Should I start Rico Dowdle or Austin Ekeler in Week 10?

The market-based projections

Rico Dowdle's market-based projection is 9.6 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 6 market sources. That is the 22nd highest figure of the 208 players with a market-based projection.

Austin Ekeler's market-based projection is 6.5 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 31st highest figure of the 208 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rico Dowdle, and the board ranks him 27th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Austin Ekeler, and the board ranks him 37th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season so far

Through Week 8, Rico Dowdle has been on the field for 40 percent of PIT snaps, taken 37 percent of the carries, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 27 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 39 third down targets, had 1 of its 10 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 27 two minute targets.

His 17 targets have come 0.6 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 6 against TB he carried 7 times for 40 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 9 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against NO he carried 9 times for 41 yards, caught 6 of 6 targets for 45 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against CLE he carried 15 times for 56 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 9, Austin Ekeler has been on the field for 25 percent of WAS snaps, taken 21 percent of the carries, drawn 5 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 42 third down targets, had 0 of its 4 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 24 two minute targets.

His 8 targets have come 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 6 against SF he carried 1 time for 3 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 4 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against PHI he carried 8 times for 36 yards and did not score.

In Week 9 against LAR he carried 8 times for 16 yards, caught 2 of 3 targets for 18 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Rico Dowdle played 17 games and scored 216.3 PPR points, 12.7 a game, finishing RB18.

He carried 236 times for 1076 yards and 6 touchdowns, and caught 39 of 50 targets for 297 more yards.

That came to 13.9 carries a game at 4.6 yards a carry and 2.3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 56 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Austin Ekeler played 2 games and scored 13.1 PPR points, 6.6 a game, finishing RB103.

He carried 14 times for 43 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 5 of 7 targets for 38 more yards.

That came to 7.0 carries a game at 3.1 yards a carry and 2-3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 50 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Rico Dowdle was available for 15 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Rico Dowdle scored 12.7 PPR points a game and Austin Ekeler 6.6, 6.2 a game between them.

Rico Dowdle finished RB18 that year and Austin Ekeler RB103.

Rico Dowdle had 222 more carries than Austin Ekeler, 236 to 14.

Rico Dowdle had 34 more catches than Austin Ekeler, 39 to 5.

This season Rico Dowdle holds the bigger snap share, 40 percent against 25 percent.

This season Rico Dowdle holds the bigger share of the carries, 37 percent against 21 percent.

Byes and availability

Rico Dowdle is off in Week 9 and Austin Ekeler in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

3.1 points a game is the entire case. The market restates it every week, and a line that moves moves the order with it.

The draft market is the half that is missing: when live drafts hold these two again they can order them differently from the projection, and this page will follow the drafts rather than the market-based projection when they do.