Should I start Rico Dowdle or Ray Davis in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

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

Live drafts hold no current pick on Ray Davis, and the board ranks him 144th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Rico Dowdle is 1.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 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 Ray Davis is 1.6 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 12 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a running back'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 so far

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.

Through Week 6, Ray Davis has been on the field for 11 percent of BUF snaps, taken 3 percent of the carries, drawn 2 percent of the targets and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 0 of the offence's 42 third down targets, had 0 of its 19 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 25 two minute targets.

His 3 targets have come 4.0 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 4 against NE he carried 1 time for 3 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 4 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against LAR he carried 2 times for 2 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 31 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against LV he carried 1 time for 4 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 5 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 Ray Davis played 17 games and scored 64.1 PPR points, 3.8 a game, finishing RB61.

He carried 58 times for 275 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 10 of 13 targets for 86 more yards.

That came to 3.4 carries a game at 4.7 yards a carry and 0.6 catches a game.

He was on the field for 11 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Head to head

In 2025 Rico Dowdle scored 12.7 PPR points a game and Ray Davis 3.8, 9.0 a game between them.

Rico Dowdle finished RB18 that year and Ray Davis RB61.

Rico Dowdle had 178 more carries than Ray Davis, 236 to 58.

Rico Dowdle had 29 more catches than Ray Davis, 39 to 10.

This season Rico Dowdle holds the bigger snap share, 38 percent against 11 percent.

This season Rico Dowdle holds the bigger share of the carries, 34 percent against 3 percent.

Byes and availability

Rico Dowdle is off in Week 9 and Ray Davis in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.