Saturday, November 14, 2020

Week 10 Fantasy Football RB Start'em, Sit'em

The decision on which player to start, or sit, largely comes down to the options on your roster (and/or possibly the players available on your league's waiver wire).

As an example, Kareem Hunt is listed below as a "start" for Week 10. And I'd certainly be comfortable going into Week 10 with him as one of my starting running backs.

Then again, Hunt may be a "sit" for your team.

In other words, if you own both Alvin Kamara, James Robinson and Hunt and can only start two running backs, you should start Kamara and Robinson and, in turn, bench Hunt.

For a more direct answer on whether we would start Player X over Player Y, check our Week 10 Fantasy Football Rankings. Instead of making those direct comparisons, the goal here is to highlight players that we like, or dislike, for the week.

Week 10 Fantasy Football RB Start'em

James Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguars (at GB)

In Jacksonville's post-Leonard Fournette era, it would be easy to make the case for Robinson as fantasy football's MVP this season. The undrafted rookie out of Illinois State, Robinson currently ranks fourth among running backs in fantasy points scored (all scoring formats).

Even better, he has been a consistent performer. Robinson has finished as an RB1 (top-12 fantasy running back) in five of eight games. Not only does he have a minimum of 16 touches in every game this season, but he has a massive 51 combined touches in the past two games. That volume has helped him turn in two of his three top-three weekly finishes in his two most recent games.

Surprisingly enough, Robinson was held catchless on two targets in Week 9, but he had a minimum of four receptions in each of his previous five games. In a game against the Green Bay Packers where the Jags are two-TD underdogs, Robinson's role as a pass-catcher allows him to maintain a solid floor even if game script works against potential rushing volume.

On another positive note, the Packers have allowed the second-most fantasy points to opposing running backs this season. No team has allowed a higher rushing TD% to opposing running backs than the Packers (5.71%) and only the Patriots have allowed a higher catch rate to running backs (88.57%).

Chase Edmonds, Arizona Cardinals (vs. BUF)

The efficiency wasn't what fantasy owners wanted, but the volume was. With Kenyan Drake sidelined, the Cardinals force-fed Edmonds a total of 28 touches -- 25 carries and three receptions -- in their narrow loss to the Dolphins. Despite averaging only 2.8 yards per carry and 6.0 yards per catch, Edmonds still finished the week as fantasy's RB21 (half-PPR scoring).

Because of his high level of efficiency before Week 9, Edmonds had finished as a top-20 fantasy running back in four of his first seven games despite averaging only 7.86 touches during that stretch. As of this writing, Drake is considered to be a "game-time decision" for Sunday's game against the Bills.

Mike Davis, Carolina Panthers (vs. TB)

The matchup isn't great, as the Bucs have allowed the 12th-fewest fantasy points to opposing running backs, but the injury to Christian McCaffrey once again gives Davis the potential for a massive workload. Davis averaged 18.83 touches over six games when CMC was sidelined. Even including games where McCaffrey was active, Davis has six games with at least five catches including an 8/74 receiving line in relief of McCaffrey in Tampa back in Week 2.

Kareem Hunt, Cleveland Browns (vs. HOU)

At this point, it appears that Nick Chubb (knee) will return from IR on Sunday. Either way, Hunt's fantasy outlook remains high. In four games to start the season where the duo was active, Hunt finished as the weekly RB26, RB5, RB20 and RB11, respectively.

Houston has allowed the third-most fantasy points per game to opposing running backs this season. Over their past five games, they have allowed four running backs to finish as a weekly top-four producer -- Dalvin Cook (RB2, Week 4), Derrick Henry (RB1, Week 6), Jamaal Williams (RB4, Week 7) and James Robinson (RB3, Week 9) -- and a total of six top-10 fantasy running backs this season.

Week 10 Fantasy Football RB Sit'em

Devin Singletary, Buffalo Bills (at ARI)

Singletary has scored single-digit fantasy points in five consecutive games and is coming off a season-low five touches in Week 9. The second-year back has finished as the weekly RB34 or worse in four of the past five games.

Now that Zack Moss is again healthy, the rookie has double-digit touches in three consecutive games and Moss (35) has more touches than Singletary (30) over that span. Not only is he losing the usage battle to Moss, but Singletary is averaging an inefficient 4.06 YPC this season. Low volume plus inefficiency equals a seat at the end of my fantasy bench.

Rex Burkhead and Damien Harris, New England Patriots (vs. BAL)

The duo of Burkhead and Harris combined for 29 touches on Monday Night Football, but you can safely bench all Patriots running backs this week. In a difficult matchup against Baltimore, there's a good chance that the 3-5 Patriots won't benefit from positive game script on Sunday night.

The Ravens have allowed the fourth-fewest fantasy points to opposing running backs this season. Not only is Cam Newton (eight rushing touchdowns) a potential touchdown vulture, there may not be many opportunities either way as the Patriots are currently tied for the week's lowest implied total.

Wayne Gallman, New York Giants (vs. PHI)

Perhaps I'm under-selling Gallman's fantasy usefulness, as the former Clemson Tiger has scored in three consecutive games and has finished as the RB14, RB16 and RB6 over the past three weeks, respectively. And the first of that list (RB14) was against the this week's opponent. In that game, however, Gallman averaged just 3.4 YPC (10 carries for 34 yards). Technically, that is a little better than what the Eagles have allowed on running back carries (3.39 YPC allowed) this season.

More positions:

Positional Fantasy Football Rankings:

Check out more of our content: