Should I start Kirk Cousins or Saquon Barkley in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Kirk Cousins, and the board ranks him 87th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Saquon Barkley, and the board ranks him 88th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 3; 2QB: ADP 14.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Kirk Cousins is 16.6 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 2 market sources. That is 45 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Saquon Barkley is 3.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 3 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Kirk Cousins has been on the field for 98 percent of LV snaps, dropped back 269 times and thrown 8.2 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 43 of 269 dropbacks and scrambled 5 times.

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

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.

Through Week 7, Saquon Barkley has been on the field for 33 percent of PHI snaps, taken 34 percent of the carries, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 44 third down targets, had 2 of its 11 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 32 two minute targets.

His 9 targets have come 0.6 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 3 against CHI he carried 15 times for 82 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for -2 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against LAR he carried 2 times for 8 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against DAL he carried 7 times for 62 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 9 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 Saquon Barkley played 16 games and scored 232.3 PPR points, 14.5 a game, finishing RB14.

He carried 280 times for 1140 yards and 7 touchdowns, and caught 37 of 50 targets for 273 more yards.

That came to 17-18 carries a game at 4.1 yards a carry and 2.3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 78 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Saquon Barkley was available for 6 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Saquon Barkley scored 14.5 PPR points a game and Kirk Cousins 10.9, 3.7 a game between them.

Kirk Cousins finished QB35 and Saquon Barkley RB14, which are two different ladders.

Kirk Cousins is a quarterback and Saquon Barkley a running back, 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 Saquon Barkley in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.

Saquon Barkley is listed as questionable on the injury report.