David Montgomery or Rico Dowdle: who should I start in Week 5?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on David Montgomery: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 85th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 33.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Rico Dowdle: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 220th overall on the rest of his evidence.

What the player markets price

The player markets price David Montgomery at 10.0 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 18 market sources. That is the 91st highest figure of the 219 players the market prices.

The market has Rico Dowdle at 2.6 PPR points a game off 1 market across 9 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's price needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Rico Dowdle's price is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 4, David Montgomery has been on the field for 54 percent of HOU snaps, taken 52 percent of the carries, drawn 5 percent of the targets and had 35 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 32 third down targets, had 3 of its 5 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 29 two minute targets.

His 7 targets have averaged 3.6 air yards.

In Week 2 against CIN he carried 6 times for 10 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 14 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against IND he carried 11 times for 33 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 15 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against DAL he carried 10 times for 24 yards and did not score.

Through Week 2, Rico Dowdle has been on the field for 42 percent of PIT snaps, taken 37 percent of the carries, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 18 third down targets and seen 0 of its 9 two minute targets.

His 7 targets have averaged 0.9 air yards.

In Week 1 against ATL he carried 8 times for 15 yards, caught 2 of 5 targets for 6 yards and did not score.

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

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 David Montgomery played 17 games and scored 166.9 PPR points, 9.8 a game, finishing RB27.

He carried 158 times for 716 yards and 8 touchdowns, and caught 24 of 29 targets for 192 more yards.

That came to 9.3 carries a game at 4.5 yards a carry and 1.4 catches a game.

He was on the field for 37 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.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Head to head

In 2025 Rico Dowdle scored 12.7 PPR points a game and David Montgomery 9.8, 2.9 a game between them.

David Montgomery finished RB27 that year and Rico Dowdle RB18.

Rico Dowdle had 78 more carries than David Montgomery, 236 to 158.

Rico Dowdle had 15 more catches than David Montgomery, 39 to 24.

This season David Montgomery holds the bigger snap share, 54 percent against 42 percent.

This season David Montgomery holds the bigger share of the carries, 52 percent against 37 percent.

Byes and availability

David Montgomery is off in Week 8 and Rico Dowdle in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.

Rico Dowdle is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

Rico Dowdle is only part priced, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.