Gio Bernard's Injury Opens Door for Jeremy Hill to Become Valuable Fantasy RB

The cold truth of the NFL is that one player's injury is another's window of opportunity. The "next man up" philosophy is arguably more prevalent in football than any other American sport. As a result, when many fantasy owners read that Giovani Bernard didn't practice on Wednesday, Jeremy Hill became an even more sought-after commodity.

ESPN.com's Coley Harvey reported that Bernard was suffering from injuries to his right hip and clavicle.

NFL.com's Ian Rapoport tweeted out on Monday that he didn't think Bernard's hip injury was a major concern, but it's obviously bad enough for him to be missing practice:

Stephen Nelson and Will Carroll, Bleacher Report's sports medicine expert, discussed what could happen with Bernard from here.

It's entirely possible that Bernard is healthy enough to start on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but you should really be going after Hill anyway. He's done more than enough to warrant a place on your bench at the very least.

The rookie running back has backed up Bernard well, rushing for 195 yards and three touchdowns on 50 carries. He ranks 34th on NFL.com and 35th on ESPN.com, yet he's somehow only owned in 58.4 and 78.9 percent of leagues, respectively.

One thing you can count on with Hill is goal-line carries. That's infuriating if you own Bernard, but Hill certainly has the looks of a vulture near the end zone. Bengals.com's Geoff Hobson believes Hill's usage in the red zone will only increase as well:

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Hill is getting there slowly but surely. He certainly proved his tough inside running wares against Baltimore. I'm not saying Hill is Corey Dillon, but it reminds me of when Dillon sat for so much of his rookie season when the obvious move seemed to put him in there right away. Here, you can't sit Gio, either. As you saw against Carolina, Bernard can beak an inside run all the way. But they used Hill earlier and more often last week more than they have and I think he sees more goal-line stuff as we go deeper into the season.

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The coaching staff's confidence in Hill will grow as the season goes on. Bernard, when healthy, is obviously the top dog in the running game and limits Hill's potential, but there are enough touches to go around for both to be viable fantasy starters.

The Bengals' 27-0 Week 7 loss to the Indianapolis Colts may have been a wake-up call for the team regarding the running game. Despite having two talented backs, Cincinnati ranks 18th in total carries. Against the Colts, the Bengals carried the ball a combined 11 times.

"Sometimes you just have to be stubborn enough to do it," said offensive coordinator Hue Jackson when asked about whether he plans on having the running game become a larger presence in the offense, per Harvey. "You've got to give guys an opportunity."

Jackson's words weren't mere lip service, either, with Hill and Bernard combining for 26 carries in a 27-24 Week 8 win over the Baltimore Ravens. There's no reason not to lean on the running game, especially with A.J. Green's injury problems.

Looking ahead to Sunday, there should be a little apprehension surrounding Hill outside of Bernard's status. The Jaguars are giving up an average of 115 yards per game (20th) and four yards a carry (11th) on the ground. Jacksonville also ranks 17th in fantasy points allowed to running backs, according to Fantasy Football Today.

The Jags aren't terrible against the run, nor are they great. They're right in the middle, which arguably makes things even harder to predict. Which defense is going to show up—the one that held Branden Oliver to 23 yards on nine carries or the one that allowed a combined 126 yards to Lamar Miller and Ryan Tannehill?

That general unpredictability should keep the Hill hype train from gaining too much steam for the time being, but Bernard's status is worth monitoring throughout the week. If he's still out of practice on Friday, you'll want to slot Hill in at the flex.