Start De'Von Achane or James Cook III? Week 1

Our Week 1 call

Start James Cook III over De'Von Achane in Week 1.

James Cook III is priced by the books at 9.3 projected points. De'Von Achane has no player market posted for this week, so his side of this call rests on consensus ADP and the news wire only. Drafters take James Cook III at ADP 12 and De'Von Achane at 11. Market coverage on James Cook III is 50 percent of what his position needs, so the market side of this carries proportionally less weight.

What the books imply

No sportsbook posted a player market for De'Von Achane in Week 1.

Player prop markets imply 9.3 fantasy points for James Cook III, with 50 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

Week 1 matchups

De'Von Achane and MIA visit LV.

LV allowed 10.5 fantasy points to RBs in its one game this season, the 5th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 35 yards and no touchdowns against LV and caught passes for 30 more yards.

James Cook III and BUF visit HOU on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

HOU allowed 10.5 fantasy points to RBs in its one game this season, the 4th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 63 yards and no touchdowns against HOU and caught passes for 12 more yards.

By points allowed to the position, De'Von Achane has the softer matchup.

Injury status

De'Von Achane was not on the injury report when the call was made.

James Cook III was not on the injury report when the call was made.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, De'Von Achane played 16 games for MIA and scored 322.8 PPR points, 20.2 a game, finishing RB5.

He ran 238 times for 1350 yards and 8 touchdowns, and caught 67 of 85 targets for 488 yards.

He was on the field for 75 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

De'Von Achane, Week 17 of 2025 against TB: 41 of 55 snaps, 18 carries for 83 yards, 3 targets and 3 catches for 29 yards, 14.2 PPR points.

De'Von Achane, Week 16 of 2025 against CIN: 42 of 59 snaps, 15 carries for 81 yards, 3 targets and 3 catches for 9 yards, 1 touchdown, 18.0 PPR points.

De'Von Achane, Week 15 of 2025 against PIT: 40 of 50 snaps, 12 carries for 60 yards, 6 targets and 6 catches for 67 yards, 18.7 PPR points.

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.

How Week 1 went

James Cook III scored 9.9 PPR points and De'Von Achane scored 10.6.

The call was wrong: De'Von Achane outscored James Cook III by 0.7.

James Cook III finished 0.6 points above the 9.3 the props implied.

James Cook III, Week 1 against HOU: 42 of 58 snaps, 13 carries for 57 yards, 4 targets and 3 catches for 12 yards, 9.9 PPR points.

James Cook III finished as the week's RB27 in PPR scoring.

De'Von Achane, Week 1 against LV: 48 of 56 snaps, 11 carries for 36 yards, 5 targets and 4 catches for 30 yards, 10.6 PPR points.

De'Von Achane finished as the week's RB24 in PPR scoring.

Their other Week 1 calls

• Start De'Von Achane over Ashton Jeanty.
• Start Bijan Robinson over De'Von Achane.
• Start De'Von Achane over Chase Brown.
• Start James Cook III over Chase Brown.
• Start Christian McCaffrey over James Cook III.
• Start James Cook III over Derrick Henry.