Should I start Rico Dowdle or Chris Brooks in Week 8?
Updated Nov 3, 12:11 AM ET. Week 9 answers post Tuesday.
Start Chris Brooks: 35 percent of the snaps and 16 percent of the carries over their last 3 games, against Rico Dowdle's 31 percent of the snaps and 32 percent of the carries. No market projection is posted on either of them this week, so this is a usage call, and a lower confidence one than a call made on a projection. What follows is what each of them has done.
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Neither man carries a season projection right now, so this is their usage this season and their last full season's numbers, side by side.
RB · PIT · on bye this week
2026 vs carries line 3-2
- Market-based projection
- 9.0 pts a game Wk 8 price
- Overall rank
- 269
RB · GB · bye 11
2026 vs carries line 2-2
- Overall rank
- 279
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The gap
- Board size297 draftable players
Draft data is not current for these two, so the figures that depend on it are left out. The call above comes from each player's usage.
Where the draft room stands
Live drafts hold no current pick on Rico Dowdle, and the board ranks him 269th overall on the rest of his evidence.
Live drafts hold no current pick on Chris Brooks, and the board ranks him 279th overall on the rest of his evidence.
The market-based projections
No season market is posted for Rico Dowdle, so the only market valuing him on this page is the draft room.
No season market is posted for Chris Brooks, so the only market valuing him on this page is the draft room.
Neither carries a posted market, so this page rests on the draft room and on what the two have already done.
This season so far
Through Week 8, Rico Dowdle has been on the field for 38 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 4, Chris Brooks has been on the field for 40 percent of GB snaps, taken 21 percent of the carries, drawn 3 percent of the targets and had 14 percent of the red zone chances.
He has taken 1 of the offence's 41 third down targets, had 1 of its 11 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 23 two minute targets.
His 5 targets have come 1.4 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.
In Week 2 against NYJ he carried 4 times for 11 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 15 yards and did not score.
In Week 3 against ATL he carried 0 times for 0 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 4 yards and did not score.
In Week 4 against TB he carried 4 times for 30 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 5 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 Chris Brooks played 17 games and scored 32.7 PPR points, 1.9 a game, finishing RB81.
He carried 27 times for 106 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 13 of 17 targets for 91 more yards.
That came to 1.6 carries a game at 3.9 yards a carry and 0.8 catches a game.
He was on the field for 18 percent of the snaps in the games he played.
Both were available for 17 games that season.
Head to head
In 2025 Rico Dowdle scored 12.7 PPR points a game and Chris Brooks 1.9, 10.8 a game between them.
Rico Dowdle finished RB18 that year and Chris Brooks RB81.
Rico Dowdle had 209 more carries than Chris Brooks, 236 to 27.
Rico Dowdle had 26 more catches than Chris Brooks, 39 to 13.
This season Chris Brooks holds the bigger snap share, 40 percent against 38 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 Chris Brooks in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.
Chris Brooks is listed as ir on the injury report.
Both players in full
Week 8 on the board
- Is Rico Dowdle playing Week 8?
- Is Chris Brooks playing Week 8?
- Steelers depth chart
- Packers depth chart
- Week 8 RB rankings
- Week 8 fantasy rankings
- Week 8 start or sit
- Week 9 waiver wire
- Week 9 trade value chart
- Trade deadline buy low, sell high
- Fantasy football rankings
- Start 'em sit 'em Week 8
- Waiver wire pickups
- Fantasy sleepers
- Rest of season rankings
- Week 8 kicker rankings
- Week 8 defense rankings
