Joe Burrow or Tony Pollard: who should I start in Week 5?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Joe Burrow: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 73rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Tony Pollard: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 74th overall on the rest of his evidence.

What the player markets price

The market has Joe Burrow at 17.5 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 11 market sources. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's price needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The player markets price Tony Pollard at 9.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 91st highest figure of the 183 players the market prices.

Joe Burrow's price is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season through Week 4

Through Week 4, Joe Burrow has been on the field for 100 percent of CIN snaps, dropped back 171 times and thrown 7.1 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 32 of 171 dropbacks and scrambled 5 times.

In Week 2 against HOU he completed 20 of 31 passes for 207 yards and threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

In Week 3 against PIT he completed 28 of 37 passes for 282 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 13 yards.

In Week 4 against JAX he completed 39 of 54 passes for 428 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions and ran 3 times for 6 yards.

Through Week 4, Tony Pollard has been on the field for 53 percent of TEN snaps, taken 60 percent of the carries, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 43 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 31 third down targets, had 6 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 20 two minute targets.

His 11 targets have averaged 1.5 air yards.

In Week 2 against PHI he carried 14 times for 64 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 1 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against NYG he carried 17 times for 74 yards, caught 4 of 4 targets for 22 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against BAL he carried 16 times for 48 yards, caught 2 of 4 targets for 2 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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 Tony Pollard played 17 games and scored 185.8 PPR points, 10.9 a game, finishing RB23.

He carried 242 times for 1082 yards and 5 touchdowns, and caught 33 of 41 targets for 206 more yards.

That came to 14.2 carries a game at 4.5 yards a carry and 1.9 catches a game.

He was on the field for 62 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Tony Pollard was available for 9 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Joe Burrow scored 17.4 PPR points a game and Tony Pollard 10.9, 6.5 a game between them.

Joe Burrow finished QB29 and Tony Pollard RB23, which are two different ladders.

Joe Burrow is a quarterback and Tony Pollard a running back, 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 Tony Pollard in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.

Tony Pollard is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

Joe Burrow is only part priced, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.