Who Should I Start? Rico Dowdle or Kendre Miller

Sunday, March 15, 2:14 PM

New Orleans Saints running back Kendre Miller was once viewed as a high-upside investment in fantasy football, but his value now continues to decline ahead of the 2026 season. Through the first few years of his career in New Orleans, Miller was held in check by injuries, coaching staff decisions, and the stardom of Alvin Kamara. To this point, he has never played more than eight games in a season. Finally, just as Kamara's career was starting to slow down and the Saints brought in a new coaching staff, it looked like things might be trending up for Miller. At first, they were; he had 65 yards and a touchdown against the Bills in Week 4 of the 2025 season. However, his upside came crashing down as he tore his ACL in Week 7 and was ruled out for the rest of the year. Now fighting his way back from injury once again, Miller faces a new challenge. The Saints made an enormous running back splash in free agency, signing Travis Etienne Jr. to a multi-year deal. The move signals that Etienne will be the clear lead back in New Orleans going forward, with Devin Neal stepping into the No. 2 ball-carrier role -- and that assumes that Kamara's time with the Saints is done. He's still under contract, so there's the potential for the Saints to carry Etienne, Kamara, and Neal into gameday, which could make Miller a healthy scratch. Regardless of whether he ends up as the third or fourth back in New Orleans next year, the bottom line is that Miller continues to trend in the wrong direction in fantasy football, especially as he still works through the components of his ACL recovery. He's droppable in many shallow and mid-depth dynasty formats.