Rico Dowdle rumbled for 79 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries against the lowly Giants. Does that indicate a changing of the guard in the Dallas Cowboys‘ backfield? Should fantasy football managers add Dowdle off the waiver wire?
Should Rico Dowdle Be a Fantasy Waiver Wire Add in Week 11
The Cowboys signed Dowdle as an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina in 2020, and he was immediately buried behind Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard. Many in the fantasy community thought that Zeke’s departure to New England would mean Dowdle would be promoted to the No. 2 back in Dallas over Malik Davis and the newly drafted Duece Vaughn, and we were correct.
The debate was whether the No. 2 spot with Dowdle had the same fantasy value as when Pollard was the backup to Zeke. So far, that has not been the case except in dramatic circumstances.
Dowdle showed he has juice against the Tommy DeVito-led Giants, and I do feel if he were the lead back, he would be helpful. However, he is not the lead back this year, and the Cowboys don’t play the Giants every week. Virtually no one benefited from this performance, as we had him ranked as the No. 46 running back.
With this past week included, Dowdle has a 23.75% rushing share and is being out-carried 2.05-to-1 by Pollard over the last three games. Those stats aren’t great, and somehow, they are still deceiving.
If we take out this past week’s outlier game vs. the Giants, where the game was over early, and the Cowboys ran out bench players for most of the game, the stats are even less impressive. Without this week, Dowdle has a 15.6% rush share and is being out-carried by 3.42-to-1 by Pollard.
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This week’s performance can change your opinion of Dowdle’s talent, but please don’t let it change your view of the hierarchy in the Cowboys’ backfield.
Dowdle has averaged 3.5 carries of 13 yards and one catch for 3.5 yards in the past two non-Giants games, and I don’t see any reason that will change unless Pollard goes down with an injury.
I would not pick up Dowdle if you think he will be your savior this week. I would not pick up Dowdle as an RB3 or Flex play. I would pick up Dowdle as an end-of-the-bench stash in case Pollard gets hurt and you have an expendable roster spot.
The Cowboys have a decent fantasy playoff schedule, with two of the three teams they face being in the bottom half of the league against running backs in fantasy. Unfortunately, if you can make it to the fantasy championship, they will face the top-10 ranked Detroit Lions.
This is the time of the season when we look for title-winning upside, and I like to fill my bench with those types of players. With byes ending soon, our bench should realistically just be potential starters.
We can all remember the fantasy championships won by backup running backs turned starters such as Ron Dayne, Hassan Haskins, Larry Johnson, Kevan Barlow, Jerome Harrison, and Tim Hightower. This happens more often than we realize, so why not fill our bench spots with backs with that type of upside?
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