Justin Jefferson or Rico Dowdle: who should I start in Week 5?

Where the draft room stands

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

By format he goes standard: ADP 4; 2QB: ADP 16.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Rico Dowdle: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 173rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

What the player markets price

The market has Justin Jefferson at 2.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 13 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.

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.

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

This season so far

Through Week 3, Justin Jefferson has been on the field for 68 percent of MIN snaps, drawn 25 percent of the targets and had 21 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 8 of the offence's 30 third down targets, had 0 of its 2 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 6 two minute targets.

His 17 targets have averaged 11.1 air yards.

In Week 1 against GB he caught 8 of 9 targets for 92 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 2 against CHI he caught 3 of 6 targets for 55 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against TB he caught 2 of 2 targets for 32 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 Justin Jefferson played 17 games and scored 201.5 PPR points, 11.9 a game, finishing WR21.

He caught 84 of 141 targets for 1048 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 17 red zone targets.

That came to 8.3 targets a game, a 60 percent catch rate and 12.5 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 95 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 Justin Jefferson 11.9, 0.9 a game between them.

Justin Jefferson finished WR21 and Rico Dowdle RB18, which are two different ladders.

Justin Jefferson 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

Justin Jefferson is off in Week 6 and Rico Dowdle in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.

Justin Jefferson is listed as questionable on the injury report.

Rico Dowdle is listed as questionable on the injury report.