Should I start George Kittle or James Cook III in Week 10?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on George Kittle, and the board ranks him 49th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on James Cook III, and the board ranks him 50th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for George Kittle is 5.0 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a tight end's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for James Cook III is 5.9 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.

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

This season through Week 9

Through Week 9, George Kittle has been on the field for 78 percent of SF snaps, drawn 23 percent of the targets and had 14 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 9 of the offence's 57 third down targets, had 1 of its 28 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 30 two minute targets.

His 53 targets have averaged 8.2 air yards.

In Week 6 against WAS he caught 5 of 8 targets for 69 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against ATL he caught 8 of 10 targets for 88 yards and did not score.

In Week 9 against LV he caught 4 of 7 targets for 58 yards and did not score.

Through Week 9, James Cook III has been on the field for 54 percent of BUF snaps, taken 66 percent of the carries, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 44 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 16 third down targets, had 3 of its 8 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 7 two minute targets.

His 4 targets have averaged 2.0 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.

In Week 9 against MIN he carried 31 times for 107 yards, caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 George Kittle played 11 games and scored 161.5 PPR points, 14.7 a game, finishing TE13.

He caught 57 of 69 targets for 628 yards and 7 touchdowns, with 12 red zone targets.

That came to 6.3 targets a game, a 83 percent catch rate and 11.0 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 80 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

James Cook III was available for 6 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 James Cook III scored 17.8 PPR points a game and George Kittle 14.7, 3.1 a game between them.

George Kittle finished TE13 and James Cook III RB6, which are two different ladders.

George Kittle is a tight end and James Cook III a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

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