Rico Dowdle · Tony Pollard · 2026 week 9

Rico Dowdle or Tony Pollard?

Wondering who you should start this week — Rico Dowdle or Tony Pollard? The start/sit call and the numbers behind it are below, plus who wins a straight-up trade. Rebuilt nightly.

Start Rico Dowdle — barelyThis one is a coin flip — the projections are within 0.6 points. The matchup leans Rico Dowdle (CIN allow the 21st-most RB points), but you can defend either call.

Player	Wk 9	Proj (PPR)	Matchup	Form L3	Trade value	Status
Rico Dowdle START	@ CIN	9.5	21st	11.4	832	healthy
Tony Pollard	vs JAX	8.9	32nd · tough	24.3	2,185	healthy

RBs vs CIN recently: Ollie Gordon II 14.8 pts (W5) · Derrick Henry 4.9 pts (W7) · Tony Pollard 25.7 pts (W8).

RBs vs JAX recently: Will Shipley 7.3 pts (W5) · Jawhar Jordan 11 pts (W6) · DJ Giddens 4.3 pts (W8).

🎓 The coach's read

Projections are 0.6 apart — too close to call on projection alone.
Rico Dowdle faces CIN, 21st most generous to RBs.
Tony Pollard faces JAX, 32nd most generous to RBs.

Who wins a straight-up trade?

Tony Pollard carries the higher trade value — 2,185 against 832 (a 62% gap). In a one-for-one, the side receiving Tony Pollard gets the most. Momentum: Rico Dowdle +267 and Tony Pollard +905 over the last 30 days.

Open in Start/Sit (any scoring) Open in the Trade Analyzer

More RB decisions

Rico Dowdle or Jadarian Price?Rico Dowdle or Aaron Jones Sr.?Rico Dowdle or Zach Charbonnet?Tony Pollard or Josh Jacobs?Tony Pollard or Saquon Barkley?Tony Pollard or Breece Hall?

All numbers are the 2026 season, refreshed nightly.