Christian McCaffrey or James Cook III: who should I start?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Christian McCaffrey: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 2nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 9.

Drafters have formed no consensus on James Cook III: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 187th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

What the sportsbooks price

The player markets price Christian McCaffrey at 21.3 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 17 books. That is the 2nd highest figure of the 183 players the books price.

No sportsbook has posted a season market for James Cook III, so the only market pricing him on this page is the draft room.

This season through Week 1

Through Week 1, Christian McCaffrey has been on the field for 55 percent of SF snaps, taken 33 percent of the carries, drawn 24 percent of the targets and had 20 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 10 third down targets, had 0 of its 3 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 3 two minute targets.

His 8 targets have come 0.4 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 1 against LAR he carried 10 times for 68 yards, caught 5 of 8 targets for 20 yards and did not score.

Through Week 1, James Cook III has been on the field for 72 percent of BUF snaps, taken 65 percent of the carries, drawn 14 percent of the targets and had 43 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 8 third down targets, had 0 of its 2 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 6 two minute targets.

His 4 targets have come 1.0 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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Christian McCaffrey played 17 games and scored 416.6 PPR points, 24.5 a game, finishing RB1.

He carried 311 times for 1202 yards and 10 touchdowns, and caught 102 of 129 targets for 924 more yards.

That came to 18.3 carries a game at 3.9 yards a carry and 6.0 catches a game.

He was on the field for 83 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.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Head to head

In 2025 Christian McCaffrey scored 24.5 PPR points a game and James Cook III 17.8, 6.7 a game between them.

Christian McCaffrey finished RB1 that year and James Cook III RB6.

Christian McCaffrey had 2 more carries than James Cook III, 311 to 309.

Christian McCaffrey had 69 more catches than James Cook III, 102 to 33.

This season James Cook III holds the bigger snap share, 72 percent against 55 percent.

This season James Cook III holds the bigger share of the carries, 65 percent against 33 percent.

Byes and availability

Christian McCaffrey 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

James Cook III has no posted market, so one half of the evidence on this page exists for only one of them.