Should I start Devaughn Vele or Rico Dowdle in Week 7?

The market-based projections

Devaughn Vele's market-based projection is 10.3 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 67th highest figure of the 199 players with a market-based projection.

Rico Dowdle's market-based projection is 7.8 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 87th highest figure of the 199 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

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

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rico Dowdle, and the board ranks him 50th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 6

Through Week 6, Devaughn Vele has been on the field for 91 percent of NO snaps, drawn 19 percent of the targets and had 11 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 15 of the offence's 59 third down targets, had 2 of its 19 chances inside the five and seen 6 of its 37 two minute targets.

His 43 targets have averaged 10.3 air yards.

In Week 4 against ATL he caught 6 of 9 targets for 54 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against MIN he caught 4 of 6 targets for 26 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against NYG he caught 3 of 6 targets for 42 yards and did not score.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Devaughn Vele played 13 games and scored 66.3 PPR points, 5.1 a game, finishing WR95.

He caught 25 of 39 targets for 293 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 4 red zone targets.

That came to 3.0 targets a game, a 64 percent catch rate and 11.7 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 51 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 4 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Rico Dowdle scored 12.7 PPR points a game and Devaughn Vele 5.1, 7.6 a game between them.

Devaughn Vele finished WR95 and Rico Dowdle RB18, which are two different ladders.

Devaughn Vele is a wide receiver 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

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

What would change the answer

2.5 points a game is the entire case. The market restates it every week, and a line that moves moves the order with it.

The draft market is the half that is missing: when live drafts hold these two again they can order them differently from the projection, and this page will follow the drafts rather than the market-based projection when they do.