Should I start Kirk Cousins or Gardner Minshew II in Week 9?

The market-based projections

Kirk Cousins's market-based projection is 15.6 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 33rd highest figure of the 220 players with a market-based projection.

Gardner Minshew II's market-based projection is 9.5 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 8 market sources. That is the 78th highest figure of the 220 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kirk Cousins, and the board ranks him 108th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Gardner Minshew II, and the board ranks him 211th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Kirk Cousins has been on the field for 98 percent of LV snaps, dropped back 296 times and thrown 8.1 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 49 of 296 dropbacks and scrambled 5 times.

In Week 6 against BUF he completed 23 of 41 passes for 313 yards and threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.

In Week 7 against LAR he completed 26 of 44 passes for 295 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 3 times for 6 yards.

In Week 8 against NYJ he completed 19 of 26 passes for 247 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 3 times for 5 yards.

Through Week 8, Gardner Minshew II has been on the field for 42 percent of ARI snaps, dropped back 21 times and thrown 6.8 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 1 of 21 dropbacks.

In Week 8 against DAL he completed 17 of 20 passes for 188 yards and threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Kirk Cousins played 10 games and scored 108.5 PPR points, 10.9 a game, finishing QB35.

He threw for 1721 yards on 269 attempts with 10 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, and ran for 7 yards and 1 touchdown.

That came to 26.9 attempts a game at 6.4 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 46 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Gardner Minshew II played 4 games and scored 0.7 PPR points, 0.2 a game, finishing QB72.

He threw for 37 yards on 13 attempts with 0 touchdowns and 1 interception, and ran for 2 yards and 0 touchdowns.

That came to 3.3 attempts a game at 2.8 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 4 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Kirk Cousins was available for 6 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Kirk Cousins scored 10.9 PPR points a game and Gardner Minshew II 0.2, 10.7 a game between them.

Kirk Cousins finished QB35 that year and Gardner Minshew II QB72.

Kirk Cousins had 256 more pass attempts than Gardner Minshew II, 269 to 13.

Kirk Cousins had 1684 more passing yards than Gardner Minshew II, 1721 to 37.

This season Kirk Cousins holds the bigger snap share, 98 percent against 42 percent.

Their target share this season is the same, 0 percent each.

Byes and availability

Kirk Cousins is off in Week 13. No bye is listed for Gardner Minshew II.

What would change the answer

6.1 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 live drafts hold these two again they can order them differently from the projection, and this page will follow the drafts rather than the market-based projection when they do.