Travis Kelce or Josh Downs: who should I start?

What the sportsbooks price

The player markets price Travis Kelce at 10.2 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 16 books. That is the 87th highest figure of the 183 players the books price.

The player markets price Josh Downs at 10.1 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 15 books. That is the 89th highest figure of the 183 players the books price.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Travis Kelce: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 70th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 155.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Josh Downs: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 69th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 124.

This season through Week 1

Through Week 1, Travis Kelce has been on the field for 71 percent of KC snaps, drawn 20 percent of the targets and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 8 third down targets, had 0 of its 2 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 4 two minute targets.

His 5 targets have averaged 5.8 air yards.

In Week 1 against DEN he caught 3 of 5 targets for 71 yards and did not score.

Through Week 1, Josh Downs has been on the field for 89 percent of IND snaps, drawn 14 percent of the targets and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 5 third down targets, had 0 of its 3 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 2 two minute targets.

His 4 targets have averaged 9.0 air yards.

In Week 1 against BAL he caught 2 of 4 targets for 37 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Travis Kelce played 17 games and scored 193.2 PPR points, 11.4 a game, finishing TE3.

He caught 76 of 108 targets for 851 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets.

That came to 6.4 targets a game, a 70 percent catch rate and 11.2 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 81 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 5.5 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.

Travis Kelce was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Travis Kelce scored 11.4 PPR points a game and Josh Downs 8.5, 2.8 a game between them.

Travis Kelce finished TE3 and Josh Downs WR44, which are two different ladders.

Travis Kelce is a tight end and Josh Downs a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Travis Kelce is off in Week 5 and Josh Downs in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

0.2 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.