Should I start George Pickens or Rashod Bateman in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on George Pickens, and the board ranks him 65th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rashod Bateman, and the board ranks him 67th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for George Pickens is 4.2 PPR points a game off 1 market across 5 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.

Rashod Bateman's market-based projection is 4.0 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 11 market sources. That is the 45th highest figure of the 175 players with a market-based projection.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, George Pickens has been on the field for 82 percent of DAL snaps, drawn 21 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 23 of the offence's 69 third down targets, had 3 of its 31 chances inside the five and seen 11 of its 50 two minute targets.

His 62 targets have averaged 11.6 air yards.

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.

In Week 8 against ARI he caught 2 of 4 targets for 48 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, Rashod Bateman has been on the field for 70 percent of BAL snaps, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 66 third down targets, had 1 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 47 two minute targets.

His 29 targets have averaged 13.8 air yards.

In Week 6 against CLE he caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CIN he caught 2 of 4 targets for 33 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against BUF he caught 1 of 3 targets for 22 yards and did not score.

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 Rashod Bateman played 13 games and scored 55.4 PPR points, 4.3 a game, finishing WR102.

He caught 19 of 38 targets for 224 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets.

That came to 2.9 targets a game, a 50 percent catch rate and 11.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 69 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

George Pickens was available for 4 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 George Pickens scored 17.2 PPR points a game and Rashod Bateman 4.3, 12.9 a game between them.

George Pickens finished WR5 that year and Rashod Bateman WR102.

George Pickens had 99 more targets than Rashod Bateman, 137 to 38.

George Pickens had 1205 more receiving yards than Rashod Bateman, 1429 to 224.

This season George Pickens holds the bigger snap share, 82 percent against 70 percent.

This season George Pickens holds the bigger target share, 21 percent against 13 percent.

Byes and availability

George Pickens is off in Week 14 and Rashod Bateman in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

George Pickens has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.