Who Should I Start? Tony Pollard or Rico Dowdle

Wednesday, December 17, 9:35 AM

Tennessee Titans running back Tony Pollard has caught fire of late, running wild for 265 rushing yards and three touchdowns over the past two weeks, which has earned him back-to-back top 10 running back performances. After landing on most analysts' "sit" list for most of the season due to his lack of effectiveness and how bad the Titans' offense has been, Pollard is showing some life in the fantasy playoffs and should be back on the fantasy radar in Week 16. Unfortunately for Pollard and the Titans, they have a tough matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs, who allow the seventh fewest points to the running back position. That being said, Pollard should continue to see the volume he's seen over the past two weeks and project to see 10-15 carries, which keeps him in the RB3 conversations in Week 16. Backfield mate, Tyjae Spears, has been involved, playing about 50 percent of the snaps, but is not nearly seeing the amount of running back carries as Pollard has been getting, as most of Spears' production has been as a pass-catcher.

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.