Should I start Rashod Bateman or Josh Downs in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rashod Bateman, and the board ranks him 193rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Josh Downs, and the board ranks him 198th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Rashod Bateman is 1.5 PPR points a game off 1 market across 9 market sources. 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-based projection for Josh Downs is 1.3 PPR points a game off 1 market across 10 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 6

Through Week 6, Rashod Bateman has been on the field for 70 percent of BAL snaps, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 5 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 46 third down targets, had 1 of its 25 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 41 two minute targets.

His 22 targets have averaged 12.4 air yards.

In Week 4 against TEN he caught 2 of 2 targets for 46 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against ATL he caught 5 of 6 targets for 62 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against CLE he caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

Through Week 6, Josh Downs has been on the field for 81 percent of IND snaps, drawn 21 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 13 of the offence's 49 third down targets, had 0 of its 19 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 25 two minute targets.

His 42 targets have averaged 10.7 air yards.

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.

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

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Rashod Bateman played 13 games and scored 55.4 PPR points, 4.3 a game, finishing WR102.

He caught 19 of 38 targets for 224 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets.

That came to 2.9 targets a game, a 50 percent catch rate and 11.8 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 69 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Josh Downs was available for 3 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Josh Downs scored 8.5 PPR points a game and Rashod Bateman 4.3, 4.3 a game between them.

Rashod Bateman finished WR102 that year and Josh Downs WR44.

Josh Downs had 50 more targets than Rashod Bateman, 88 to 38.

Josh Downs had 342 more receiving yards than Rashod Bateman, 566 to 224.

This season Josh Downs holds the bigger snap share, 81 percent against 70 percent.

This season Josh Downs holds the bigger target share, 21 percent against 13 percent.

Byes and availability

Both are off in Week 13, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.

Rashod Bateman is listed as questionable on the injury report.