Dak Prescott or Josh Downs: who should I start in Week 5?

What the player markets price

The player markets price Dak Prescott at 21.8 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 18 market sources. That is the 4th highest figure of the 183 players the market prices.

The player markets price Josh Downs at 13.4 PPR points a game, built from 4 markets across 15 market sources. That is the 55th highest figure of the 183 players the market prices.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Dak Prescott: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 33rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Josh Downs: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 35th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 51.

This season through Week 4

Through Week 4, Dak Prescott has been on the field for 100 percent of DAL snaps, dropped back 167 times and thrown 7.2 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 26 of 167 dropbacks and scrambled 11 times.

In Week 2 against WAS he completed 26 of 31 passes for 279 yards, threw 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 4 times for 26 yards.

In Week 3 against BAL he completed 25 of 40 passes for 276 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 4 times for 19 yards.

In Week 4 against HOU he completed 32 of 45 passes for 335 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 7 yards.

Through Week 4, Josh Downs has been on the field for 79 percent of IND snaps, drawn 23 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 11 of the offence's 30 third down targets, had 0 of its 9 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 16 two minute targets.

His 28 targets have averaged 10.0 air yards.

In Week 2 against KC he caught 7 of 9 targets for 72 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against HOU he caught 5 of 11 targets for 77 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against WAS he caught 3 of 4 targets for 16 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Dak Prescott played 17 games and scored 323.8 PPR points, 19.0 a game, finishing QB6.

He threw for 4552 yards on 600 attempts with 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and ran for 177 yards and 2 touchdowns.

That came to 35.3 attempts a game at 7.6 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 98 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 5.5 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.

Dak Prescott was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Dak Prescott scored 19.0 PPR points a game and Josh Downs 8.5, 10.5 a game between them.

Dak Prescott finished QB6 and Josh Downs WR44, which are two different ladders.

Dak Prescott is a quarterback and Josh Downs a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Dak Prescott is off in Week 14 and Josh Downs in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

8.4 points a game is the entire case. The market restates 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 market price when it does.