Start Saquon Barkley. Barkley is projected for 11.4 PPR points vs 9.0 for Rico Dowdle, and faces the 7th-toughest defense against RBs this week.
Updated Oct 30, 7:29 AM ET
| Saquon Barkley RB · PHI | Rico Dowdle RB · PIT | |
|---|---|---|
| Projection (Week 8, avg of sources) | 11.4 | 9.0 |
| Floor (lowest source) | 1.0 | 8.5 |
| Ceiling (highest source) | 16.6 | 9.5 |
| StatChasers projection | 16.6 (RB10) | 8.8 (RB30) |
| Opponent | vs WAS | vs CLE |
| Opponent vs. position | 7th-toughest (19.0 pts/g allowed) | 8th-toughest (19.4 pts/g allowed) |
| Recent usage | 34% carry share (last 3) | 31% carry share (last 3) |
| Position | RB | RB |
| Our call | START · Strong RB1 | FLEX · Flex |
Settle every start/sit call with projections, matchup, recent usage and floor-versus-ceiling for your exact scoring settings.
Start Saquon Barkley. Barkley projects for 11.4 PPR points vs WAS, against 9.0 for Rico Dowdle vs CLE: a 2.4-point edge.
The projection is the average of every source that carries each player this week, and a player listed Out or Doubtful is never the start.
Saquon Barkley is projected to score more: 11.4 PPR points to 9.0 for Rico Dowdle.
The sources range from 1.0 to 16.6 for Barkley and from 8.5 to 9.5 for Dowdle. The ranges overlap, so Dowdle outscoring Barkley is a realistic result.
Rico Dowdle is the safer start: even the most cautious projection source has Dowdle at 8.5 PPR points, against 1.0 for Saquon Barkley.
Start the higher floor when you are favored and only need to avoid a dud.
Saquon Barkley has the higher ceiling: the most optimistic projection source has Barkley at 16.6 PPR points, against 9.5 for Rico Dowdle.
Start the higher ceiling when you are the underdog and need points more than safety.
Saquon Barkley plays WAS and Rico Dowdle plays CLE in Week 8.
By fantasy points allowed to each position, Barkley faces the 7th-toughest defense against RBs and Dowdle faces the 8th-toughest defense against RBs, so Rico Dowdle has the softer matchup.
Each projection already accounts for the opponent, so a soft matchup is a tiebreaker, not a reason to bench the higher projection.
Over his recent games Saquon Barkley has drawn 34% of his team's carries, and Rico Dowdle 31% of his team's carries.
Saquon Barkley has the bigger role, and volume is the steadiest thing a projection rests on.
These numbers are in PPR. Full PPR adds a point per catch, so it helps whichever player sees more targets.
Switch between PPR, Half PPR and Standard on the board above to rescore both players from the same sources.
Neither Saquon Barkley nor Rico Dowdle has an injury designation for Week 8.
Designations change through the week, so check again before kickoff; this page updates with each refresh.
Each figure is the average of the projection sources that carry the player this week: StatChasers, Sleeper, ESPN, numberFire, FFToday and the betting markets (sportsbook player props). Saquon Barkley is projected by 6 of them and Rico Dowdle by 6.
A source with no number for a player is left out of the average rather than counted as a zero.