Rico Dowdle or DJ Moore: who should I start in Week 5?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Rico Dowdle: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 165th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on DJ Moore: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 169th overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 16; 2QB: ADP 38.

What the player markets price

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.

The market has DJ Moore at 2.4 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver'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 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.

Through Week 4, DJ Moore has been on the field for 51 percent of BUF snaps, drawn 18 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 9 of the offence's 31 third down targets, had 0 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 6 of its 22 two minute targets.

His 20 targets have averaged 15.2 air yards.

In Week 2 against DET he carried 1 time for -1 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against LAC he caught 6 of 10 targets for 67 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against NE he carried 1 time for 6 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 11 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 DJ Moore played 17 games and scored 170.2 PPR points, 10.0 a game, finishing WR35.

He caught 50 of 85 targets for 682 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets.

That came to 5.0 targets a game, a 59 percent catch rate and 13.6 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 85 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 DJ Moore 10.0, 2.7 a game between them.

Rico Dowdle finished RB18 and DJ Moore WR35, which are two different ladders.

Rico Dowdle is a running back and DJ Moore a wide receiver, 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 and DJ Moore in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.

Rico Dowdle is listed as questionable on the injury report.

DJ Moore is listed as questionable on the injury report.