Who Should I Start? Rico Dowdle or Tyler Allgeier

Monday, December 15, 1:15 PM

Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle rushed for 49 yards on 16 carries with one touchdown in Carolina's Week 15 loss to New Orleans on Sunday. He added five receiving yards on one reception and totaled 12.4 PPR points. Dowdle outperformed Chuba Hubbard, who registered 38 scrimmage yards and 4.8 PPR points. Despite the workload being mostly split between the two RBs, Dowdle logged the most snaps (60%). In Week 16, the Panthers will face their NFC South rival, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa Bay ranked 16th in fantasy points per game allowed to the RB position in the last four weeks leading up to Week 15. Even though Dowdle has a middling matchup this week, he is still worth starting as an RB2 or flex option based on his volume. In his last five games, he has fewer than 16 carries once, and he averaged 15.4 carries per game.

Wednesday, December 10, 9:14 PM

Atlanta Falcons running back Tyler Allgeier tallied double-digit carries in Week 14's 37-9 loss to the Seahawks, rushing 11 times for 34 scoreless yards (3.1 YPC), but managed to salvage his fantasy day by recording two catches for 33 yards. His work in the passing game, albeit small, is an interesting revelation, as the BYU product recorded just one game out of nine played with Michael Penix Jr. (knee) in which he tallied two receptions, however, he's done so in three of four games with Kirk Cousins at the helm. If nothing else, it increases his fantasy floor and could make him a more viable flex option going forward. The 25-year-old, with eight touchdowns already this year, will take on a Buccaneers defense that has yielded the 13th-most fantasy points to opposing running backs this season. Although he's firmly behind Bijan Robinson in the backfield pecking order, he continues to get red zone opportunities (four each last week) and should be a priority handcuff for Robinson managers. The fourth-year pro projects as an RB4/Flex play for Thursday Night Football, and could even see a small uptick in usage given the short turnaround from Sunday, as Robinson had less time than normal to recover.