Zay Flowers or Josh Downs: who should I start in Week 5?

What the player markets price

The player markets price Zay Flowers at 14.5 PPR points a game, built from 4 markets across 16 market sources. That is the 46th highest figure of the 183 players the market prices.

The player markets price Josh Downs at 13.4 PPR points a game, built from 4 markets across 15 market sources. That is the 55th highest figure of the 183 players the market prices.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Zay Flowers: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 26th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Josh Downs: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 35th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 51.

This season through Week 4

Through Week 4, Zay Flowers has been on the field for 45 percent of BAL snaps, drawn 30 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 18 third down targets, had 0 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 15 two minute targets.

His 22 targets have averaged 10.2 air yards.

In Week 1 against IND he caught 5 of 6 targets for 150 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 3 against DAL he carried 1 time for 20 yards, caught 5 of 6 targets for 84 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against TEN he caught 8 of 10 targets for 118 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 4, Josh Downs has been on the field for 79 percent of IND snaps, drawn 23 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 11 of the offence's 30 third down targets, had 0 of its 9 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 16 two minute targets.

His 28 targets have averaged 10.0 air yards.

In Week 2 against KC he caught 7 of 9 targets for 72 yards and did not score.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Zay Flowers played 17 games and scored 243.3 PPR points, 14.3 a game, finishing WR7.

He caught 86 of 118 targets for 1211 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 10 red zone targets.

That came to 6.9 targets a game, a 73 percent catch rate and 14.1 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 86 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.

Zay Flowers was available for 1 game more.

Head to head

In 2025 Zay Flowers scored 14.3 PPR points a game and Josh Downs 8.5, 5.8 a game between them.

Zay Flowers finished WR7 that year and Josh Downs WR44.

Zay Flowers had 30 more targets than Josh Downs, 118 to 88.

Zay Flowers had 645 more receiving yards than Josh Downs, 1211 to 566.

This season Josh Downs holds the bigger snap share, 79 percent against 45 percent.

This season Zay Flowers holds the bigger target share, 30 percent against 23 percent.

Byes and availability

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

Zay Flowers is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

1.2 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 price, and this page will follow the sample rather than the market price when it does.