Tony Pollard or Rico Dowdle: who should I start in Week 6?

Where the draft room stands

Drafters have formed no consensus on Tony Pollard: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 101st overall on the rest of his evidence.

Drafters have formed no consensus on Rico Dowdle: he carries no ADP, and the board ranks him 103rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

What the player markets price

The market has Tony Pollard at 2.5 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 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 Rico Dowdle at 2.3 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's price needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Tony Pollard's price is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 5, Tony Pollard has been on the field for 52 percent of TEN snaps, taken 63 percent of the carries, drawn 8 percent of the targets and had 42 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 40 third down targets, had 6 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 29 two minute targets.

His 12 targets have averaged 2.2 air yards.

In Week 3 against NYG he carried 17 times for 74 yards, caught 4 of 4 targets for 22 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against BAL he carried 16 times for 48 yards, caught 2 of 4 targets for 2 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 5 against HOU he carried 14 times for 52 yards, caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Tony Pollard played 17 games and scored 185.8 PPR points, 10.9 a game, finishing RB23.

He carried 242 times for 1082 yards and 5 touchdowns, and caught 33 of 41 targets for 206 more yards.

That came to 14.2 carries a game at 4.5 yards a carry and 1.9 catches a game.

He was on the field for 62 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.

Both were available for 17 games that season.

Head to head

In 2025 Rico Dowdle scored 12.7 PPR points a game and Tony Pollard 10.9, 1.8 a game between them.

Tony Pollard finished RB23 that year and Rico Dowdle RB18.

Tony Pollard had 6 more carries than Rico Dowdle, 242 to 236.

Rico Dowdle had 6 more catches than Tony Pollard, 39 to 33.

This season Tony Pollard holds the bigger snap share, 52 percent against 42 percent.

This season Tony Pollard holds the bigger share of the carries, 63 percent against 37 percent.

Byes and availability

Both are off in Week 9, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.

Rico Dowdle is listed as out on the injury report.