2026 season · Week 5 · RB
Start Cook over Taylor in PPR. Taylor's snap share has fallen 2 straight weeks (94% → 71%); a 26.0 implied team total vs 21.0; PIT allows the 7th-fewest RB points.
James CookBUFRB@ LAR17.9 PPR pts
Floor 6 · median 16.5 · ceiling 31
Taylor's snap share has fallen 2 straight weeks (94% → 71%); a 26.0 implied team total vs 21.0; PIT allows the 7th-fewest RB points.
Medium
Jonathan TaylorINDRB@ PIT17.0 PPR pts
Floor 7 · median 15.7 · ceiling 29
Taylor's snap share has fallen 2 straight weeks (94% → 71%); a 21.0 implied team total vs 26.0; PIT allows the 7th-fewest RB points.
MediumAdd more players in Who Should I StartJames Cook stats and usageJonathan Taylor stats and usageAll Week 5 projections
Both players come from the same weekly projection: a mean and an 80% range from 2,000 simulated games, scored in your format, and the chance he plays. Start goes to the higher expected points (chance to play × projection); within 10% is a Flex-level close call. The tier ranks each player against everyone at his position this week. Reasons are templates filled with the model's numbers.
Updated Tue, Oct 6, 2:39 PM ETFull methodology
Start Cook over Taylor in PPR. Taylor's snap share has fallen 2 straight weeks (94% → 71%); a 26.0 implied team total vs 21.0; PIT allows the 7th-fewest RB points.
James Cook: his 90th-percentile outcome is 31 PPR points against 29 for Jonathan Taylor, from 2,000 simulated games each.
Jonathan Taylor: a floor (10th percentile) of 7 PPR points vs 6, and a 98% chance to play vs 98%.
PPR: Cook 17.9, Taylor 17.0; half-PPR: Cook 17.1, Taylor 15.9; standard: Cook 16.3, Taylor 14.7 (points if he plays).
