Should I start Josh Downs or Darius Cooper in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Josh Downs, and the board ranks him 184th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darius Cooper, and the board ranks him 188th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Josh Downs is 1.1 PPR points a game off 1 market across 10 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Darius Cooper is 0.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 11 market sources. 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 6

Through Week 6, Josh Downs has been on the field for 81 percent of IND snaps, drawn 21 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 13 of the offence's 49 third down targets, had 0 of its 19 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 25 two minute targets.

His 42 targets have averaged 10.7 air yards.

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

In Week 5 against PIT he caught 3 of 6 targets for 47 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against TEN he carried 1 time for 7 yards, caught 4 of 8 targets for 40 yards and did not score.

Through Week 6, Darius Cooper has been on the field for 52 percent of PHI snaps, drawn 8 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 58 third down targets, had 2 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 29 two minute targets.

His 15 targets have averaged 12.3 air yards.

In Week 4 against LAR he caught 3 of 7 targets for 33 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 5 against JAX he caught 2 of 3 targets for 71 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against CAR he caught 1 of 2 targets for 9 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025 Darius Cooper played 13 games and scored 18.2 PPR points, 1.4 a game.

He caught 9 of 11 targets for 92 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 0 red zone targets.

That came to 0.8 targets a game, a 82 percent catch rate and 10.2 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 19 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Josh Downs was available for 3 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Josh Downs scored 8.5 PPR points a game and Darius Cooper 1.4, 7.1 a game between them.

Josh Downs had 77 more targets than Darius Cooper, 88 to 11.

Josh Downs had 474 more receiving yards than Darius Cooper, 566 to 92.

This season Josh Downs holds the bigger snap share, 81 percent against 52 percent.

This season Josh Downs holds the bigger target share, 21 percent against 8 percent.

Byes and availability

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