For a large majority of the season, Rico Dowdle was a guy that was an offseason winner. The Dallas Cowboys completely stayed away from the free agency pool; they didn't add anybody through the draft. And even to this day right now, a lot of people still consider him a winner because they brought in Ezekiel Elliott, who used to be in Dallas but may at this point be past his prime. As of right now, you have to figure that Dowdle will end up being the backup to Zeke. Dowdle last season, at times, was the backup to Tony Pollard.
So when you take a look at the fantasy numbers from last season, there's not really a whole lot to derive from those. Now, he did score a few touchdowns, and those were really the only games that gave him fantasy viable performances—two on the ground and two in the air. In all four of those games that he scored a touchdown, he saw a finish at RB26 or higher. If he didn't score a touchdown, though, he didn't give you any type of numbers that typically ended up being fantasy-relevant.
For me, Rico Dowdle isn't a guy that has a lot of underlying stats that hint towards any type of a breakout. It's really going to be about whether or not he beats out Zeke Elliott for the starting job, sees enough time splitting with Zeke Elliott, or if Ezekiel Elliott goes down. And because there are so many "what ifs" in that scenario right there, really, Dowdle is not a draft candidate for me.
Now, add him to your waiver watch list. Keep an eye on the news, and if we hear anything maybe in training camp about him taking the starting job, then maybe we try to pluck him up a little bit later. But really, Dowdle is going to suffice this season as being a fill-in if Zeke Elliott goes down. I really don't see a whole lot more than him being a waiver claim that ends up dropping when Zeke Elliott comes back.
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