Should I start Josh Downs or J.K. Dobbins in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Josh Downs, and the board ranks him 146th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on J.K. Dobbins, and the board ranks him 148th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Josh Downs is 1.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market has J.K. Dobbins at 2.1 PPR points a game off 1 market across 11 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.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Josh Downs has been on the field for 81 percent of IND snaps, drawn 20 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 16 of the offence's 64 third down targets, had 0 of its 21 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 35 two minute targets.

His 51 targets have averaged 10.4 air yards.

In Week 6 against TEN he carried 1 time for 7 yards, caught 4 of 8 targets for 40 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against MIN he caught 2 of 4 targets for 18 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against JAX he caught 4 of 5 targets for 23 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 8, J.K. Dobbins has been on the field for 38 percent of DEN snaps, taken 50 percent of the carries, drawn 4 percent of the targets and had 22 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 66 third down targets, had 8 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 9 targets have come 1.1 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 6 against SEA he carried 17 times for 41 yards, caught 3 of 3 targets for 5 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against ARI he carried 6 times for 23 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against KC he carried 7 times for 13 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Josh Downs played 16 games and scored 136.4 PPR points, 8.5 a game, finishing WR44.

He caught 58 of 88 targets for 566 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets.

That came to 5-6 targets a game, a 66 percent catch rate and 9.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 58 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 J.K. Dobbins played 10 games and scored 115.9 PPR points, 11.6 a game, finishing RB43.

He carried 153 times for 772 yards and 4 touchdowns, and caught 11 of 14 targets for 37 more yards.

That came to 15.3 carries a game at 5.0 yards a carry and 1.1 catches a game.

He was on the field for 51 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Josh Downs was available for 6 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 J.K. Dobbins scored 11.6 PPR points a game and Josh Downs 8.5, 3.1 a game between them.

Josh Downs finished WR44 and J.K. Dobbins RB43, which are two different ladders.

Josh Downs is a wide receiver and J.K. Dobbins a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Josh Downs is off in Week 13 and J.K. Dobbins in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.