Kyren Williams or James Cook III: who should I start in Week 5?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Kyren Williams: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 13th 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 18th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

What the player markets price

The player markets price Kyren Williams at 17.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 15 market sources. That is the 18th highest figure of the 183 players the market prices.

The market has James Cook III at 16.6 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 14 market sources. That is 80 percent of what a running back's price needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

James Cook III's price is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season through Week 4

Through Week 4, Kyren Williams has been on the field for 70 percent of LAR snaps, taken 54 percent of the carries, drawn 16 percent of the targets and had 44 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 8 of the offence's 37 third down targets, had 3 of its 9 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 19 two minute targets.

His 25 targets have averaged 4.1 air yards.

In Week 2 against NYG he carried 12 times for 85 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 12 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 3 against DEN he carried 15 times for 88 yards, caught 6 of 7 targets for 70 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against PHI he carried 16 times for 80 yards, caught 10 of 13 targets for 67 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

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 Kyren Williams played 17 games and scored 263.3 PPR points, 15.5 a game, finishing RB9.

He carried 259 times for 1252 yards and 10 touchdowns, and caught 36 of 50 targets for 281 more yards.

That came to 15.2 carries a game at 4.8 yards a carry and 2.1 catches a game.

He was on the field for 68 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 James Cook III scored 17.8 PPR points a game and Kyren Williams 15.5, 2.3 a game between them.

Kyren Williams finished RB9 that year and James Cook III RB6.

James Cook III had 50 more carries than Kyren Williams, 309 to 259.

Kyren Williams had 3 more catches than James Cook III, 36 to 33.

This season Kyren Williams holds the bigger snap share, 70 percent against 68 percent.

This season James Cook III holds the bigger share of the carries, 67 percent against 54 percent.

Byes and availability

Kyren Williams is off in Week 11 and James Cook III in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

James Cook III is only part priced, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.