Should I start Jonathan Taylor or James Cook III in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

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

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 4.

Live drafts hold no current pick on James Cook III, and the board ranks him 70th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Jonathan Taylor is 5.0 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for James Cook III is 4.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 5 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Jonathan Taylor has been on the field for 80 percent of IND snaps, taken 67 percent of the carries, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 47 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 64 third down targets, had 15 of its 21 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 35 two minute targets.

His 31 targets have come 1.4 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 6 against TEN he carried 21 times for 94 yards, caught 2 of 4 targets for 57 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against MIN he carried 18 times for 95 yards, caught 2 of 3 targets for 15 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against JAX he carried 8 times for 23 yards, caught 4 of 5 targets for 24 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, James Cook III has taken 54 percent of the carries, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 35 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 7 third down targets, had 2 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 2 two minute targets.

His 3 targets have averaged 2.7 air yards.

In Week 8 against BAL he carried 21 times for 80 yards, caught 2 of 3 targets for 21 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Jonathan Taylor played 17 games and scored 362.3 PPR points, 21.3 a game, finishing RB4.

He carried 323 times for 1585 yards and 18 touchdowns, and caught 46 of 55 targets for 378 more yards.

That came to 19.0 carries a game at 4.9 yards a carry and 2.7 catches a game.

He was on the field for 84 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.

Head to head

In 2025 Jonathan Taylor scored 21.3 PPR points a game and James Cook III 17.8, 3.5 a game between them.

Jonathan Taylor finished RB4 that year and James Cook III RB6.

Jonathan Taylor had 14 more carries than James Cook III, 323 to 309.

Jonathan Taylor had 13 more catches than James Cook III, 46 to 33.

This season Jonathan Taylor holds the bigger share of the carries, 67 percent against 54 percent.

Byes and availability

Jonathan Taylor is off in Week 13 and James Cook III in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.

James Cook III is listed as questionable on the injury report.