Should I start Kirk Cousins or Mike Gesicki in Week 9?

The market-based projections

Kirk Cousins's market-based projection is 15.6 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 33rd highest figure of the 220 players with a market-based projection.

Mike Gesicki's market-based projection is 7.4 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 94th highest figure of the 220 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kirk Cousins, and the board ranks him 108th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Mike Gesicki, and the board ranks him 105th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Kirk Cousins has been on the field for 98 percent of LV snaps, dropped back 296 times and thrown 8.1 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 49 of 296 dropbacks and scrambled 5 times.

In Week 6 against BUF he completed 23 of 41 passes for 313 yards and threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.

In Week 7 against LAR he completed 26 of 44 passes for 295 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 3 times for 6 yards.

In Week 8 against NYJ he completed 19 of 26 passes for 247 yards, threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 3 times for 5 yards.

Through Week 8, Mike Gesicki has been on the field for 48 percent of CIN snaps, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 61 third down targets, had 3 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 43 two minute targets.

His 24 targets have averaged 11.1 air yards.

In Week 5 against MIA he caught 1 of 2 targets for 4 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against BAL he caught 1 of 1 target for 6 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against TEN he caught 4 of 6 targets for 76 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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 Mike Gesicki played 13 games and scored 70.7 PPR points, 5.4 a game, finishing TE41.

He caught 28 of 42 targets for 307 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 7 red zone targets.

That came to 3.2 targets a game, a 67 percent catch rate and 11.0 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 38 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Mike Gesicki was available for 3 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Kirk Cousins scored 10.9 PPR points a game and Mike Gesicki 5.4, 5.4 a game between them.

Kirk Cousins finished QB35 and Mike Gesicki TE41, which are two different ladders.

Kirk Cousins is a quarterback and Mike Gesicki a tight end, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Kirk Cousins is off in Week 13 and Mike Gesicki in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

8.3 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 live drafts hold these two again they can order them differently from the projection, and this page will follow the drafts rather than the market-based projection when they do.