Jared Goff or James Cook III: who should I start in Week 5?

What the player markets price

The player markets price Jared Goff at 21.1 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 16 market sources. That is the 5th highest figure of the 219 players the market prices.

The player markets price James Cook III at 14.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 49th highest figure of the 219 players the market prices.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Jared Goff: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 30th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on James Cook III: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 29th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

This season through Week 4

Through Week 4, Jared Goff has been on the field for 100 percent of DET snaps, dropped back 174 times and thrown 7.6 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 26 of 174 dropbacks and scrambled 5 times.

In Week 2 against BUF he completed 26 of 38 passes for 327 yards, threw 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 3 times for 7 yards.

In Week 3 against NYJ he completed 25 of 32 passes for 269 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 8 yards.

In Week 4 against CAR he completed 32 of 52 passes for 412 yards and threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions.

Through Week 4, James Cook III has been on the field for 68 percent of BUF snaps, taken 67 percent of the carries, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 38 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 31 third down targets, had 4 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 22 two minute targets.

His 10 targets have come 0.8 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 2 against DET he carried 21 times for 135 yards, caught 1 of 3 targets for 4 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 3 against LAC he carried 24 times for 154 yards, caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 4 against NE he carried 12 times for 75 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 8 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Jared Goff played 17 games and scored 305.1 PPR points, 17.9 a game, finishing QB9.

He threw for 4564 yards on 578 attempts with 34 touchdowns and 8 interceptions, and ran for 45 yards and 0 touchdowns.

That came to 34.0 attempts a game at 7.9 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 98 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.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 Jared Goff scored 17.9 PPR points a game and James Cook III 17.8, 0.2 a game between them.

Jared Goff finished QB9 and James Cook III RB6, which are two different ladders.

Jared Goff is a quarterback 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

Jared Goff is off in Week 6 and James Cook III in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

6.8 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.