Should I start Omar Cooper Jr. or Kenny Gainwell in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Omar Cooper Jr., and the board ranks him 79th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kenny Gainwell, and the board ranks him 80th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Omar Cooper Jr.'s market-based projection is 9.4 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 8 market sources. That is the 92nd highest figure of the 207 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Kenny Gainwell is 6.2 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 13 market sources. That is 40 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Omar Cooper Jr. has been on the field for 64 percent of NYJ snaps, drawn 17 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 9 third down targets and had 1 of its 3 chances inside the five.

His 5 targets have averaged 10.2 air yards.

In Week 7 against MIA he caught 5 of 5 targets for 115 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 7, Kenny Gainwell has been on the field for 35 percent of TB snaps, taken 16 percent of the carries, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 57 third down targets, had 0 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 44 two minute targets.

His 17 targets have come 2.3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

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

In Week 6 against PIT he carried 2 times for 17 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 7 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against CAR he carried 14 times for 88 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

Omar Cooper Jr. is a rookie, so there is no NFL season behind him to price him against.

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.

Side by side

Omar Cooper Jr. is a wide receiver 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

Omar Cooper Jr. is off in Week 13 and Kenny Gainwell in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.

Kenny Gainwell is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

Kenny Gainwell has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.