Welcome in to the Week 3 Edition of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to RB! This is the place where we talk all things running back streaming. Each week we discuss running back usage, matchups, and waiver opportunities to convert the least amount of capital into a playable running back position on your fantasy teams.
When the Chiefs reached the Chargers’ nine-yard line in the 2nd quarter Thursday, Mahomes threw to McKinnon for a score. In the 3rd quarter, down by three points and at Los Angeles’ 3-yard line, the Chiefs went McKinnon-pass-pass. When that didn’t work, they kicked a field goal rather than try again from the one yard line. A single, late 52-yard 4th quarter run boosted an otherwise muted performance. There are just too many options in Kansas City, and the Chiefs don’t seem to want to commit to Clyde.
Week 3 is now on the horizon, and we need to keep improving our rosters. Hopefully, your team is 2-0 or even 1-1, but an 0-2 start in fantasy football is not a death sentence. We have some players we drafted with confidence that we cannot use (hello, Chicago pass catchers), and once again, we need to pivot off of injuries (Trey Lance and James Conner).
There are some apparent additions for leagues with fewer roster spots (Garrett Wilson- time to make it rain) and some options for those in deeper formats.
The worst part of our beloved game is the frequency of injuries. It’s an unfortunate byproduct of such a fast-paced, contact-heavy sport. It’s something that is important to remember as we approach the first full week of the preseason. Luckily for the NFL players, they have access to some of the best doctors in the world and can usually return to form at least by the next season. Unfortunately for us fantasy players, it’s not always easy to know when a player will get hurt. To another degree, sometimes your roster isn’t big enough to plan ahead for an injury. This series, the Infirmary Report, will give you advice on the injuries that have happened every week during the season. Without further ado, here are the injuries from the second week of regular season action.
First, I love the over on this game. Second, I like the Commanders and think they win outright with Detroit’s rash of injuries that includes star running back D’Andre Swift and offensive line anchors Frank Ragnow and Taylor Decker. Keep an eye on their status as the week goes on but their activity at practice hasn’t been promising.
We are through a week, plus a Thursday Night Football, of the fantasy season. Play-by-play data for this season’s games are starting to pour in and get uploaded to PlayerProfiler.com. It’s time to continue our series of weekly player prop pick ‘em selections based on new knowledge. In these articles, I review selections from the previous week. I give out my favorite player prop pick ‘ems for the upcoming weekend on the DFS pages of Underdog Fantasy and Sleeper.
Jaylen Waddle finished inside the top-20 last week thanks to a touchdown, but his opportunity metrics are concerning. His Target Share ranks No. 40 among wide receivers and his Slot Rate plummeted from 43.8-percent last season to 17.5-percent in Week 1. Rashod Bateman’s opportunity metrics from Week 1 show that inconsistent performances will occur. He was outside the top-50 in targets, Snap Share, and Route Participation.
Marvin Jones is top-20 in Air Yards and Routes Run. On top of that, he’s top-10 in Average Target Distance, Unrealized Air Yards, and Deep Targets. Jakobi Meyers saw a 92.5-percent (No. 16) Snap Share, 20.0-percent (No. 32) Target Share, and 32.7-percent (No. 23) Air Yards Share. On top of that, his 14.8 (No. 14) Average Target Distance in Week 1 was MUCH higher than years past where he’s been under 11.0 every season.
The Titans gave up a whopping 164 yards to Saquon Barkley on the ground in week 1. The Giants ran for over 200 yards total against Tennessee, while Barkley tacked on 6 receptions. Singletary had 67 (No. 13) evaded tackles last season, so look for him to take advantage of the Titans’ poor tackling that was on display week 1. The Bills are the better team in this matchup, so a lead would open more rushing opportunity for Singletary as well.
The Vikings contained Aaron Rodgers to less than 200 yards, no touchdowns, and an interception in the opener. New additions Jordan Hicks and Za’Darius Smith wreaked havoc up front with Danielle Hunter. Patrick Peterson in the secondary with Lewis Cine potentially returning in week 2 will also make Hurts’ life harder. Opponents were No. 23 last season in scoring QB rushing fantasy points against Minnesota, and Hicks and Smith make Hurts’ chances of a big rushing day even more difficult. Facing an improved Vikings defense, don’t expect Hurts to put on a show this week.
Last season, post-Week 1, going into Week 2 waiver wire, was one of the most impactful waiver wire runs. Elijah Mitchell, Cordarrelle Patterson, Hunter Renfrow, Christian Kirk, and Dalton Schultz were added in most leagues. Mitchell was the clear running back to roster in a good offense with a path to yearly usage. Other players went under the radar and could be picked up with reasonable faab bids and waiver priorities.
All in all it was a strong week for our roster making transactions rather difficult. The brightest star is of course Darrell Henderson. The former Memphis Tiger played 82-percent of his team’s snaps and dominated usage in all situations. While he was not able to punch in a score or provide much in terms of efficiency, his usage profile was that of an RB1.
