Start Bryce Young or Kirk Cousins? Week 8

Our Week 8 call

Start Bryce Young over Kirk Cousins in Week 8.

Market-based projections have Bryce Young at 16.7 points and Kirk Cousins at 16.5, a gap of 0.2. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. Kirk Cousins'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 16.7 fantasy points for Bryce Young, with 100 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Bryce Young is 252 passing yards, 1-2 passing touchdowns, 10 rushing yards and 0.1 rushing touchdowns (12, 14, 13 and 13 market sources).

Player markets imply 16.5 fantasy points for Kirk Cousins, with 45 percent of the markets a QB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Kirk Cousins is 238 passing yards (3 market sources).

That puts Bryce Young 0.2 points ahead of Kirk Cousins on the market projections.

Week 8 matchups

Bryce Young and CAR visit GB on Thursday at 8:15 PM ET.

GB allowed 14.3 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 7 games, the 5th fewest in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 223 yards and 1.3 touchdowns a game against GB, with 1.3 interceptions a game.

Kirk Cousins and LV visit NYJ on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

NYJ allowed 16.7 fantasy points a game to QBs this season over 7 games, the 15th fewest in the league.

Quarterbacks threw for 203 yards and 1.6 touchdowns a game against NYJ, with 0.1 interceptions a game.

By points allowed to the position, Kirk Cousins has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Bryce Young is not on the injury report.

Kirk Cousins is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 8

Through Week 7, Bryce Young played 94 percent of CAR snaps, dropped back 250 times and threw an average of 8.8 air yards per attempt.

Bryce Young, Week 3 against CLE: 77 of 77 snaps, 26 of 47 passes for 291 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

Bryce Young, Week 4 against DET: 75 of 75 snaps, 29 of 41 passes for 329 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 1 carry for 7 yards.

Bryce Young, Week 6 against PHI: 79 of 79 snaps, 20 of 39 passes for 281 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 1 carry for 8 yards.

Bryce Young, Week 7 against TB: 43 of 56 snaps, 14 of 27 passes for 163 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, 1 carry for 9 yards.

Through Week 7, Kirk Cousins played 98 percent of LV snaps, dropped back 269 times and threw an average of 8.2 air yards per attempt.

Kirk Cousins, Week 4 against KC: 84 of 84 snaps, 31 of 49 passes for 365 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.

Kirk Cousins, Week 5 against NE: 50 of 60 snaps, 19 of 28 passes for 243 yards, 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions.

Kirk Cousins, Week 6 against BUF: 66 of 66 snaps, 23 of 41 passes for 313 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.

Kirk Cousins, Week 7 against LAR: 68 of 68 snaps, 26 of 44 passes for 295 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, 3 carries for 6 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Bryce Young played 16 games for CAR and scored 229.0 PPR points, 14.3 a game, finishing QB19.

He completed 304 of 478 passes for 3011 yards, 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and ran 54 times for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns.

He was on the field for 96 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Kirk Cousins played 10 games for ATL and scored 108.5 PPR points, 10.9 a game, finishing QB35.

He completed 166 of 269 passes for 1721 yards, 10 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, and ran 14 times for 7 yards and 1 touchdown.

He was on the field for 46 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 8 calls

• Start Bryce Young over Aaron Rodgers.
• Start Baker Mayfield over Bryce Young.
• Start Bryce Young over Bo Nix.
• Start Kirk Cousins over Aaron Rodgers.
• Start Baker Mayfield over Kirk Cousins.
• Start Kirk Cousins over Bo Nix.