Should I start Courtland Sutton or Josh Downs in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Courtland Sutton, and the board ranks him 49th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Josh Downs, and the board ranks him 144th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Courtland Sutton's market-based projection is 9.3 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 68th highest figure of the 219 players with a market-based projection.

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.

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, Courtland Sutton has been on the field for 77 percent of DEN snaps, drawn 16 percent of the targets and had 12 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 13 of the offence's 66 third down targets, had 2 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 37 targets have averaged 11.1 air yards.

In Week 6 against SEA he caught 2 of 3 targets for 19 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against ARI he caught 3 of 5 targets for 45 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against KC he caught 4 of 4 targets for 53 yards and did not score.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Courtland Sutton played 17 games and scored 219.7 PPR points, 12.9 a game, finishing WR13.

He caught 74 of 124 targets for 1017 yards and 7 touchdowns, with 17 red zone targets.

That came to 7.3 targets a game, a 60 percent catch rate and 13.7 yards a catch.

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

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.

Courtland Sutton was available for 1 game more.

Head to head

In 2025 Courtland Sutton scored 12.9 PPR points a game and Josh Downs 8.5, 4.4 a game between them.

Courtland Sutton finished WR13 that year and Josh Downs WR44.

Courtland Sutton had 36 more targets than Josh Downs, 124 to 88.

Courtland Sutton had 451 more receiving yards than Josh Downs, 1017 to 566.

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

This season Josh Downs holds the bigger target share, 20 percent against 16 percent.

Byes and availability

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

What would change the answer

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