Should I start Rashod Bateman or James Cook III in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

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

Live drafts hold no current pick on James Cook III, and the board ranks him 69th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

The market-based projections

Rashod Bateman's market-based projection is 4.0 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 11 market sources. That is the 45th highest figure of the 175 players with a market-based 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.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Rashod Bateman has been on the field for 70 percent of BAL snaps, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 66 third down targets, had 1 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 47 two minute targets.

His 29 targets have averaged 13.8 air yards.

In Week 6 against CLE he caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CIN he caught 2 of 4 targets for 33 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against BUF he caught 1 of 3 targets for 22 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 Rashod Bateman played 13 games and scored 55.4 PPR points, 4.3 a game, finishing WR102.

He caught 19 of 38 targets for 224 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets.

That came to 2.9 targets a game, a 50 percent catch rate and 11.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 69 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.

James Cook III was available for 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 James Cook III scored 17.8 PPR points a game and Rashod Bateman 4.3, 13.5 a game between them.

Rashod Bateman finished WR102 and James Cook III RB6, which are two different ladders.

Rashod Bateman is a wide receiver 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

Rashod Bateman 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.

What would change the answer

James Cook III has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.