Start Bucky Irving or Dameon Pierce? Week 6

Our Week 6 call

Start Bucky Irving over Dameon Pierce in Week 6.

Market-based projections have Bucky Irving at 11.8 points and Dameon Pierce at 11.3, a gap of 0.4. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 11.8 fantasy points for Bucky Irving, with 100 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Bucky Irving is 65 rushing yards, 11 receiving yards, 1-2 receptions and 0.4 touchdowns (8, 12, 11 and 13 market sources).

Player markets imply 11.3 fantasy points for Dameon Pierce, with 100 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Dameon Pierce is 59 rushing yards, 12 receiving yards, 1-2 receptions and 0-1 touchdowns (13, 11, 13 and 12 market sources).

That puts Bucky Irving 0.4 points ahead of Dameon Pierce on the market projections.

Week 6 matchups

Bucky Irving and TB host PIT on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

PIT allowed 22.5 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 5 games, the 11th most in the league.

Running backs ran for 91 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against PIT and caught passes for 40 more yards.

Injury status

Bucky Irving is not on the injury report.

Dameon Pierce is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 6

Through Week 5, Bucky Irving played 61 percent of TB snaps, took 58 percent of the carries, drew 12 percent of the targets and had 38 percent of the red zone chances.

Bucky Irving, Week 2 against CLE: 51 of 65 snaps, 17 carries for 89 yards, 4 targets and 4 catches for 1 yards.

Bucky Irving, Week 3 against MIN: 36 of 69 snaps, 15 carries for 46 yards, 4 targets and 2 catches for 12 yards.

Bucky Irving, Week 4 against GB: 37 of 64 snaps, 16 carries for 61 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Bucky Irving, Week 5 against DAL: 39 of 72 snaps, 21 carries for 165 yards, 3 targets and 2 catches for 10 yards, 2 touchdowns.

Through Week 5, Dameon Pierce played 77 percent of PHI snaps, took 61 percent of the carries, drew 14 percent of the targets and had 25 percent of the red zone chances.

Dameon Pierce, Week 5 against JAX: 48 of 62 snaps, 11 carries for 14 yards, 5 targets and 2 catches for -2 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Bucky Irving played 10 games for TB and scored 138.5 PPR points, 13.9 a game, finishing RB34.

He ran 173 times for 588 yards and 1 touchdown, and caught 30 of 35 targets for 277 yards.

He was on the field for 62 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Dameon Pierce played 5 games for KC and scored 3.6 PPR points, 0.7 a game, finishing RB128.

He ran 14 times for 36 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards.

He was on the field for 8 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Dameon Pierce, Week 18 of 2025 against LV: 4 carries for 10 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards, 1.0 PPR points.

Their other Week 6 calls

• Start Bucky Irving over Alvin Kamara.
• Start Ashton Jeanty over Bucky Irving.
• Start Bhayshul Tuten over Bucky Irving.
• Start Bhayshul Tuten over Dameon Pierce.
• Start Dameon Pierce over Blake Corum.
• Start Dameon Pierce over Braelon Allen.