Dawson Knox or Rico Dowdle: who should I start in Week 5?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Dawson Knox: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 166th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Rico Dowdle: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 174th overall on the rest of his evidence.

What the player markets price

The market has Dawson Knox at 3.7 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 14 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a tight end's price needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market has Rico Dowdle at 2.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 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.

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

This season so far

Through Week 4, Dawson Knox has been on the field for 69 percent of BUF snaps, drawn 5 percent of the targets and had 5 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 31 third down targets, had 1 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 22 two minute targets.

His 6 targets have averaged 1.8 air yards.

In Week 2 against DET he caught 2 of 2 targets for 5 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 3 against LAC he carried 1 time for 0 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 5 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against NE he caught 2 of 2 targets for 13 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 Dawson Knox played 17 games and scored 103.7 PPR points, 6.1 a game, finishing TE28.

He caught 36 of 49 targets for 417 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 12 red zone targets.

That came to 2.9 targets a game, a 73 percent catch rate and 11.6 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 61 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.

Side by side

In 2025 Rico Dowdle scored 12.7 PPR points a game and Dawson Knox 6.1, 6.6 a game between them.

Dawson Knox finished TE28 and Rico Dowdle RB18, which are two different ladders.

Dawson Knox is a tight end and Rico Dowdle a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Rico Dowdle is off in Week 9. No bye is listed for Dawson Knox.

Rico Dowdle is listed as questionable on the injury report.