Kirk Cousins or Zachariah Branch: who should I start in Week 6?

What the player markets price

The player markets price Kirk Cousins at 15.2 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 9 market sources. That is the 37th highest figure of the 142 players the market prices.

The player markets price Zachariah Branch at 3.2 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 12 market sources. That is the 110th highest figure of the 142 players the market prices.

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Kirk Cousins: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 121st overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Zachariah Branch: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 106th 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, Zachariah Branch has been on the field for 22 percent of ATL snaps, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 40 third down targets, had 0 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 16 two minute targets.

His 8 targets have averaged 0.3 air yards.

In Week 3 against GB he caught 1 of 2 targets for 7 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against NO he caught 2 of 2 targets for 10 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against BAL he caught 2 of 2 targets for 15 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.

Zachariah Branch is a rookie, so there is no NFL season behind him to price him against.

Side by side

Kirk Cousins is a quarterback and Zachariah Branch a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

What would change the answer

12.0 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.