Josh Allen or Saquon Barkley: who should I start in Week 3?

What the sportsbooks price

The player markets price Josh Allen at 23.5 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 17 books. That is the 2nd highest figure of the 186 players the books price.

The player markets price Saquon Barkley at 15.7 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 books. That is the 40th highest figure of the 186 players the books price.

Where the draft room has them

Josh Allen goes at ADP 2, an average pick of 24.1, and the board has him QB1 in tier 1.

His earliest recorded pick is 2 and his latest 37, a standard deviation of 8.5 picks.

He appears in 529 recorded drafts across the formats the consensus sample covers.

Over 14 days drafters have taken Allen 8.6 picks earlier.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 2.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Saquon Barkley: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 20th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 3; 2QB: ADP 23.

This season through Week 2

Through Week 2, Josh Allen has been on the field for 100 percent of BUF snaps, dropped back 70 times and thrown 10.3 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 11 of 70 dropbacks and scrambled 6 times.

In Week 1 against HOU he completed 20 of 29 passes for 334 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 5 times for 24 yards.

In Week 2 against DET he completed 20 of 31 passes for 248 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 11 times for 72 yards.

Through Week 2, Saquon Barkley has been on the field for 39 percent of PHI snaps, taken 35 percent of the carries, drawn 7 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 21 third down targets, had 0 of its 2 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 12 two minute targets.

His 4 targets have averaged 0.8 air yards.

In Week 1 against WAS he carried 15 times for 83 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for -3 yards and did not score.

In Week 2 against TEN he carried 4 times for 9 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 11 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Josh Allen played 17 games and scored 374.6 PPR points, 22.0 a game, finishing QB1.

He threw for 3668 yards on 460 attempts with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and ran for 579 yards and 14 touchdowns.

That came to 27.1 attempts a game at 8.0 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 98 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Saquon Barkley played 16 games and scored 232.3 PPR points, 14.5 a game, finishing RB14.

He carried 280 times for 1140 yards and 7 touchdowns, and caught 37 of 50 targets for 273 more yards.

That came to 17.5 carries a game at 4.1 yards a carry and 2.3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 78 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Josh Allen was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Josh Allen scored 22.0 PPR points a game and Saquon Barkley 14.5, 7.5 a game between them.

Josh Allen finished QB1 and Saquon Barkley RB14, which are two different ladders.

Josh Allen is a quarterback and Saquon Barkley a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Josh Allen is off in Week 7 and Saquon Barkley in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.

Saquon Barkley is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

7.8 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.