Why you can't sit Rico Dowdle in fantasy even as Panthers return RB Chuba Hubbard

Billy Heyen

Why you can't sit Rico Dowdle in fantasy even as Panthers return RB Chuba Hubbard image

Fantasy football is a funny game.

No matter how much time we spend analyzing everything, weird stuff still happens, and it greatly impacts our moods every Sunday.

Sometimes, that means the analysis can be simplified. We can do all the reading of tea leaves that we want and still be wrong, so maybe sometimes, we should take a different approach.

Most of you probably have thought about a move in this way at some point: "Would it make me madder to start a guy and have him stink, or sit him and have him shine?"

Depending on the situation, your answer might change.

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Anyway, that brings us to the Carolina Panthers.

The Panthers have relied on Rico Dowdle the past two weeks, and he's had two of the best games of the NFL season.

This week, Carolina returns its previous starting running back, Chuba Hubbard, from injury. Everyone wants to know who's going to play more.

Panthers head coach Dave Canales has suggested he knows the answer but isn't going to tell us. He must be playing against Dowdle in fantasy this week and wants to play mind games with his opponent.

Here's the thing, though: You simply can't sit Dowdle.

Sure, he could bust. Players with much better pedigrees have bad weeks all the time.

But he has gone over 200 yards from scrimmage in each of the past two weeks. It's hard to believe the Panthers would slow him down too much.

Besides, you'd feel way worse sitting him only to see him have a week like the two he's just had. If you play him and he underperforms, sometimes that's just the cost of setting a lineup.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle