Tre Mason's Breakout Week 7 Performance Puts Him Atop Waiver-Wire Pickups

Fantasy football owners are always looking for ways to improve their teams, particularly at this critical juncture of the NFL season. With the importance many fantasy leagues place on running backs, it's often difficult to find a waiver-wire steal.

But after running for 85 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown in Week 7's win over the Seattle Seahawks, Tre Mason appears in line for the St. Louis Rams' feature back role. The rookie out of Auburn made the most of his shot and should get a significant workload moving forward.

Thus, Mason is the best fantasy free agent available on most waiver wires.

Rams offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer is known to lean on the ground game, as he did with the New York Jets amid the promising beginning to Rex Ryan's tenure. That is part of the reason why many fantasy owners jumped at the chance to select Zac Stacy in their drafts.

But as ESPN's Adam Schefter points out, Stacy was nowhere to be found on Sunday during a season-saving NFC West victory over the reigning Super Bowl champions:

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network provided an explanation that is bad news for Stacy owners but a great development for those seeking Mason's services:

Interestingly enough, The Big Lead's Jason McIntyre compared Mason to a current Jet, though not one Schottenheimer ever coached:

Mason may be tough to deploy in obvious passing situations, since his blocking skills are what one would expect from a first-year pro who came from such a run-heavy offense in college. However, he is capable of catching the ball and is so quick in the open field that the screen game has to be respected when he's in the lineup.

Greg Robinson, who starts on the St. Louis offensive line and joined the Rams from Auburn as Mason did, praised the ball-carrier for his patience after not seeing the field early in 2014.

"I appreciate the hard work he put in not letting himself get down, not really playing much at the beginning of the year," said Robinson, via AL.com's Mark Inabinett. "We talked a lot, and I just told him to just stick with me and we're going to continue working and try our best to work our way into the game plan."

Quarterback Austin Davis has played smart, efficient football, displaying excellent accuracy and limiting the mistakes. The team's public relations coordinator, Casey Pearce, highlighted how proficient Davis was in going 18-of-21 passing for 152 yards and two TDs versus Seattle:

As long as Davis protects the ball and Schottenheimer pounds the rock, prospective Mason fantasy owners ought to enjoy having him in their lineups.

Although it's too early to say what Mason's ceiling is, he is at the very least a flex fantasy option at the moment, given the circumstances of St. Louis' offense. Three consecutive road games loom against Kansas City, San Francisco and Arizona respectively.

The latter two divisional foes have top-five run defenses but are susceptible enough in the secondary to the point that Davis can capitalize if Mason gets rolling early. To help the Rams' own subpar run defense, the game plan has to revolve around Mason, who has already emerged as the most talented runner in a backfield Stacy started in after scampering for 973 yards in just 14 games in 2013.

As physical and hard-running as Stacy is, there is more excitement with Mason because he is a bit slighter in frame yet still takes on contact and has the explosiveness to be a home run hitter, too.

The Chiefs are 18th in the NFL against the run, so if Mason flames out and is a one-week wonder, at least impetuous owners can rid themselves of him without much negative consequence. Picking Mason up off waivers won't cost a marquee player as it is, so it's a low-risk, high-reward proposition to acquire him now.

Based on what Mason showed in Week 7 against such a quality opponent, though, he figures to be a fantasy factor for the remainder of the year.