FANTASY FOOTBALL NEWS

Rico Dowdle Leads Cowboys Backfield Again

By Jared Smola | Updated on Fri, 27 Sep 2024, 9:06 AM EDT

Cowboys RB Rico Dowdle carried 11 times for 46 yards in Thursday night's win over the Giants. Both marks led the team. Dowdle also caught his only target for a 15-yard TD, showing impressive burst to beat a couple of angles on his way to the end zone.

2024 Fantasy Football Impact

That TD salvaged what was an otherwise quiet outing from Dowdle. But there were encouraging takeaways from this one.

He averaged a respectable 4.2 yards per carry, making it three straight games with 4.0 yards per carry or better.

More importantly, Dowdle handled 11 of Dallas' 18 RB carries. Here's how his share of RB carries has evolved over the first four games:

Week 1 - 42%
Week 2 - 41%
Week 3 - 62%
Week 4 - 61%

Dowdle also notably got the Cowboys' only carry inside the 10-yard line vs. the Giants. Plus, he registered a season-high 43% route rate.

If he maintains this role, Dowdle should at least be a RB3 going forward. The biggest risk probably comes from RB Dalvin Cook, who will likely make his Cowboys debut soon. Cook, of course, is 29 now and was one of the least effective runners in the league last year.

We'd bet on Dowdle keeping the lead role for the rest of the season.

Jared Smola, Lead Analyst

Jared has been with Draft Sharks since 2007. He’s now Lead Analyst, heading up the preseason and weekly projections that fuel your Draft War Room and My Team tools. He currently ranks 1st among 133 analysts in draft rankings accuracy.