Chris Olave or James Cook III: who should I start in Week 3?

What the sportsbooks price

The player markets price Chris Olave at 17.3 PPR points a game, built from 4 markets across 15 books. That is the 17th highest figure of the 176 players the books price.

The player markets price James Cook III at 16.1 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 15 books. That is the 32nd highest figure of the 176 players the books price.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Chris Olave: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 12th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 9; 2QB: ADP 40.

Drafters have formed no consensus on James Cook III: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 14th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 2; 2QB: ADP 13.

This season through Week 2

Through Week 2, Chris Olave has been on the field for 85 percent of NO snaps, drawn 27 percent of the targets and had 5 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 19 third down targets, had 0 of its 3 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 18 two minute targets.

His 23 targets have averaged 14.7 air yards.

In Week 1 against DET he caught 10 of 13 targets for 182 yards and did not score.

In Week 2 against BAL he caught 8 of 10 targets for 86 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 2, James Cook III has been on the field for 73 percent of BUF snaps, taken 64 percent of the carries, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 44 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 14 third down targets, had 2 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 11 two minute targets.

His 7 targets have come 0.4 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 1 against HOU he carried 13 times for 57 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 12 yards and did not score.

In Week 2 against DET he carried 21 times for 135 yards, caught 1 of 3 targets for 4 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Chris Olave played 16 games and scored 269.0 PPR points, 16.8 a game, finishing WR6.

He caught 100 of 156 targets for 1163 yards and 9 touchdowns, with 13 red zone targets.

That came to 9.8 targets a game, a 64 percent catch rate and 11.6 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 84 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 James Cook III played 17 games and scored 302.2 PPR points, 17.8 a game, finishing RB6.

He carried 309 times for 1621 yards and 12 touchdowns, and caught 33 of 40 targets for 291 more yards.

That came to 18.2 carries a game at 5.2 yards a carry and 1.9 catches a game.

He was on the field for 60 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

James Cook III was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 James Cook III scored 17.8 PPR points a game and Chris Olave 16.8, 1.0 a game between them.

Chris Olave finished WR6 and James Cook III RB6, which are two different ladders.

Chris Olave is a wide receiver and James Cook III a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Chris Olave is off in Week 8 and James Cook III in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

1.2 points a game is the entire case. The books restate 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 price, and this page will follow the sample rather than the books when it does.