigger target share, 43 percent against 20 percent.

Byes and availability

Josh Downs is off in Week 13 and Chris Godwin Jr. in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.