Who Should I Start? Rico Dowdle or Ray Davis

Sunday, October 5, 4:55 PM

Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle carried the ball 23 times for 206 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown during Sunday's Week 5 win over the Miami Dolphins. He also caught three of four targets for an additional 28 receiving yards. Dowdle filled in for the injured Chuba Hubbard (calf) and turned in one of the best individual fantasy performances we've seen through five weeks this season. He proved to be a terrific waiver wire addition for many fantasy managers who inserted him into their lineups on Sunday. Even if Hubbard returns next week, Dowdle has done more than enough to carve out a significant role on offense. He's worth deploying as an RB3/flex with RB2 upside going forward, including next week in a revenge game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Thursday, September 25, 10:51 AM

Buffalo Bills running back Ray Davis has opened the season as the team's RB3. Through three games, he has logged just 10 carries for 26 yards, with most of that work coming in the Bills' blowout win over the New York Jets when the backups entered late. James Cook has been outstanding as the lead back, but the bigger issue for Davis is that veteran Ty Johnson has seized the RB2 role. Johnson has played 28% of the team's snaps compared to Davis's 15%, leaving the rookie buried on the depth chart. At this point, Davis's only path to fantasy relevance would be an injury to Cook, and even then, it's unclear if he would handle the majority of touches. He's safe to drop in most fantasy formats.