Kirk Cousins or Kenny Gainwell: who should I start in Week 6?

The market-based projections

Kirk Cousins's market-based projection is 15.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 43rd highest figure of the 185 players with a market-based projection.

Kenny Gainwell's market-based projection is 6.4 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 122nd highest figure of the 185 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Kirk Cousins: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 109th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Kenny Gainwell: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 111th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 5

Through Week 5, Kirk Cousins has been on the field for 97 percent of LV snaps, dropped back 180 times and thrown 8.3 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 34 of 180 dropbacks and scrambled 3 times.

In Week 3 against NO he completed 22 of 33 passes for 248 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 5 yards.

In Week 4 against KC he completed 31 of 49 passes for 365 yards and threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.

In Week 5 against NE he completed 19 of 28 passes for 243 yards and threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions.

Through Week 5, Kenny Gainwell has been on the field for 41 percent of TB snaps, taken 13 percent of the carries, drawn 11 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 5 of the offence's 40 third down targets, had 0 of its 6 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 29 two minute targets.

His 16 targets have come 2.1 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 3 against MIN he carried 3 times for -4 yards, caught 2 of 5 targets for 14 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against GB he carried 3 times for 5 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 22 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against DAL he carried 4 times for 18 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 10 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Kirk Cousins played 10 games and scored 108.5 PPR points, 10.9 a game, finishing QB35.

He threw for 1721 yards on 269 attempts with 10 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, and ran for 7 yards and 1 touchdown.

That came to 26.9 attempts a game at 6.4 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 46 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Kenny Gainwell played 17 games and scored 222.3 PPR points, 13.1 a game, finishing RB16.

He carried 114 times for 537 yards and 5 touchdowns, and caught 73 of 85 targets for 486 more yards.

That came to 6.7 carries a game at 4.7 yards a carry and 4.3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 49 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Kenny Gainwell was available for 7 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Kenny Gainwell scored 13.1 PPR points a game and Kirk Cousins 10.9, 2.2 a game between them.

Kirk Cousins finished QB35 and Kenny Gainwell RB16, which are two different ladders.

Kirk Cousins is a quarterback and Kenny Gainwell a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Kenny Gainwell is off in Week 10. No bye is listed for Kirk Cousins.

What would change the answer

8.9 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.