Who Should I Start? Rico Dowdle or Jordan Mason

Monday, March 18, 6:29 PM

The Dallas Cowboys are re-signing running back Rico Dowdle to an undisclosed deal on Monday. With Tony Pollard moving to the Jacksonville Jaguars in free agency, Dowdle is now No. 1 on the Cowboys' RB depth chart, for now. The 25-year-old former undrafted free agent out of South Carolina entered the league in 2020 with the Cowboys and has just 96 carries for 385 yards and two rushing touchdowns in his three NFL seasons, adding 17 receptions (22 targets) for 144 yards and two more touchdowns through the air. Eighty nine of his career carries came in 2023, when he rushed for 361 yards and two TDs in 16 regular-season contests. Depending on what Dallas does at the position in the upcoming NFL draft, Dowdle could see a substantial role increase in his fourth NFL campaign.

Monday, January 8, 1:46 PM

San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason had the opportunity for a big workload in a Week 18 regular season finale against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in a game in which the Niners were resting plenty of players with a first-round bye in the playoffs already locked up. However, Elijah Mitchell led the team with 14 carries for 52 yards and a touchdown, while Mason had only six rushing attempts and gained 36 yards on the ground. He added one catch for a 12-yard pickup. Mason wraps up his second regular season in the NFL with 40 rushing attempts for 206 yards and three touchdowns in 17 games, adding three receptions for 31 yards. The 24-year-old mostly played special teams in 2023 while serving as the No. 3 behind Christian McCaffrey and Mitchell, which will likely continue when the team resumes play in the Divisional Round in two weeks.