James Cook III or Matthew Golden: who should I start in Week 5?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on James Cook III: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 25th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

Drafters have formed no consensus on Matthew Golden: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 26th overall on the rest of his evidence.

What the player markets price

No season market is posted for James Cook III, so the only market valuing him on this page is the draft room.

The player markets price Matthew Golden at 13.7 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 6 market sources. That is the 17th highest figure of the 107 players the market prices.

This season so far

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.

Through Week 5, Matthew Golden has been on the field for 85 percent of GB snaps, drawn 24 percent of the targets and had 15 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 17 of the offence's 50 third down targets, had 1 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 44 targets have averaged 14.0 air yards.

In Week 3 against ATL he caught 5 of 12 targets for 100 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 4 against TB he carried 1 time for 6 yards, caught 3 of 7 targets for 21 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against CHI he caught 6 of 7 targets for 123 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025 Matthew Golden played 14 games and scored 70.0 PPR points, 5.0 a game, finishing WR89.

He caught 29 of 44 targets for 361 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 2 red zone targets.

That came to 3.1 targets a game, a 66 percent catch rate and 12.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 50 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

James Cook III was available for 3 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 James Cook III scored 17.8 PPR points a game and Matthew Golden 5.0, 12.8 a game between them.

James Cook III finished RB6 and Matthew Golden WR89, which are two different ladders.

James Cook III is a running back and Matthew Golden a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

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

What would change the answer

James Cook III has no posted market, so one half of the evidence on this page exists for only one of them.