Start Rico Dowdle or Roschon Johnson? Week 8

Our Week 8 call

Start Rico Dowdle over Roschon Johnson in Week 8.

Market-based projections have Rico Dowdle at 6.9 points and Roschon Johnson at 5.4, a gap of 1.5. No player market is posted for Rico Dowdle this week yet, so his 6.9 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 5, 6 and 7 (8.4, 5.6 and 6.7); the call is rebuilt when his market posts. No player market is posted for Roschon Johnson this week yet, so his 5.4 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 5, 6 and 7 (3.9, 5.5 and 6.8); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

No Week 8 player market is posted for Rico Dowdle yet. His market-based projections were 8.4, 5.6 and 6.7 points in Weeks 5, 6 and 7, an average of 6.9, which stands in until his Week 8 market posts.

No Week 8 player market is posted for Roschon Johnson yet. His market-based projections were 3.9, 5.5 and 6.8 points in Weeks 5, 6 and 7, an average of 5.4, which stands in until his Week 8 market posts.

That puts Rico Dowdle 1.5 points ahead of Roschon Johnson on these projections.

Week 8 matchups

Rico Dowdle and PIT host CLE on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CLE allowed 19.4 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 7 games, the 8th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 104 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against CLE and caught passes for 20 more yards.

Roschon Johnson and CHI visit SEA on Monday at 8:15 PM ET.

SEA allowed 20.9 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 7 games, the 15th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 71 yards and 0.6 touchdowns a game against SEA and caught passes for 32 more yards.

By points allowed to the position, Roschon Johnson has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Rico Dowdle is not on the injury report.

Roschon Johnson is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 8

Through Week 7, Rico Dowdle played 38 percent of PIT snaps, took 34 percent of the carries, drew 12 percent of the targets and had 25 percent of the red zone chances.

Rico Dowdle, Week 1 against ATL: 39 of 67 snaps, 8 carries for 15 yards, 5 targets and 2 catches for 6 yards.

Rico Dowdle, Week 2 against NE: 18 of 70 snaps, 7 carries for 22 yards, 2 targets and 2 catches for 22 yards.

Rico Dowdle, Week 6 against TB: 21 of 79 snaps, 7 carries for 40 yards, 4 targets and 3 catches for 9 yards.

Rico Dowdle, Week 7 against NO: 28 of 64 snaps, 9 carries for 41 yards, 6 targets and 6 catches for 45 yards.

Through Week 7, Roschon Johnson played 21 percent of CHI snaps, took 14 percent of the carries, drew 6 percent of the targets and had 14 percent of the red zone chances.

Roschon Johnson, Week 4 against NYJ: 10 of 93 snaps, 4 carries for 16 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 7 yards.

Roschon Johnson, Week 5 against GB: 27 of 69 snaps, 5 carries for 6 yards, 7 targets and 5 catches for 34 yards.

Roschon Johnson, Week 6 against ATL: 31 of 77 snaps, 13 carries for 51 yards, 2 targets and 2 catches for 22 yards, 1 touchdown.

Roschon Johnson, Week 7 against NE: 10 of 69 snaps, 2 carries for 13 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Rico Dowdle played 17 games for CAR and scored 216.3 PPR points, 12.7 a game, finishing RB18.

He ran 236 times for 1076 yards and 6 touchdowns, and caught 39 of 50 targets for 297 yards.

He was on the field for 56 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Roschon Johnson played 7 games for CHI and scored 1.7 PPR points, 0.2 a game, finishing RB134.

He ran 2 times for 17 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 0 of 0 targets for 0 yards.

He was on the field for 1 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 8 calls

• Start Rico Dowdle over Blake Corum.
• Start Rico Dowdle over Dameon Pierce.
• Start Rico Dowdle over George Holani.
• Start Roschon Johnson over Chris Rodriguez Jr..
• Start Roschon Johnson over Corey Kiner.
• Start Dameon Pierce over Roschon Johnson.