Jalen Brooks or CJ Donaldson: who should I start in Week 6?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Jalen Brooks: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 145th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on CJ Donaldson: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 147th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Jalen Brooks's market-based projection is 4.5 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 135th highest figure of the 183 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for CJ Donaldson is 4.0 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 13 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 5

Through Week 5, Jalen Brooks has been on the field for 15 percent of ARI snaps, drawn 4 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 52 third down targets, had 0 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 37 two minute targets.

His 8 targets have averaged 14.3 air yards.

In Week 3 against SF he caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against NYG he was not given the ball.

In Week 5 against DET he caught 2 of 7 targets for 16 yards and did not score.

Through Week 5, CJ Donaldson has been on the field for 27 percent of NO snaps, taken 10 percent of the carries, drawn 3 percent of the targets and had 2 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 48 third down targets, had 0 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 31 two minute targets.

His 5 targets have averaged 2.4 air yards.

In Week 3 against LV he carried 1 time for 5 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against ATL he carried 3 times for 18 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 5 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against MIN he carried 4 times for 13 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 7 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Jalen Brooks played 6 games and scored 6.1 PPR points, 1.0 a game.

He caught 3 of 6 targets for 51 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 0 red zone targets.

That came to 1.0 targets a game, a 50 percent catch rate and 17.0 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 32 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

CJ Donaldson is a rookie, so there is no NFL season behind him to price him against.

Side by side

Jalen Brooks is a wide receiver and CJ Donaldson a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

What would change the answer

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