Start James Cook III or Aaron Jones Sr.? Week 5
Locks at kickoff, graded after.
Start James Cook III over Aaron Jones Sr.
- Market projects
- 16.6
- fantasy pts
- LAR D vs RB
- 15.5
- 3rd fewest to RBs (2026)
- Market projects
- 15.9
- fantasy pts
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Our Week 5 call
Start James Cook III over Aaron Jones Sr. in Week 5.
Market-based projections have James Cook III at 16.6 points and Aaron Jones Sr. at 15.9, a gap of 0.7. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. James Cook III's number is scaled up from a partial market: not every stat the position needs is posted yet, so the rest is estimated from what is.
What the market projects
Player markets imply 16.6 fantasy points for James Cook III, with 80 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.
The market has James Cook III at 75.5 rushing yards, with a 53% chance to score a touchdown (10 and 14 market sources).
Player markets imply 16.0 fantasy points for Aaron Jones Sr., with 100 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.
The market has Aaron Jones Sr. at 72.5 rushing yards, 18.5 receiving yards and 2.5 receptions, with a 51% chance to score a touchdown (11, 13, 9 and 12 market sources).
That puts James Cook III 0.7 points ahead of Aaron Jones Sr. on the market projections.
Week 5 matchups
James Cook III and BUF visit LAR on Monday at 8:15 PM ET.
LAR allowed 15.5 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 4 games, the 3rd fewest in the league.
Running backs ran for 82 yards and no touchdowns a game against LAR and caught passes for 26 more yards.
Injury status
James Cook III is not on the injury report.
Aaron Jones Sr. is not on the injury report.
Their 2025 seasons
In 2025, James Cook III played 17 games for BUF and scored 302.2 PPR points, 17.8 a game, finishing RB6.
He ran 309 times for 1621 yards and 12 touchdowns, and caught 33 of 40 targets for 291 yards.
He was on the field for 60 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.
James Cook III, Week 18 of 2025 against NYJ: 2 carries for 15 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards, 1.5 PPR points.
James Cook III, Week 17 of 2025 against PHI: 39 of 76 snaps, 20 carries for 74 yards, 4 targets and 1 catch for 3 yards, 8.7 PPR points.
James Cook III, Week 16 of 2025 against CLE: 28 of 50 snaps, 16 carries for 117 yards, 2 targets and 1 catch for 17 yards, 2 touchdowns, 26.4 PPR points.
Their other Week 5 calls
On the draft board
Ranked ahead
RB9 · BUF · bye 7
2026 vs carries line 2-2
- Overall rank
- 17
- Draft pick
- no consensus
- Tier
- 3
Ranked behind
RB11 · MIN · bye 6
2026 vs carries line 4-0
- Overall rank
- 20
- Draft pick
- no consensus
- Tier
- 3
The board cards are draft figures, not the week's call. Locks at kickoff, graded after. When the start/sit engine grades week 5, the call and the result appear on the public record, wrong ones included.
The gap between them
- Spots apart on the board3
- Pick differencenot comparable without a consensus on both
- Tiersboth in tier 3
- Board size218 draftable players
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