Andre Ellington Still a Smart Fantasy Play Despite Lingering Foot Injury

Andre Ellington at slightly less than 100 percent is still quicker and more electrifying than a large majority of players in the NFL. 

The Arizona Cardinals' second-year running back, who injured his foot just days before the start of the regular season, missed practice Thursday and continues to do very little work during the week. All indications are that the injury will continue to linger at some level. 

“You’re never going to be 100 percent until March as a running back in the National Football League,” head coach Bruce Arians said, via AZCardinals.com's Darren Urban. 

Well, that's a nice quote that should make plenty of Ellington owners sick to their stomach, but it shouldn't affect their lineup decisions moving forward. We saw proof of that in Week 1. 

Making a somewhat surprising start after speculation arose he could miss up to six weeks, Ellington piled up 80 total yards on 18 touches against a good San Diego Chargers run defense. Most agreed that he was showing few ill effects of the injury:

Still, he admitted afterwards he wasn't completely himself, via ESPN.com's Josh Weinfuss: "I wasn't full speed. My quickness, I had some quickness going from right to left, but it was a little harder going from left to right." 

If you're a believer in Ellington's ability to recover—Arians told Kyle Odegard of the Cardinals' official website on Wednesday that the running back's progress has been "much better than we hoped"—then Monday night's game will be his floor in terms of health. Yet he still got a full workload and looked impressive in his ability to cut, hit the holes and accelerate. 

While he may never get to 100 percent healthy, the time off in between games—who needs practice, right AI?— and an early bye (Week 4) will be helpful in improving his status. 

With very little competition in the backfield, an exhilarating, home run-hitting skill set and a coaching staff intent on getting him into the space in unique ways, Ellington is a legitimate RB2 with RB1 upside in PPR leagues. 

Even if that nasty "questionable" tag next to his name doesn't go away anytime soon.