Week 11 Rankings: Standard | PPR
The Christine Michael experiment was fun while it lasted. Michael, who helped many Fantasy owners this season as the fill-in starter for the Seahawks, was waived Tuesday as the team expects Thomas Rawls back in action for Week 11 against Philadelphia.
Seattle will now go with Rawls and rookie C.J. Prosise as the main options in the backfield. Michael can be claimed off waivers by an NFL team, and we expect someone to take a chance on him for the rest of this year. More on that later.
Rawls, who has been out since Week 2 with a broken leg, is owned in 73 percent of leagues on CBS Sports, and he should be added in all formats where he's still available. The Seahawks will still have the same offensive line concerns that impacted Michael, but Rawls showed in 2015 as a replacement for Marshawn Lynch that he can be a quality Fantasy option.
Rawls started seven games as a rookie when Lynch was hurt and scored double digits in Fantasy points in five of them, including four with at least 100 rushing yards. If you take the six starts he was able to finish and project those stats over 16 games then he would have finished with 336 carries for 1,899 yards and 11 touchdowns and 16 catches for 181 yards. That's impressive and shows what Rawls is capable of.
Michael had five starts this season with Rawls out where he had at least 10 carries, and he scored double digits in Fantasy points in a standard league in four of them. That's a pretty good ratio that Rawls will step into now that he's replacing Michael.
For this week, Rawls should be considered a low-end No. 2 running back against the Eagles. Philadelphia has only allowed five running backs to score at least nine Fantasy points in a standard league, but Rawls is at home and should get at least 10 carries in this matchup. Hopefully there's not too much rust from the long layoff.
He'll also have to share touches with Prosise, who is coming off his best game of the season at New England in Week 10 with 17 carries for 66 yards and seven catches for 87 yards. Prosise, who is owned in 62 percent of CBS Sports leagues, will definitely play on passing downs ahead of Rawls, but Rawls will run between the tackles and work at the goal line. Still, Prosise is a flex option in standard formats and a potential starter in PPR leagues in Week 11.
As for Michael, several teams will probably consider claiming him off waivers, and some possible destinations could be Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota, Denver, Indianapolis and Cleveland. I'm just speculating on teams with a need at running back, but in the right scenario he could still have Fantasy value this year.
You don't have to drop Michael right away if you want to see if he's claimed off waivers, but his days as a relevant Fantasy option are likely over. It's now time for Rawls and Prosise to lead the way for the Seahawks -- and Fantasy owners.
