Should I start Joe Burrow or C.J. Stroud in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Joe Burrow, and the board ranks him 38th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on C.J. Stroud, and the board ranks him 95th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 30.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Joe Burrow is 23.0 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 14 market sources. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

C.J. Stroud's market-based projection is 16.9 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 9 market sources. That is the 18th highest figure of the 219 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season so far

Through Week 8, Joe Burrow has been on the field for 99 percent of CIN snaps, dropped back 289 times and thrown 7.6 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 51 of 289 dropbacks and scrambled 9 times.

In Week 5 against MIA he completed 23 of 32 passes for 190 yards, threw 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 12 yards.

In Week 7 against BAL he completed 22 of 30 passes for 292 yards, threw 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 12 yards.

In Week 8 against TEN he completed 38 of 48 passes for 462 yards, threw 5 touchdowns and 3 interceptions and ran 3 times for 10 yards.

Through Week 7, C.J. Stroud has been on the field for 100 percent of HOU snaps, dropped back 266 times and thrown 9.3 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 35 of 266 dropbacks and scrambled 8 times.

In Week 5 against TEN he completed 26 of 34 passes for 261 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 4 times for 7 yards.

In Week 6 against JAX he completed 24 of 34 passes for 312 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 1 time for 5 yards.

In Week 7 against NYG he completed 17 of 28 passes for 153 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 4 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Joe Burrow played 8 games and scored 139.5 PPR points, 17.4 a game, finishing QB29.

He threw for 1809 yards on 259 attempts with 17 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, and ran for 41 yards and 0 touchdowns.

That came to 32.4 attempts a game at 7.0 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 86 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 C.J. Stroud played 14 games and scored 216.5 PPR points, 15.5 a game, finishing QB21.

He threw for 3041 yards on 423 attempts with 19 touchdowns and 8 interceptions, and ran for 209 yards and 1 touchdown.

That came to 30.2 attempts a game at 7.2 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 93 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

C.J. Stroud was available for 6 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Joe Burrow scored 17.4 PPR points a game and C.J. Stroud 15.5, 2.0 a game between them.

Joe Burrow finished QB29 that year and C.J. Stroud QB21.

C.J. Stroud had 164 more pass attempts than Joe Burrow, 423 to 259.

C.J. Stroud had 1232 more passing yards than Joe Burrow, 3041 to 1809.

This season C.J. Stroud holds the bigger snap share, 100 percent against 99 percent.

Their target share this season is the same, 0 percent each.

Byes and availability

Joe Burrow is off in Week 6 and C.J. Stroud in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

Joe Burrow has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.