Rico Dowdle or Seth McGowan: 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 221st overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Seth McGowan: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 228th overall on the rest of his evidence.

What the player markets price

The market has Rico Dowdle at 2.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 5 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 Seth McGowan at 2.2 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 16 market sources. That is the 187th highest figure of the 214 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, Seth McGowan has been on the field for 16 percent of IND snaps, taken 11 percent of the carries, drawn 2 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 30 third down targets, had 0 of its 9 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 16 two minute targets.

His 3 targets have averaged 1.0 air yards.

In Week 2 against KC he carried 2 times for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against HOU he carried 4 times for 14 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against WAS he carried 6 times for 31 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 7 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.

Seth McGowan is a rookie, so there is no NFL season behind him to price him against.

Head to head

This season Rico Dowdle holds the bigger snap share, 42 percent against 16 percent.

This season Rico Dowdle holds the bigger share of the carries, 37 percent against 11 percent.

Byes and availability

Rico Dowdle is off in Week 9. No bye is listed for Seth McGowan.

Rico Dowdle is listed as out 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.