Zay Flowers or James Cook III: who should I start in Week 5?

What the player markets price

The player markets price Zay Flowers at 14.6 PPR points a game, built from 4 markets across 16 market sources. That is the 49th highest figure of the 213 players the market prices.

The player markets price James Cook III at 14.6 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 16 market sources. That is the 50th highest figure of the 213 players the market prices.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Zay Flowers: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 31st 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 32nd 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, Zay Flowers has been on the field for 45 percent of BAL snaps, drawn 30 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 18 third down targets, had 0 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 15 two minute targets.

His 22 targets have averaged 10.2 air yards.

In Week 1 against IND he caught 5 of 6 targets for 150 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 3 against DAL he carried 1 time for 20 yards, caught 5 of 6 targets for 84 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against TEN he caught 8 of 10 targets for 118 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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 Zay Flowers played 17 games and scored 243.3 PPR points, 14.3 a game, finishing WR7.

He caught 86 of 118 targets for 1211 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 10 red zone targets.

That came to 6.9 targets a game, a 73 percent catch rate and 14.1 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 86 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 James Cook III scored 17.8 PPR points a game and Zay Flowers 14.3, 3.5 a game between them.

Zay Flowers finished WR7 and James Cook III RB6, which are two different ladders.

Zay Flowers 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

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

Zay Flowers is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

0.0 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.