Should I start George Pickens or David Montgomery in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on George Pickens, and the board ranks him 73rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on David Montgomery, and the board ranks him 74th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 33.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for George Pickens is 4.2 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 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 David Montgomery is 4.5 PPR points a game off 1 market across 2 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season so far

Through Week 8, George Pickens has been on the field for 78 percent of DAL snaps, drawn 21 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 23 of the offence's 69 third down targets, had 3 of its 31 chances inside the five and seen 11 of its 50 two minute targets.

His 62 targets have averaged 11.6 air yards.

In Week 6 against GB he caught 6 of 11 targets for 73 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against PHI he caught 4 of 6 targets for 57 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against ARI he caught 2 of 4 targets for 48 yards and did not score.

Through Week 5, David Montgomery has been on the field for 46 percent of HOU snaps, taken 45 percent of the carries, drawn 4 percent of the targets and had 28 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 39 third down targets, had 3 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 30 two minute targets.

His 7 targets have averaged 3.6 air yards.

In Week 3 against IND he carried 11 times for 33 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 15 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against DAL he carried 10 times for 24 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against TEN he carried 5 times for 11 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 George Pickens played 17 games and scored 291.9 PPR points, 17.2 a game, finishing WR5.

He caught 93 of 137 targets for 1429 yards and 9 touchdowns, with 21 red zone targets.

That came to 8.1 targets a game, a 68 percent catch rate and 15.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 83 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 David Montgomery played 17 games and scored 166.9 PPR points, 9.8 a game, finishing RB27.

He carried 158 times for 716 yards and 8 touchdowns, and caught 24 of 29 targets for 192 more yards.

That came to 9.3 carries a game at 5 yards a carry and 1.4 catches a game.

He was on the field for 37 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 George Pickens scored 17.2 PPR points a game and David Montgomery 9.8, 7.4 a game between them.

George Pickens finished WR5 and David Montgomery RB27, which are two different ladders.

George Pickens is a wide receiver and David Montgomery a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

George Pickens is off in Week 14 and David Montgomery in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.

David Montgomery is listed as out on the injury report.