Joe Burrow or Jayden Reed: who should I start?

What the sportsbooks price

The player markets price Joe Burrow at 16.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 18 books. That is the 28th highest figure of the 183 players the books price.

The player markets price Jayden Reed at 8.8 PPR points a game, built from 4 markets across 16 books. That is the 109th highest figure of the 183 players the books price.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Joe Burrow: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 98th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 12.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Jayden Reed: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 96th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 106.

This season through Week 1

Through Week 1, Joe Burrow has been on the field for 100 percent of CIN snaps, dropped back 37 times and thrown 6.5 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 6 of 37 dropbacks and scrambled 1 time.

In Week 1 against TB he completed 25 of 35 passes for 254 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 4 times for 21 yards.

Through Week 1, Jayden Reed has been on the field for 57 percent of GB snaps, drawn 18 percent of the targets and had 10 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 10 third down targets, had 0 of its 1 chance inside the five and seen 0 of its 9 two minute targets.

His 7 targets have averaged 7.1 air yards.

In Week 1 against MIN he caught 3 of 7 targets for 20 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Joe Burrow played 8 games and scored 139.5 PPR points, 17.4 a game, finishing QB29.

He threw for 1809 yards on 259 attempts with 17 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, and ran for 41 yards and 0 touchdowns.

That came to 32.4 attempts a game at 7.0 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 86 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Jayden Reed played 7 games and scored 48.5 PPR points, 6.9 a game, finishing WR114.

He caught 19 of 22 targets for 207 yards and 1 touchdown, with 3 red zone targets.

That came to 3.1 targets a game, a 86 percent catch rate and 10.9 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 45 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Joe Burrow was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Joe Burrow scored 17.4 PPR points a game and Jayden Reed 6.9, 10.5 a game between them.

Joe Burrow finished QB29 and Jayden Reed WR114, which are two different ladders.

Joe Burrow is a quarterback and Jayden Reed a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Joe Burrow is off in Week 6 and Jayden Reed in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.

Joe Burrow is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

7.5 points a game is the entire case. The books restate 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 books when it does.