Bishop Sankey's Not Worth Starting in Week 7 Despite Injury to Shonn Greene

Although Shonn Greene's injury again paves the way for Bishop Sankey to feature in the Tennessee Titans backfield, the rookie running back should remain on the fantasy fringes for Week 7.

ESPN.com's Adam Caplan reported on Thursday that a lingering hamstring injury will keep Greene off the field when the Titans take on the Washington Redskins:

According to NFL.com, he's officially listed as doubtful, so it's a safe bet that he'll be unavailable for Tennessee.

A few weeks ago, this might have been an encouraging development for Sankey's fantasy potential. After last week, however, it's difficult to get too excited.

Greene also missed the Titans' Week 6 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, giving Sankey an unabated path to the starting job. Sankey couldn't make the most of the circumstances, rushing for 61 yards on 18 carries. Those numbers aren't terrible, but in fantasy terms, they were good enough for only 6.80 points in NFL.com leagues.

The most important development of that game, at least in terms of Sankey's fantasy value, was Jackie Battle scoring from a yard out:

Few things are more infuriating on Sundays than watching one of your starting running backs get so close to paydirt only to have his hard-earned touchdown quite literally handed off to someone else.

One of the more famous goal-line vultures was T.J. Duckett, whose express purpose was seemingly stealing TDs away from Warrick Dunn when both were members of the Atlanta Falcons in the early 2000s.

This wouldn't be a significant problem if Sankey were doing enough to write off the occasional lost touchdown here and there. The issue is that he's gone for 211 yards and a touchdown on 50 carries in his rookie campaign. You can view his week-by-week stats below.

Week	Opp.	Carries	Yards	Avg.	TDs
1	KC	6	25	4.2	0
2	DAL	2	3	1.5	0
3	CIN	10	61	6.1	0
4	IND	6	34	5.7	1
5	CLE	8	27	3.4	0
6	JAX	18	61	3.4	0

Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt remains optimistic that Sankey will find his footing in the Tennessee offense, per ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky:

Until Sankey proves otherwise, though, he's not worth the gamble. Sure he could have a huge game in Week 7, but the chances of that happening are lower right now than the chances of him giving you next to nothing.

As encouraging as Sankey's performance was against the Jaguars, Jacksonville's giving up 117.2 yards a game on the ground (18th). You'd have expected him to post better numbers against a below-average run defense.

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

CBSSports.com's Scott White questioned whether a golden opportunity might have flown out the window for Sankey:

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Unfortunately, he won't have a better matchup than he had against the Jaguars, so you may have a hard time talking yourself into starting him again after he delivered just six points in standard CBSSports.com leagues last week. And maybe you should trust that instinct. Though the Redskins rank a modest 12th against the run, they've allowed 3.9 yards per carry and are tied with the Ravens in giving up the third-fewest Fantasy points per game to running backs.

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According to Football Outsiders, Washington also possesses the seventh-best run defense in the league. With the Redskins likely keying on Sankey with Charlie Whitehurst probably under center, running yards could come few and far between.

In short, Sankey is facing a very unfavorable matchup having not established himself fully in the starting role; not to mention, he could be replaced in goal-line situations.

Throw it all together and you get a running back who shouldn't come off the bench in standard fantasy leagues this week.