Rico Dowdle start or sit: Week 5 fantasy football advice

The 1-3 Carolina Panthers host the 1-3 Miami Dolphins as 1.5-point home dogs on Sunday. This game has a lowish 44.5 over/under as the two teams try not to start the season 1-4. The Dolphins lost their top wide receiver, Tyreek Hill, for the season with a knee injury, while the Panthers will be without their starting running back Chuba Hubbard this week.

Those injuries will push others to step up in the offense. For the Panthers, they’ll need Rico Dowdle to step up as the lead back. Below, we’ll go over Rico Dowdle’s outlook in fantasy football for Week 5.

Dowdlw has never been a difference maker in an offense, but he was able to handle a big workload in Dallas as their lead back last season. He ended up rushing 235 times for 1,079 yards and just two touchdowns, while catching 39-of-49 targets for 249 yards and three touchdowns. These numbers also came without Dak Prescott for over half the season.

So far with the Panthers he’s had 33 touches through four games. His efficiency hasn’t been great, but the team has seen him as someone they want cutting into Hubbard’s touches. His backup will be Trevor Etienne this week, who has barely been on the field. Dowdle’s ability in the receiving game should keep him on the field quite a bit this week.

And the good news is that the Dolphins defense is not good. So far they rank eighth-worst in DVOA against the run and fourth-worst in DVOA against receiving running backs. They’ve managed to only allow one rushing touchdown, as teams are scoring well against them through the air. But, there’s no doubt their defense can be beaten either way.

Start. Dowdle is a must start this week in all formats.

Start.