The return of Melvin Gordon and the departure of Saquon Barkley are creating a world of problems for fantasy football owners.
Those who have been riding the Austin Ekeler train are wishing they got off at the last stop, and those who came up short in their waiver quest to acquire Wayne Gallman are now staring at a gaping hole in their starting lineup.
Whether you were smart enough to build your running back depth through the draft or threw a few darts at your waiver wire, it is time to sift through the backfields that remain unsettled and see if you can find a diamond in the rough.
If there is one thing we learned from Thursday’s game, it is that you cannot count anyone out. Though the fantasy community has embraced Miles Sanders as the new lead back in Philadelphia, Jordan Howard took center stage and showed you why coach Doug Pederson continues to use a tandem backfield.
Heading into Week 4, Sanders had out-snapped Howard 97 to 63, but the matchup dictated more of a power-run scheme up the middle, and that favored Howard’s running style. Identifying which member of a tandem backfield to use can be tough, but if you study the matchups, you’re at a significant advantage.
The battle in Tampa Bay between Peyton Barber and Ronald Jones has many fantasy owners scratching their heads. There was hype on Jones as a rookie last year, but he failed to deliver, and when coach Bruce Arians took over, he saw no reason to change the pecking order for touches. Barber has out-snapped Jones 95 to 53 through the first three weeks, but the split of touches was closer to even in two of the three games — which indicates Arians isn’t convinced Barber was deserving of the lead spot.
Against the Rams in Week 4, it seems like we could end up with a role-reversal. When given the snaps and touches, Jones has actually been serviceable and appears to be on the verge of breaking out. The Rams’ defensive line and middle linebackers do a great job of stuffing the run up the middle, and outside linebackers Dante Fowler and Clay Matthews are aggressive on the blitz and pass-rush. That has left the Rams ranked 24th against running-back pass plays, and they are allowing an average of 53.7 yards per game to them. That tilts in favor of Jones over Barber this week.
Tandem backfields can be tricky in fantasy, but if you understand the snap trends and study the matchups closely, you can start picking the standout performer more easily. That will lead you to some savvy decisions this week like Jones over Barber or Royce Freeman over Phillip Lindsay or maybe even Chris Thompson over Adrian Peterson.
Howard Bender is VP of operations and head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on Twitters @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays at 4 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy football advice and NFL player rankings.
