Josh Downs or Juwan Johnson: who should I start in Week 6?

The market-based projections

Josh Downs's market-based projection is 10.6 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 10 market sources. That is the 74th highest figure of the 157 players with a market-based projection.

Juwan Johnson's market-based projection is 10.5 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 75th highest figure of the 157 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Josh Downs: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 59th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Juwan Johnson: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 58th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 5

Through Week 5, Josh Downs has been on the field for 80 percent of IND snaps, drawn 20 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 12 of the offence's 41 third down targets, had 0 of its 16 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 16 two minute targets.

His 34 targets have averaged 11.1 air yards.

In Week 3 against HOU he caught 5 of 11 targets for 77 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against WAS he caught 3 of 4 targets for 16 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against PIT he caught 3 of 6 targets for 47 yards and did not score.

Through Week 5, Juwan Johnson has been on the field for 70 percent of NO snaps, drawn 16 percent of the targets and had 15 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 11 of the offence's 48 third down targets, had 2 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 10 of its 31 two minute targets.

His 32 targets have averaged 5.2 air yards.

In Week 3 against LV he caught 8 of 8 targets for 53 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 4 against ATL he caught 6 of 8 targets for 59 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against MIN he caught 4 of 5 targets for 16 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 Juwan Johnson played 17 games and scored 179.9 PPR points, 10.6 a game, finishing TE8.

He caught 77 of 102 targets for 889 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets.

That came to 6.0 targets a game, a 75 percent catch rate and 12 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 76 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Juwan Johnson was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Juwan Johnson scored 10.6 PPR points a game and Josh Downs 8.5, 2.1 a game between them.

Josh Downs finished WR44 and Juwan Johnson TE8, which are two different ladders.

Josh Downs is a wide receiver and Juwan Johnson a tight end, 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. No bye is listed for Juwan Johnson.

What would change the answer

0.1 points a game is the entire case. The market restates 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 projection, and this page will follow the sample rather than the market-based projection when it does.