Should I start Michael Mayer or Rico Dowdle in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Michael Mayer, and the board ranks him 150th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rico Dowdle, and the board ranks him 151st overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Michael Mayer is 1.7 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.

The market-based projection for Rico Dowdle is 1.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Michael Mayer's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Michael Mayer has been on the field for 81 percent of LV snaps, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 7 of the offence's 71 third down targets, had 1 of its 15 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 43 two minute targets.

His 37 targets have averaged 4.9 air yards.

In Week 5 against NE he caught 1 of 1 target for 2 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against BUF he caught 7 of 9 targets for 95 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against LAR he caught 3 of 3 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

Through Week 7, Rico Dowdle has been on the field for 38 percent of PIT snaps, taken 34 percent of the carries, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 25 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 36 third down targets, had 0 of its 5 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 24 two minute targets.

His 17 targets have come 0.6 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

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.

In Week 7 against NO he carried 9 times for 41 yards, caught 6 of 6 targets for 45 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Michael Mayer played 13 games and scored 73.8 PPR points, 5.7 a game, finishing TE38.

He caught 35 of 50 targets for 328 yards and 1 touchdown, with 6 red zone targets.

That came to 3.8 targets a game, a 70 percent catch rate and 9.4 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 57 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 Michael Mayer 5.7, 7.0 a game between them.

Michael Mayer finished TE38 and Rico Dowdle RB18, which are two different ladders.

Michael Mayer is a tight end 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

Michael Mayer is off in Week 13 and Rico Dowdle in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.