Should I start James Cook III or David Montgomery in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on James Cook III, and the board ranks him 69th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 2; 2QB: ADP 10.

Live drafts hold no current pick on David Montgomery, and the board ranks him 70th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 33.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for James Cook III is 4.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 5 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.

The market-based projection for David Montgomery is 4.6 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

James Cook III's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 8, James Cook III has taken 54 percent of the carries, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 35 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 7 third down targets, had 2 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 2 two minute targets.

His 3 targets have averaged 2.7 air yards.

In Week 8 against BAL he carried 21 times for 80 yards, caught 2 of 3 targets for 21 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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 James Cook III played 17 games and scored 302.2 PPR points, 17.8 a game, finishing RB6.

He carried 309 times for 1621 yards and 12 touchdowns, and caught 33 of 40 targets for 291 more yards.

That came to 18.2 carries a game at 5.2 yards a carry and 1.9 catches a game.

He was on the field for 60 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.

Head to head

In 2025 James Cook III scored 17.8 PPR points a game and David Montgomery 9.8, 8.0 a game between them.

James Cook III finished RB6 that year and David Montgomery RB27.

James Cook III had 151 more carries than David Montgomery, 309 to 158.

James Cook III had 9 more catches than David Montgomery, 33 to 24.

This season James Cook III holds the bigger share of the carries, 54 percent against 45 percent.

Byes and availability

James Cook III is off in Week 7 and David Montgomery in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.

James Cook III is listed as questionable on the injury report.

David Montgomery is listed as out on the injury report.