Josh Allen or George Pickens: who should I start in Week 5?

What the player markets price

The player markets price Josh Allen at 22.8 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 16 market sources. That is the 2nd highest figure of the 184 players the market prices.

The player markets price George Pickens at 14.1 PPR points a game, built from 4 markets across 17 market sources. That is the 48th highest figure of the 184 players the market prices.

Where the draft room has them

Josh Allen goes at ADP 1, an average pick of 24.3, and the board has him QB1 in tier 1.

His earliest recorded pick is 1 and his latest 37, a standard deviation of 9.0 picks.

He appears in 17 recorded drafts across the formats the consensus sample covers.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 2.

Drafters have formed no consensus on George Pickens: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 27th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 4

Through Week 4, Josh Allen has been on the field for 100 percent of BUF snaps, dropped back 136 times and thrown 9.8 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 21 of 136 dropbacks and scrambled 8 times.

In Week 2 against DET he completed 20 of 31 passes for 248 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 11 times for 72 yards.

In Week 3 against LAC he completed 16 of 26 passes for 204 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and ran 7 times for 23 yards.

In Week 4 against NE he completed 23 of 33 passes for 253 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 5 times for 4 yards.

Through Week 4, George Pickens has been on the field for 83 percent of DAL snaps, drawn 19 percent of the targets and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 12 of the offence's 38 third down targets, had 2 of its 19 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 24 two minute targets.

His 28 targets have averaged 12.1 air yards.

In Week 2 against WAS he caught 6 of 8 targets for 40 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against BAL he caught 7 of 11 targets for 82 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against HOU he caught 2 of 3 targets for 75 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Josh Allen played 17 games and scored 374.6 PPR points, 22.0 a game, finishing QB1.

He threw for 3668 yards on 460 attempts with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and ran for 579 yards and 14 touchdowns.

That came to 27.1 attempts a game at 8.0 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 98 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Josh Allen scored 22.0 PPR points a game and George Pickens 17.2, 4.9 a game between them.

Josh Allen finished QB1 and George Pickens WR5, which are two different ladders.

Josh Allen is a quarterback and George Pickens a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Josh Allen is off in Week 7 and George Pickens in Week 14, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

8.7 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 the consensus sample holds these two again it can order them differently from the price, and this page will follow the sample rather than the market price when it does.