Jonathan Taylor or James Cook III: who should I start?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Jonathan Taylor: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 6th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes 2QB: ADP 4; dynasty: ADP 1.

Drafters have formed no consensus on James Cook III: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 187th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 2; 2QB: ADP 13.

What the sportsbooks price

The player markets price Jonathan Taylor at 18.0 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 16 books. That is the 13th highest figure of the 183 players the books price.

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

This season through Week 1

Through Week 1, Jonathan Taylor has been on the field for 89 percent of IND snaps, taken 95 percent of the carries, drawn 14 percent of the targets and had 63 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 5 third down targets, had 3 of its 3 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 2 two minute targets.

His 4 targets have averaged 0.0 air yards.

In Week 1 against BAL he carried 19 times for 98 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 23 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

Through Week 1, James Cook III has been on the field for 72 percent of BUF snaps, taken 65 percent of the carries, drawn 14 percent of the targets and had 43 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 8 third down targets, had 0 of its 2 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 6 two minute targets.

His 4 targets have come 1.0 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 1 against HOU he carried 13 times for 57 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 12 yards and did not score.

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 snap share, 89 percent against 72 percent.

This season Jonathan Taylor holds the bigger share of the carries, 95 percent against 65 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.

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.