Fantasy Football Week 11 Start 'Em Sit 'Em: Breece Hall vs Rico Dowdle

Breece Hall and Rico Dowdle are both majority backs in their respective offenses. We prefer one over the other in Week 11.
Oct 19, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle (5) runs with the ball while being defended by New York Jets defensive lineman Micheal Clemons (72) in the third quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Oct 19, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle (5) runs with the ball while being defended by New York Jets defensive lineman Micheal Clemons (72) in the third quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

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Breece Hall and Rico Dowdle have both been ultra valuable in recent weeks. It is very likely that they have won you the week if you happen to roster either of them. It is also likely that either running back is not your RB1 and perhaps not even your RB2 — good on you if this is your case. They are both players on mediocre offenses and so they do command a start 'em, sit 'em conversation worth having.

The Case for Breece Hall

Fantasy Sports On SI Week 11 Ranking: RB19

Hall has had a solid season, but he has room for much more output. Hall has 138 Attempts, 664 Yards (4.8 Yards per Attempt), and 2 Touchdowns. He has added 22 Receptions, 220 Yards, and 1 Touchdown through the air. This makes him the RB12 in Fantasy Football.

The workload of Hall has been tremendous. He is creeping on 20 total touches per game. His weakness is that he only has three total touchdowns. This is all thanks to the struggling-at-times Jets offense. The good news is that Hall has very high-upside when all goes well, and it has been going well as the Jets are on a 2-game winning streak.

The Jets head to New England on the short week to face the Patriots on Thursday Night Football. This matchup is tough for Hall.

No team is better than the Patriots is run stopping as they allow 79.2 yards per game. They are the 2nd best team in run stopping win rate. The bread and butter of this Jets offense is their 4th ranked rushing offense, but it plans to be much offset on Thursday Night. The Jets imply to score just 15 points, or about 1.5 touchdowns.

The Case for Rico Dowdle

Fantasy Sports On SI Week 11 Ranking: RB6

Dowdle has become the majority running back in Carolina and he has played to a stellar level of football. Dowdle has 149 Attempts, 788 Yards (5.3 Yards per Attempt), and 5 Touchdowns. He is the RB9 in Fantasy Football. In the two weeks that Dowdle was named the true starter, he has 72% and 79% of snaps played.

Dowdle has also added 18 Receptions, 142 Yards, and 1 Touchdown to his receiving repertoire.

The Carolina Panthers identify as a run-heavy team where they pass the ball just 53% of the time, or 25th most in the league. This comes to 29.2 Attempts per Game, and Dowdle should have about 65-70% of those carries.

The Panthers will head to Atlanta to take on the Falcons this week. This is a favorable matchup for Dowdle.

The Falcons stand 1st in Passing Yards Allowed per Game and 29th in Rushing Yards Allowed per Game. They happen to be 10th in run blocking win rate. They are 7th in zone coverage rate. This tells me that they sit back and allow the little plays to happen. This was a trend with Jeff Ulbrich's Jets defense.

By all accounts, the Panthers should be just fine running the football. Dowdle very well can score in this game and for that reason, we would definitely give him the Week 11 start.

Start 'Em Sit 'Em: Breece Hall vs Rico Dowdle

Both players will work in similar shares of their offenses. We must outlook who has the better Week 11 matchup.

Above, we dissected both games. The Jets face one of the toughest run stops in the NFL while Dowdle faces one of the softer units. This becomes a no brainer to us. Dowdle is the guy.

Start Rico Dowdle for a more favorable Week 11 matchup.

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Thomas Carelli
THOMAS CARELLI

Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.