Should I start J.J. McCarthy or Kirk Cousins in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on J.J. McCarthy, and the board ranks him 109th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kirk Cousins, and the board ranks him 113th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market has J.J. McCarthy at 15.9 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 13 market sources. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Kirk Cousins's market-based projection is 15.7 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 15 market sources. That is the 33rd highest figure of the 225 players with a market-based projection.

J.J. McCarthy's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 7, J.J. McCarthy has been on the field for 42 percent of NYG snaps, dropped back 49 times and thrown 11.8 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 8 of 49 dropbacks and scrambled 1 time.

In Week 5 against WAS he completed 0 of 0 passes for 0 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 2 yards.

In Week 6 against NO he completed 11 of 17 passes for 243 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 26 yards.

In Week 7 against HOU he completed 20 of 27 passes for 252 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

Through Week 8, Kirk Cousins has been on the field for 98 percent of LV snaps, dropped back 296 times and thrown 8.1 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 49 of 296 dropbacks and scrambled 5 times.

In Week 6 against BUF he completed 23 of 41 passes for 313 yards and threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.

In Week 7 against LAR he completed 26 of 44 passes for 295 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 3 times for 6 yards.

In Week 8 against NYJ he completed 19 of 26 passes for 247 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 3 times for 5 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 J.J. McCarthy played 10 games and scored 137.4 PPR points, 13.7 a game, finishing QB30.

He threw for 1632 yards on 243 attempts with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, and ran for 181 yards and 4 touchdowns.

That came to 24.3 attempts a game at 6.7 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 94 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Kirk Cousins played 10 games and scored 108.5 PPR points, 10.9 a game, finishing QB35.

He threw for 1721 yards on 269 attempts with 10 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, and ran for 7 yards and 1 touchdown.

That came to 26.9 attempts a game at 6.4 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 46 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 10 games that season.

Head to head

In 2025 J.J. McCarthy scored 13.7 PPR points a game and Kirk Cousins 10.9, 2.9 a game between them.

J.J. McCarthy finished QB30 that year and Kirk Cousins QB35.

Kirk Cousins had 26 more pass attempts than J.J. McCarthy, 269 to 243.

Kirk Cousins had 89 more passing yards than J.J. McCarthy, 1721 to 1632.

This season Kirk Cousins holds the bigger snap share, 98 percent against 42 percent.

Their target share this season is the same, 0 percent each.

Byes and availability

Kirk Cousins is off in Week 13. No bye is listed for J.J. McCarthy.

What would change the answer

J.J. McCarthy has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.