Should I drop Kirk Cousins for George Pickens?

Not on these numbers alone. Kirk Cousins projects 128 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (14.2 a game over 9 games) and George Pickens 126 (14.0 a game over 9 games), too close to separate, so the roster spot decides it.

Should I start George Pickens or Kirk Cousins in Week 8?

Updated Oct 27, 10:11 PM ET. Week 9 answers post Tuesday.

Latest

Oct 22, 5:13 PM ET: George Pickens: Listed Questionable (Shoulder) (Sleeper injury feed)

Start Kirk Cousins: 95 percent of the snaps and 0 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against George Pickens's 79 percent of the snaps and 25 percent of the targets. No market projection is posted on either of them this week, so this is a usage call, and a lower confidence one than a call made on a projection. What follows is what each of them has done.

Should I drop George Pickens for Kirk Cousins?

Not on these numbers alone. George Pickens projects 126 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (14.0 a game over 9 games) and Kirk Cousins 128 (14.2 a game over 9 games), too close to separate, so the roster spot decides it.

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Your next move

More fantasy football tools and rankings, all built from the same board.

Neither man carries a season projection right now, so this is their usage this season and their last full season's numbers, side by side.

George Pickens

WR35 · DAL · bye 14

2026 vs anytime td line 2-5

Market-based projection: 13.7 pts a game Wk 7 price
Overall rank: 85

Kirk Cousins

QB12 · LV · bye 13

2026 vs pass yds line 6-1

Overall rank: 87

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The gap

Board size294 draftable players

Draft data is not current for these two, so the figures that depend on it are left out. The call above comes from each player's usage.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on George Pickens, and the board ranks him 85th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kirk Cousins, and the board ranks him 87th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for George Pickens is 3.4 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 Kirk Cousins is 16.6 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 2 market sources. That is 45 percent of what a quarterback'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 through Week 7

Through Week 7, George Pickens has been on the field for 82 percent of DAL snaps, drawn 22 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 22 of the offence's 63 third down targets, had 3 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 11 of its 48 two minute targets.

His 58 targets have averaged 11.1 air yards.

In Week 5 against TB he caught 9 of 13 targets for 130 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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.

Through Week 7, Kirk Cousins has been on the field for 98 percent of LV snaps, dropped back 269 times and thrown 8.2 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 43 of 269 dropbacks and scrambled 5 times.

In Week 5 against NE he completed 19 of 28 passes for 243 yards and threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions.

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.

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 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.

George Pickens was available for 7 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 George Pickens scored 17.2 PPR points a game and Kirk Cousins 10.9, 6.3 a game between them.

George Pickens finished WR5 and Kirk Cousins QB35, which are two different ladders.

George Pickens is a wide receiver and Kirk Cousins a quarterback, 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 Kirk Cousins in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

Drop or keep

Should I drop George Pickens for Kirk Cousins?
Not on these numbers alone. George Pickens projects 126 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (14.0 a game over 9 games) and Kirk Cousins 128 (14.2 a game over 9 games), too close to separate, so the roster spot decides it.
Should I drop Kirk Cousins for George Pickens?
Not on these numbers alone. Kirk Cousins projects 128 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (14.2 a game over 9 games) and George Pickens 126 (14.0 a game over 9 games), too close to separate, so the roster spot decides it.

Should I drop Kirk Cousins?