Rico Dowdle or Drew Sample: 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 218th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Drew Sample: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 221st overall on the rest of his evidence.

What the player markets price

The market has Rico Dowdle at 2.5 PPR points a game off 1 market across 13 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 player markets price Drew Sample at 2.2 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 14 market sources. That is the 198th highest figure of the 216 players the market prices.

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, Drew Sample has been on the field for 49 percent of CIN snaps, drawn 3 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 37 third down targets, had 0 of its 8 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 31 two minute targets.

His 5 targets have averaged 0.6 air yards.

In Week 2 against HOU he was not given the ball.

In Week 3 against PIT he caught 1 of 2 targets for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against JAX he was not given the ball.

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 Drew Sample played 17 games and scored 31.9 PPR points, 1.9 a game, finishing TE64.

He caught 15 of 20 targets for 106 yards and 1 touchdown, with 1 red zone target.

That came to 1.2 targets a game, a 75 percent catch rate and 7.1 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 52 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 Drew Sample 1.9, 10.8 a game between them.

Rico Dowdle finished RB18 and Drew Sample TE64, which are two different ladders.

Rico Dowdle is a running back and Drew Sample a tight end, 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 Drew Sample.

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.