Running backs remain king in fantasy football. While it feels like there are more elite quarterbacks and wide receivers than ever before, the amount of consistent, dependable running backs is dwindling. This makes it all the more important to find value at running back in fantasy football. In order to help you do that, I will be taking a look at a few backfields each week that stick out based on recent trends or new information we learned.
Week 10 saw a mixed bag of running back situations around the NFL. There were a few rookies who started to earn more work, some running backs who re-established themselves after battling injuries and a veteran who held off calls for a shared workload.
Without further ado, let’s get into my top backfield takeaways for this week.
Denver Broncos
I am pleasantly surprised. After claiming that Audric Estimé would get more work for the Broncos last week, Sean Payton actually backed it up. Estimé led the Broncos in touches by far against the Chiefs, with 14 carries to Jaleel McLaughlin’s two and Javonte Williams’ one. Estimé also played a season-high 26 snaps, which was more than Williams and McLaughlin combined. This was a bit of a strange situation because McLaughlin started the game for the Broncos and Williams was used on the team’s first drive as well, but Estimé saw essentially all the work after ripping off two explosive runs late in the first quarter. This indicates that the Broncos might ride with the hot hand on a weekly basis based on who looks the best early on, but even so, I think that bodes well for Estimé.
Estimé should be this week’s top waiver priority even if his usage isn’t a shift for good. It is extremely rare to find the RB1 on a team this late in the season without an injury, which makes Estimé a massive potential value if he continues to see this type of volume. His lack of involvement in the passing game does limit his ceiling a little bit, but I’d still be comfortable spending 15-20% of my FAAB budget on him, as he could become a solid RB2 for your team.
Meanwhile, I would avoid starting Williams in the next few weeks as he very well might be the team’s second or even third running back for the rest of the season, and the Broncos offense isn’t nearly productive enough to support multiple fantasy-relevant backs.
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Los Angeles Chargers
Gus Edwards made his return from a five-week stint on injured reserve and had a fairly productive day. He ran for 55 yards on 10 carries, getting back to his usual impressive yard-per-carry marks after a slow start to the year. Neither Edwards nor J.K. Dobbins had a particularly noteworthy fantasy day, mostly because third-string running back Hassan Haskins vultured a one-yard touchdown. Unfortunately, it looks like fantasy darling Kimani Vidal has been cast to the side with Edwards back; Vidal was a healthy scratch this week.
Moving forward, I’ll be keeping a close eye on the Chargers’ goal-line-carry distribution specifically. If Edwards, who was excellent as a “closer” last year, starts to eat into Dobbins’ short-yardage work, it would create quite a confusing fantasy situation. Although Jim Harbaugh has made a point to label the Chargers as a run-first team, they have quietly been one of the pass-heaviest offenses over the last few weeks, ranking third in neutral down pass rate since Week 5.
I’m not certain that both Dobbins and Edwards can coexist as reliable fantasy assets. For now, I’d continue to start Dobbins as he has a more established body of work this year, but I also think he is a sell-high trade candidate because of Edwards’ looming usage. Edwards is definitely worth an add off waivers this week.
Pittsburgh Steelers
After being hampered by a knee injury to start the season, it looks like Jaylen Warren is finally healthy and getting more involved in the Steelers offense. Warren saw a season-high 14 carries on Sunday, which he turned into a respectable 66 yards. He added two catches for 29 yards through the air. Warren has averaged about 14 touches a game over the last three weeks, which feels like a stable number that we can expect him to hit for the rest of the year.
Warren’s fantasy value obviously has a hard-capped ceiling because Najee Harris is still indisputably the RB1 in Pittsburgh. Harris ranks eighth in the NFL in carries and has received almost all of the goal-line touches, and you can continue to depend on him as an RB2. However, I think Warren is relevant in fantasy as a depth piece/fringe FLEX starter, as he is one of the more efficient running backs in the NFL and should benefit from the overall raised ceiling of the Steelers offense with Russell Wilson under center. Warren might have been dropped to your waiver wire by a frustrated manager (he is rostered in just 51% of Yahoo leagues), so be on the lookout for him.
Arizona Cardinals
Trey Benson had another promising performance for the Cardinals, running 10 times for 62 yards. He was more effective than James Conner on the ground, with 29 more yards on 2 fewer carries. Conner still doesn’t seem to be in any danger of losing his role as the starter, as he received all of the goal-line work and had a productive day as a receiver.
With that being said, Benson has flashed in back-to-back games, and I expect him to keep slowly chipping away at Conner’s workload after the Cardinals’ bye week. You can continue to treat Conner as a weekly top-15 play for the time being, but Benson’s impressive play should not go unnoticed.
Buffalo Bills
I hyped up Ray Davis a lot last week, but that may have been a bit premature. Davis was scarcely involved in the Bills offense in their win against the Colts, with just three carries for six yards. I was optimistic that Davis might get some work late as the Bills were up by two scores for the whole fourth quarter, but he ended up playing just 11 total snaps. James Cook, on the other hand, was quite productive, and he currently ranks as the RB8 in fantasy football.
The Bills have a difficult schedule coming up, playing the Chiefs, 49ers, Rams and Lions in the next five weeks. So, I doubt they will be in game scripts that allow Davis to get too involved, meaning he is probably just a bench stash in fantasy football for the rest of the year.