Estimated Reading Time: 27 minutes
I asked fantasy managers on the PFF Discord and Bluesky which players they are least sure about this week, and I compiled that list and ranked them against one another. If you have multiple players mentioned, you should start with the player ranked highest. At the bottom of each position, you’ll find players to start in place of the featured players and those to sit in favor of them.\
If a player isn’t mentioned, that means they are very close to those with blurbs, and factors such as injuries on the opposing defenses or weather could influence the rankings. Situations involving injuries are also generally avoided because things typically don’t become clearer until closer to kickoff. As always, check the weekly PFF fantasy rankings for the most up-to-date information to help you make all start-sit decisions.
RUNNING BACKS
1. Rico Dowdle, Carolina Panthers
Dowdle recorded more rushing yards than Chuba Hubbard in Week 8, as well as a higher yards-per-carry average, despite being the backup for a second straight week.
Carolina started the season with Hubbard as its early-down back, while Dowdle was the receiving back and primary backup on early downs. Hubbard missed two weeks due to injury, and in that time, Dowdle ran 53 times for 389 yards and a touchdown while catching seven passes for 84 yards and a score. That led Carolina to use a rotation by drive in Hubbard’s first game back last week. Hubbard played the first drive, Dowdle played the second and so on. The only exceptions were on longer drives when the offense wanted to give a break to one of the running backs.
This past week, it was the same story. There was only one drive where both running backs saw the field. With the game out of reach in the fourth quarter, rookie Trevor Etienne took the 11th drive of the game. The only difference this week was that Hubbard happened to be on the field for longer drives. One of Dowdle’s five drives consisted of quarterback Andy Dalton losing a fumble on a sack on the first play, while another two drives were three-and-outs. This meant there were only two drives where Dowdle was on the field for more than three plays, compared to Hubbard’s four longer drives.
Luckily, head coach Dave Canales has acknowledged how well Dowdle has been playing, suggesting he will garner a larger percentage of the workload going forward.
The Panthers have a rough matchup this week against the Green Bay Packers, who rank third in preventing fantasy points to running backs. The Packers are usually winning games, so teams don’t run as much against them, and they are in the top quarter of the league in both PFF run-defense grade and yards per attempt allowed.
Dowdle could be a low-end RB1 or high-end RB2 in a neutral game, given his recent excellent play and Canales’ remarks. But because of the difficult matchup, he’s more of a low-end RB2, ahead of other lead running backs who are also in a two-man backfield and haven’t been playing as well.
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