Should I start Jordan Mason or Joe Burrow in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Jordan Mason, and the board ranks him 37th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Joe Burrow, and the board ranks him 38th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Jordan Mason is 11.7 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 8 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Joe Burrow is 23.1 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 14 market sources. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Jordan Mason has been on the field for 46 percent of MIN snaps, taken 51 percent of the carries, drawn 3 percent of the targets and had 26 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 27 third down targets, had 1 of its 4 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 2 two minute targets.

His 2 targets have averaged 0.0 air yards.

In Week 1 against GB he carried 15 times for 59 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against IND he carried 15 times for 68 yards, caught 0 of 2 targets for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against DET he carried 8 times for 20 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, Joe Burrow has been on the field for 99 percent of CIN snaps, dropped back 289 times and thrown 7.6 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 51 of 289 dropbacks and scrambled 9 times.

In Week 5 against MIA he completed 23 of 32 passes for 190 yards, threw 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 12 yards.

In Week 7 against BAL he completed 22 of 30 passes for 292 yards, threw 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 12 yards.

In Week 8 against TEN he completed 38 of 48 passes for 462 yards, threw 5 touchdowns and 3 interceptions and ran 3 times for 10 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Jordan Mason played 16 games and scored 128.9 PPR points, 8.1 a game, finishing RB36.

He carried 159 times for 758 yards and 6 touchdowns, and caught 14 of 16 targets for 51 more yards.

That came to 9.9 carries a game at 4.8 yards a carry and 0.9 catches a game.

He was on the field for 44 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Jordan Mason was available for 8 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Joe Burrow scored 17.4 PPR points a game and Jordan Mason 8.1, 9.4 a game between them.

Jordan Mason finished RB36 and Joe Burrow QB29, which are two different ladders.

Jordan Mason is a running back and Joe Burrow a quarterback, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Both are off in Week 6, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.