Fantasy Backfields You Can't Trust with Your Season on the Line

RBBC.

I hate writing it. I hate saying it. I hate tweeting it. Unfortunately, I’ve done plenty of all three in recent weeks for a variety of reasons. The dreaded running back by committee is a total nightmare for fantasy owners, and the worst part is?

Coaches don’t care.

Of course they don’t. So long as they get production out of their backfield, the number of players it takes to get to that acceptable level is irrelevant to coaches. The fantasy world loves production too, but we like to have an idea of who it’s coming from, or at least some specific roles.

For instance, when the New York Giants signed running back Shane Vereen to add to a backfield that already included Rashad Jennings and Andre Williams, it made sense because it gave them an element they didn’t have in a pass-catching specialist. Common sense isn’t a regular practice when it comes to the Giants this season because there’s been no way to predict when Vereen will be a solid fantasy contributor even when the matchup appears to be in his favor. 

For the Giants, it’s misuse, but for a team like the San Diego Chargers, it’s a bad situation that was once good. Early in the season, Danny Woodhead was a no-doubt fantasy starter. That time has become a distant memory on a bad team that is trying to get a good look at what it has in rookie running back Melvin Gordon.

The purpose of this column is to let you move on from any of the running backs on these teams. And if you’re not bothering with them in Week 15, you’ll likely stay away if you’re playing for championships in Week 16. Letting go could free up useful roster space, or it may just kill any temptation you have to start a player who’s been nothing more than a fantasy tease. I don’t want to be teased with my season on the line.

San Diego Chargers

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The San Diego Chargers haven't gotten much out of Melvin Gordon.

Remaining games: vs. Miami Dolphins, at Oakland Raiders, at Denver Broncos 

Coming into this season, I wasn’t high on Melvin Gordon, at least not as a regular fantasy contributor. A big part of that was the presence of Danny Woodhead, although I expected Gordon to figure into a bigger and possibly productive role later in the year.

We’re now into the final three weeks of the season, and Gordon still isn’t producing, but he’s touching the ball enough to ruin the value of a once-great fantasy asset in Woodhead. So what happened? 

In the first seven weeks of the season, Woodhead racked up at least 30 receiving yards in all but one game. He had at least five receptions on four occasions and went over 60 receiving yards five times. From Weeks 8-14, Woodhead has just two games with more than three receptions and three games with at least 30 yards.

The correlation to Woodhead’s numbers and participation slipping is the rise of Gordon. He’s had double-digit carries in every game since Week 8, but he hasn’t run for more than 60 yards since then and hasn’t scored. In fact, Gordon hasn’t found the end zone at all. 

The Chargers rank 31st in rushing yards per game. They have a league-worst two rushing touchdowns, both of which came from Woodhead in the season opener. Since Week 8, neither Woodhead nor Gordon is a top-35 running back in PPR formats. So basically, they’re not even worth using as a flex.

Everything that could go wrong in San Diego has gone wrong, with the injury bug biting the team hard, especially along the offensive line and receiving corps. The Chargers are a sinking ship and are almost totally useless for fantasy as a whole, but I’m burying their backfield before the season ends for the sanity of all of us.

Washington Redskins

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Matt Jones has shown flashes of greatness but little consistency.

Remaining games: vs. Buffalo Bills, at Philadelphia Eagles, at Dallas Cowboys 

Remember when the Washington Redskins featured running back Matt Jones in Week 2, and he rewarded them by racking up 123 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns on 19 carries in addition to three receptions for 23 yards? You might, but the Redskins quickly made that a distant memory. Up until Week 13, they didn’t give Jones more than 11 carries in any game since Week 2.

Why would a team make such an egregious error? You’d think maybe game flow had something to do with it? Nope. For the most part, quarterback Kirk Cousins has played well enough to keep the team in almost every game, yet Washington won’t give Jones a consistent role. 

Remember, Alfred Morris is a free agent at the end of this season. Wouldn’t it make sense to get a better look at the possible future of the position in Jones? Sadly, I’m asking questions the Redskins keep getting wrong.

Morris has been almost totally useless for fantasy other than rushing for 121 yards on 25 carries in the opener. Since then, he’s gone over 60 yards just three times and found the end zone for the first time in Week 14. He also has no real role in the passing game with just 10 receptions for 55 yards, so you’re limiting the little upside Morris could possess. 

Jones finally got back into the mix with heavy workloads in the last two weeks, but it hasn’t meant much for production, as he ran 18 times for 49 yards in Week 13 against the Dallas Cowboys, only to follow that up with 18 carries for 62 yards in Chicago against the Bears.

The Redskins are the 10th-worst rushing team in the league this year, and without a real commitment to Morris or Jones, it’s not worth owning either player on a bad team.

Seattle Seahawks

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He might be the longest-tenured back in Seattle, but Fred Jackson's best fantasy days are behind him.

Remaining games: vs. Cleveland Browns, vs. St. Louis Rams, at Arizona Cardinals

The Seattle Seahawks are the only team in this column I have no complaints about as pertains to how they’ve handled their backfield this season. Unfortunately, injuries to Marshawn Lynch (abdomen) and Thomas Rawls (ankle) have them scrambling late in the season, but I implore you not to get caught up in it.

In Week 14, Rawls broke his ankle, which left the backfield duties up to DuJuan Harris and Fred Jackson. Even though Harris lost an early fumble, the team stayed with him for a total of 18 carries and 42 yards. Considering Jackson had just seven carries for 15 yards, all signs pointed to Harris leading the way in the absence of Rawls once again.

That idea took a slight hit when the team announced the re-signing of Bryce Brown, but it took the biggest hit when Seattle cut Harris on Tuesday. That put Brown, who doesn’t have a touch this season, in the driver’s seat to lead the way in Week 15.

Of course, the Seahawks had to made things a little more annoying by bringing back Christine Michael just a short time after the Redskins cut him from their practice squad. For the season, Michael has just 15 carries for 51 yards going back to his time with the Dallas Cowboys.

With Brown, Michael and Jackson all in the mix, ESPN.com’s Sheil Kapadia believes Brown and Michael will carry the load, while Jackson takes care of third downs and obvious passing situations. Among the three, there’s no one you can play with any kind of confidence, so don’t bother picking any of them up.

New York Giants

Associated Press

Good luck figuring out when the Giants will use Shane Vereen correctly.

Remaining games: vs. Carolina Panthers, at Minnesota Vikings, vs. Philadelphia Eagles

I understand a two-man backfield. I even understand a three-man backfield. The New York Giants are pulling the ultimate troll job on fantasy owners by using four running backs with almost no indication of roles or opportunities for each. This is arguably the biggest fantasy headache in the league.

As I mentioned earlier, the Giants added a pass-catching specialist in Shane Vereen during the offseason, but Vereen’s role has no consistency and doesn’t increase to the level it should when the matchup is clearly in his favor. Just six times this season has Vereen wound up with more than two receptions in a game. He’s among the top 35 fantasy running backs in a PPR league, but that unpredictability makes him too hard to trust.

Rashad Jennings leads the Giants in carries with 138 for 512 rushing yards and just one rushing touchdown, which puts him at just 3.7 yards per carry. He’s contributed 24 receptions for 228 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown. He’s coming off his busiest and most productive outing in Week 14 with 22 carries for 81 rushing yards. He added two receptions for 21 yards to total 100-plus total yards for the first time all year.

When asked about sticking with Jennings following his best game of the season, head coach Tom Coughlin told reporters: “For the life of me, I have no idea why you people are so hung up on this. Must be nothing else to write about. But certainly we will (stick with Jennings).”

Coughlin decided to put the final nail in the coffin for this backfield when he said, “We have, again, different ability ranges and guys who can be tapped and utilized in many different functions. Vereen being another. And we’ll continue to do that as well.”

I assume Coughlin is also referring to Orleans Darkwa (35 carries, 144 yards, one touchdown) and Andre Williams (74 carries, 205 yards, one touchdown), but the fact that he’s still hung up on using four backs on a team that’s fourth from the bottom in rushing shows just how clueless he and his staff continue to be. And for fantasy owners, there’s no reason to bother with such a mess.

Houston Texans

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Alfred Blue hasn't come close to replacing Arian Foster in Houston.

Remaining games: at Indianapolis Colts, at Tennessee Titans, vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

Alfred Blue is the top-scoring fantasy back for the Houston Texans this season, and he’s not even a top-40 player at the position. When the Texans lost Arian Foster to a torn ACL just seven games into the season, way too many people assumed Blue would be a capable replacement. He’s been anything but that, and it’s only getting worse.

Following Foster’s injury, Blue had double-digit carries in four straight games but never did better than the 77 rushing yards and one touchdown on 16 carries he had against the New Orleans Saints in Week 12. In fact, since that game, he has just four carries for 14 yards and didn’t even play a snap last week, per Pro Football Focus.

The Texans have had four different running backs lead the team in snaps this season, per PFF, which makes it difficult for fantasy owners to predict who will be the most productive. In fact, over the last three games, the team has had three different players lead the backfield in snaps. Last week, it was Jonathan Grimes, but the week before it was Chris Polk.

Over the last four weeks, Blue leads the team with 41 carries but has just 149 rushing yards and a single touchdown in addition to four receptions for 38 yards and a touchdown. Polk isn’t far behind with 29 carries for 116 yards and four receptions for 31 yards and a touchdown. The big difference is that Polk missed Week 11, so he played three games to Blue’s four over that stretch.

Also in the mix is Grimes, who is coming off his best game of the season. Unfortunately, that totals up to just seven carries for 53 yards and two receptions for nine yards. He’s been the most efficient runner of the group over the last month with 25 carries for 143 yards plus eight receptions for 60 yards.

If you’re wondering if Grimes will keep it up, don’t get too excited. Last week, a back problem gave Blue some trouble, which is apparently why he didn’t play despite being active. 

Head coach Bill O’Brien said of last week’s game:

"

Alfred Blue was pretty banged up last week. It had nothing to do with we didn’t feel like he could help us against New England. It was more about how he practiced during the week. He hasn’t been able to practice a lot so we really wanted to use him on special teams which we did and then wasn’t sure how much he could get on offense.

"

So O’Brien wants to get Blue involved again, which should excite the loyal members of Blue’s fantasy fan club, but not those of us who actually want to win in Week 15. Don’t bother with any of these running backs. They’re all a waste of time.

Tennessee Titans

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Antonio Andrews has led the way more often than not for the Tennessee Titans.

Remaining games: at New England Patriots, vs. Houston Texans, at Indianapolis Colts

The Tennessee Titans are one of the worst teams in football, so it should come as no surprise to find out they don’t have a running back among the top 40 in fantasy (PPR) points on the season. That’s reason enough to ignore them in the most important weeks of the season, but I’ll give you even more evidence since you’re kind enough to read this far. 

Antonio Andrews is the top back for the Titans with 474 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns on 127 carries (3.7 yards per carry). He also has 14 receptions for 146 receiving yards. Andrews stepped into a bigger role early in the season because David Cobb (calf) was on the designated-to-return IR and Bishop Sankey was ineffective.

Cobb has been a non-factor since making his debut in Week 11. In four games, he’s totaled just 46 yards on 22 carries and has no role as a receiver. Because Cobb missed so much time and Sankey was so bad, the Titans featured more of Dexter McCluster. Through 11 games, he rushed for 247 yards and a touchdown on 55 carries (4.5 yards per carry) and caught 31 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown. He landed on the injured reserve with a fractured wrist.

So is Sankey a colossal bust less than two seasons into his NFL career? Well, he was a healthy scratch in Week 14 even though the Titans were out of playoff contention, so he’s not trending in the right direction. Head coach Mike Mularkey said Sankey “will have more of a role” in the offense, per Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com.

With McCluster out, Andrews was the only one to even consider using during the season, but with Sankey possibly getting back into the fray, there’s not enough talent in this backfield to overcome a split in touches among three players. If you haven’t already, wave goodbye to this poor backfield.