For many, Week 13 will be their last chance to reach their leagues’ fantasy playoffs, but as this article is being written we haven’t officially closed the door on Week 12 of yet. The 2020 season has had its normal share of twists and turns but unfortunately, the real world has been trying to inject itself into our fantasy world of late. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the Broncos to start a RB at the QB position. Several players throughout the NFL have been forced to miss time either due to positive COVID test results or because they’ve come in contact with someone who has already tested positive.
With you already at your wits end trying to manage an already volatile RB position, the last thing you needed was the COVID-19 virus wreaking havoc with your roster. As you head into your fantasy playoffs you might want to consider adding as many potentially fantasy viable RBs that remain on your league’s waiver wire. However, you need to exercise caution. Running back depth is extremely important, but you want to make sure that as you’re loading up at the RB position, you’re not doing it at the expense of other equally important components of your fantasy roster.
Strap yourself in! It may be a bumpy ride from here on in but, Fantasy Alarm will keep you up to date on all the latest breaking fantasy football related news as it happens. In the meantime, the following analysis provides a closer look at a few of the NFL backfields that deserve your attention. We hope that it helps you better manage your fantasy football team(s). Good luck this week!
Los Angeles Chargers
Austin Ekeler made his triumphant return to action in Week 12 and played 72% of the Chargers’ offensive snaps and caught 11 of his 16 targets. He and rookie RB Joshua Kelley split six red zone carries but it was Kelley who got the lone goal line carry. Justin Jackson is eligible to come off of the IR Week 13. The last time that Ekeler and Jackson both played a full game together Ekeler played 50 snaps to Jackson’s 11. When healthy Jackson is likely to split the backup role with Kelley, but it’s pretty clear that Ekeler will be the Chargers’ lead RB moving forward.
Los Angeles Rams
How much should we read into Cam Akers’ nine carry 84 rushing yard Week 12 performance? After all, Akers did most of his damage on a 61 yard run. If you take away that big play he rushed for 2.87 YPC, but he did score a TD. Akers played 17, or 27%, of the Rams’ offensive snaps. Moving forward can we really expect Akers, or any other Rams RB for that matter, to claim a traditional lead role in the Rams’ offense? Head coach Sean McVay has openly managed his backfield by using a combination of a running back by committee and hot hand approach all season long. Darrel Henderson, who had been the Rams’ most productive and widely used back early in the season, played 20 snaps and only rushed for 19 yards on 10 carries in Week 12. Malcolm Brown led all Rams RBs with 25 snaps played. However, he lost a fumble and was sent to the bench, and only had a total of three carries on the afternoon. Which Rams RB will lead the trio in snaps played in Week 13? McVay’s not telling.
New Orleans Saints
With Drew Brees as his starting quarterback Alvin Kamara averaged 7.4 receptions, 72 receiving yards and 27 fantasy points per game (FPPG). In the two games with Taysom Hill as the Saints’ starting QB Kamara’s been targeted three times, caught just one pass and is averaging just over eight FPPG. With Brees averaging over 35 pass attempts in the eight complete games he’s played compared to Hill’s 19.5 pass attempt per game average it’s not surprising that Kamara’s reception totals have taken a hit. With Kamara only averaging 12 carries per game on the season much of his fantasy production is tied to his work as a receiver. Unfortunately, with Hill likely under center until Week 15, Kamara’s fantasy production is likely to continue to suffer. Another factor to consider is that Kamara has been dealing with a nagging foot injury over the past few weeks. It hasn’t caused him to miss time, but if the Saints get out to a big lead like they did against the Broncos, they may lean on Latavius Murray a bit more later in games, just like they did in Week 12.
Washington Football Team
Coming off of a monster Thanksgiving Day game in which he ran for 115 yards, caught five passes and scored three TDs, Antonio Gibson has established himself as a potent red zone rushing threat. Gibson has at least one TD in five straight games (8 total in that span), and on the season he has nine TDs on 27 red zone carries. By comparison, Derrick Henry has 10 TDs on 50 red zone carries. Among RBs who’ve played at least three games over the past five weeks, Gibson is RB3 based on FPPG in PPR scoring formats. That’s pretty good for a rookie who played a total of 19 games in his college career.