Should I start Dameon Pierce or Rico Dowdle in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Dameon Pierce, and the board ranks him 104th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rico Dowdle, and the board ranks him 174th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Dameon Pierce is 3.1 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Rico Dowdle is 1.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Dameon Pierce's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Dameon Pierce has been on the field for 80 percent of PHI snaps, taken 66 percent of the carries, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 47 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 36 third down targets, had 4 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 13 two minute targets.

His 11 targets have come 0.9 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 5 against JAX he carried 11 times for 14 yards, caught 2 of 5 targets for -2 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against CAR he carried 12 times for 35 yards, caught 4 of 5 targets for 15 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against DAL he carried 14 times for 47 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 1 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 7, Rico Dowdle has been on the field for 38 percent of PIT snaps, taken 34 percent of the carries, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 25 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 36 third down targets, had 0 of its 5 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 24 two minute targets.

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

In Week 2 against NE he carried 7 times for 22 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 22 yards and did not score.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

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

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

That came to 2.8 carries a game at 2.6 yards a carry.

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

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.

Rico Dowdle was available for 12 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Rico Dowdle scored 12.7 PPR points a game and Dameon Pierce 0.7, 12.0 a game between them.

Dameon Pierce finished RB128 that year and Rico Dowdle RB18.

Rico Dowdle had 222 more carries than Dameon Pierce, 236 to 14.

Rico Dowdle had 39 more catches than Dameon Pierce, 39 to 0.

This season Dameon Pierce holds the bigger snap share, 80 percent against 38 percent.

This season Dameon Pierce holds the bigger share of the carries, 66 percent against 34 percent.

Byes and availability

Dameon Pierce is off in Week 10 and Rico Dowdle in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.

Dameon Pierce is listed as questionable on the injury report.