Start Bijan Robinson or James Cook III? Week 9
Updated Nov 3, 4:51 AM ET. Locks at kickoff, graded after. Week 10 answer posts Tuesday.
Early kickoff: 9:30 AM ET in Madrid, set your lineup before then.
Latest
- : James Cook III: Listed Questionable (Undisclosed) (Sleeper injury feed)
Start Bijan Robinson over James Cook III
- Market projects
- 25.2
- fantasy pts
- CIN D vs RB
- 19.4
- 7th fewest to RBs (2026)
- Snap share
- 72%
- Through Week 8
- Target share
- 15%
- Through Week 8
- Market projects
- 16.5
- recent weeks avg
- MIN D vs RB
- 18.4
- 5th fewest to RBs (2026)
- Snap share
- 54%
- Through Week 8
- Target share
- 9%
- Through Week 8
Should I drop James Cook III for Bijan Robinson?
Yes, on the rest of the season. Bijan Robinson projects 176 market-implied PPR points from Week 9 through Week 17 (22.0 a game over 8 games), James Cook III 146 (16.2 a game over 9 games). For Week 9 the call starts Bijan Robinson over James Cook III. James Cook III is listed questionable.
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Our Week 9 call
Start Bijan Robinson over James Cook III in Week 9.
Market-based projections have Bijan Robinson at 25.2 points and James Cook III at 16.5, a gap of 8.7. Bijan Robinson'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. No player market is posted for James Cook III this week yet, so his 16.5 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 6 and 8 (16.8 and 16.2); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. Drafters take Bijan Robinson at ADP 2 and James Cook III at 9. Market coverage on Bijan Robinson is 70 percent of what his position needs, so the market side of this carries proportionally less weight.
What the market projects
Player markets imply 25.2 fantasy points for Bijan Robinson, with 70 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.
The market-based projection for Bijan Robinson is 96 rushing yards and 1.1 touchdowns (7 and 7 market sources).
No Week 9 player market is posted for James Cook III yet. His market-based projections were 16.8 and 16.2 points in Weeks 6 and 8, an average of 16.5, which stands in until his Week 9 market posts.
The market-based projection for James Cook III is 0.8 touchdowns (5 market sources).
That puts Bijan Robinson 8.7 points ahead of James Cook III on these projections.
Week 9 matchups
Bijan Robinson and ATL host CIN on Sunday at 9:30 AM ET.
CIN allowed 19.4 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 7 games, the 7th fewest in the league.
Running backs ran for 86 yards and 0.7 touchdowns a game against CIN and caught passes for 30 more yards.
James Cook III and BUF visit MIN on Monday at 8:15 PM ET.
MIN allowed 18.4 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 7 games, the 5th fewest in the league.
Running backs ran for 103 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against MIN and caught passes for 18 more yards.
By points allowed to the position, Bijan Robinson has the softer matchup.
Injury status
Bijan Robinson is not on the injury report.
James Cook III is listed as questionable with a undisclosed injury.
Usage before Week 9
Through Week 8, Bijan Robinson played 72 percent of ATL snaps, took 66 percent of the carries, drew 15 percent of the targets and had 43 percent of the red zone chances.
Bijan Robinson, Week 5 against BAL: 52 of 64 snaps, 17 carries for 86 yards, 7 targets and 4 catches for 32 yards.
Bijan Robinson, Week 6 against CHI: 43 of 55 snaps, 9 carries for 61 yards, 2 targets and 2 catches for -8 yards.
Bijan Robinson, Week 7 against SF: 55 of 69 snaps, 20 carries for 63 yards, 5 targets and 5 catches for 45 yards.
Bijan Robinson, Week 8 against TB: 43 of 53 snaps, 19 carries for 76 yards, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 yards.
Through Week 8, James Cook III played 54 percent of BUF snaps, took 54 percent of the carries, drew 9 percent of the targets and had 35 percent of the red zone chances.
James Cook III, Week 8 against BAL: 44 of 82 snaps, 21 carries for 80 yards, 3 targets and 2 catches for 21 yards, 1 touchdown.
Their 2025 seasons
In 2025, Bijan Robinson played 17 games for ATL and scored 370.8 PPR points, 21.8 a game, finishing RB2.
He ran 287 times for 1478 yards and 7 touchdowns, and caught 79 of 103 targets for 820 yards.
He was on the field for 78 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.
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.
Their other Week 9 calls
Locks at kickoff, graded after. When the start/sit engine grades week 9, the call and the result appear on the public record, wrong ones included.
Drop or keep
Should I drop James Cook III for Bijan Robinson?
Yes, on the rest of the season. Bijan Robinson projects 176 market-implied PPR points from Week 9 through Week 17 (22.0 a game over 8 games), James Cook III 146 (16.2 a game over 9 games). For Week 9 the call starts Bijan Robinson over James Cook III. James Cook III is listed questionable.
Should I drop Bijan Robinson for James Cook III?
No. Keep Bijan Robinson: he projects 176 market-implied PPR points from Week 9 through Week 17 (22.0 a game over 8 games), James Cook III 146 (16.2 a game over 9 games). For Week 9 the call starts Bijan Robinson over James Cook III. James Cook III is listed questionable.
Should I drop Bijan Robinson?Should I drop James Cook III?
Week 9 on the board
- Is Bijan Robinson playing Week 9?
- Is James Cook III playing Week 9?
- Falcons depth chart
- Bills depth chart
- Week 9 RB rankings
- Week 9 fantasy rankings
- Week 9 start or sit
- Week 9 waiver wire
- Week 9 trade value chart
- Trade deadline buy low, sell high
- Fantasy football rankings
- Start 'em sit 'em Week 9
- Waiver wire pickups
- Fantasy sleepers
- Rest of season rankings
- Week 9 kicker rankings
- Week 9 defense rankings