Should I start Rico Dowdle or Derrick Henry in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rico Dowdle, and the board ranks him 40th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Derrick Henry, and the board ranks him 49th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Rico Dowdle's market-based projection is 8.0 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 46th highest figure of the 184 players with a market-based projection.

The market-based projection for Derrick Henry is 6.6 PPR points a game off 1 market across 10 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 6

Through Week 6, Rico Dowdle has been on the field for 36 percent of PIT snaps, taken 35 percent of the carries, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 19 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 30 third down targets, had 0 of its 4 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 17 two minute targets.

His 11 targets have come 1 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

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.

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

Through Week 6, Derrick Henry has been on the field for 58 percent of BAL snaps, taken 73 percent of the carries, drawn 6 percent of the targets and had 53 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 46 third down targets, had 15 of its 25 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 41 two minute targets.

His 10 targets have come 3.4 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 4 against TEN he carried 23 times for 73 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 6 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against ATL he carried 24 times for 102 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 18 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against CLE he carried 17 times for 58 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 2 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 Derrick Henry played 17 games and scored 279.5 PPR points, 16.4 a game, finishing RB8.

He carried 307 times for 1595 yards and 16 touchdowns, and caught 15 of 21 targets for 150 more yards.

That came to 18.1 carries a game at 5.2 yards a carry and 0.9 catches a game.

He was on the field for 54 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Head to head

In 2025 Derrick Henry scored 16.4 PPR points a game and Rico Dowdle 12.7, 3.7 a game between them.

Rico Dowdle finished RB18 that year and Derrick Henry RB8.

Derrick Henry had 71 more carries than Rico Dowdle, 307 to 236.

Rico Dowdle had 24 more catches than Derrick Henry, 39 to 15.

This season Derrick Henry holds the bigger snap share, 58 percent against 36 percent.

This season Derrick Henry holds the bigger share of the carries, 73 percent against 35 percent.

Byes and availability

Rico Dowdle is off in Week 9 and Derrick Henry in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

Derrick Henry has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.