Jacory Croskey-Merritt or Josh Downs: who to draft first

What the sportsbooks price

The player markets price Jacory Croskey-Merritt at 10.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 17 books. That is the 87th highest figure of the 182 players the books price.

The player markets price Josh Downs at 10.0 PPR points a game, built from 4 markets across 15 books. That is the 90th highest figure of the 182 players the books price.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Jacory Croskey-Merritt: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 71st overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 107.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Josh Downs: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 72nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 124.

This season through Week 1

Through Week 1, Jacory Croskey-Merritt has been on the field for 49 percent of WAS snaps, taken 50 percent of the carries, drawn 3 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 10 third down targets, had 1 of its 3 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 1 two minute target.

His 1 target have come 7.0 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 1 against PHI he carried 16 times for 63 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for -7 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 1, Josh Downs has been on the field for 89 percent of IND snaps, drawn 14 percent of the targets and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 5 third down targets, had 0 of its 3 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 2 two minute targets.

His 4 targets have averaged 9.0 air yards.

In Week 1 against BAL he caught 2 of 4 targets for 37 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Jacory Croskey-Merritt played 17 games and scored 140.3 PPR points, 8.3 a game, finishing RB33.

He carried 175 times for 805 yards and 8 touchdowns, and caught 9 of 13 targets for 68 more yards.

That came to 10.3 carries a game at 4.6 yards a carry and 0.5 catches a game.

He was on the field for 39 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Josh Downs played 16 games and scored 136.4 PPR points, 8.5 a game, finishing WR44.

He caught 58 of 88 targets for 566 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets.

That came to 5.5 targets a game, a 66 percent catch rate and 9.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 58 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Josh Downs scored 8.5 PPR points a game and Jacory Croskey-Merritt 8.3, 0.3 a game between them.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt finished RB33 and Josh Downs WR44, which are two different ladders.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt is a running back and Josh Downs a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Jacory Croskey-Merritt is off in Week 7 and Josh Downs in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

0.3 points a game is the entire case. The books restate 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 books when it does.