Should I start Rico Dowdle or Mason Taylor in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rico Dowdle, and the board ranks him 138th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Mason Taylor, and the board ranks him 139th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Rico Dowdle is 2.2 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 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.

The market-based projection for Mason Taylor is 1.3 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a tight end's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Rico Dowdle'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 42 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, Mason Taylor has been on the field for 56 percent of NYJ snaps, drawn 10 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 3 of the offence's 31 third down targets, had 0 of its 5 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 19 two minute targets.

His 12 targets have averaged 6.2 air yards.

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

In Week 5 against CLE he caught 3 of 3 targets for 24 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against NE he caught 4 of 6 targets for 33 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 Mason Taylor played 13 games and scored 88.9 PPR points, 6.8 a game, finishing TE32.

He caught 44 of 65 targets for 369 yards and 1 touchdown, with 7 red zone targets.

That came to 5.0 targets a game, a 68 percent catch rate and 8.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 81 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 Mason Taylor 6.8, 5.9 a game between them.

Rico Dowdle finished RB18 and Mason Taylor TE32, which are two different ladders.

Rico Dowdle is a running back and Mason Taylor 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 and Mason Taylor in Week 13, so either can cover the other's bye.