Rico Dowdle or Sione Vaki: 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 215th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Sione Vaki: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 218th overall on the rest of his evidence.

What the player markets price

The market has Rico Dowdle at 2.6 PPR points a game off 1 market across 13 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 market has Sione Vaki at 2.3 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 15 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a running back's price needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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, Sione Vaki has been on the field for 23 percent of DET snaps, taken 9 percent of the carries, drawn 3 percent of the targets and had 2 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 36 third down targets, had 0 of its 13 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 20 two minute targets.

His 5 targets have averaged 1.6 air yards.

In Week 2 against BUF he carried 1 time for 7 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 13 yards and did not score.

In Week 3 against NYJ he carried 6 times for 26 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 11 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against CAR he carried 0 times for 0 yards, caught 1 of 2 targets for 17 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 Sione Vaki played 11 games and scored 0.4 PPR points, 0.0 a game, finishing RB143.

He carried 1 time for 4 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 0 of 0 targets for 0 more yards.

That came to 0.1 carries a game at 4.0 yards a carry.

He was on the field for 0 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Rico Dowdle was available for 6 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Rico Dowdle scored 12.7 PPR points a game and Sione Vaki 0.0, 12.7 a game between them.

Rico Dowdle finished RB18 that year and Sione Vaki RB143.

Rico Dowdle had 235 more carries than Sione Vaki, 236 to 1.

Rico Dowdle had 39 more catches than Sione Vaki, 39 to 0.

This season Rico Dowdle holds the bigger snap share, 42 percent against 23 percent.

This season Rico Dowdle holds the bigger share of the carries, 37 percent against 9 percent.

Byes and availability

Rico Dowdle is off in Week 9. No bye is listed for Sione Vaki.

Rico Dowdle is listed as questionable on the injury report.