I get frustrated often by the recency bias in Fantasy Football. I'm not sure that's ever been true than last week when people were legitimately concerned about Travis Kelce, who remains the No. 1 tight end in Fantasy Football. But there are times were we need to quickly react to new information. And one of those times is with rookie running backs. Michael Carter is the perfect example.
The Jets came out of their bye in Week 7 and gave Carter a 72% snap share for the first time all season. Then in Week 8, he played 70% of the snaps again. That type of workload will get most running backs into the top 20 all by itself. But Carter is averaging 3.8 yards per carry and plays on one of the worst offenses in the league. I could understand if it wasn't enough to sell you.
White has thrown 77 passes in the past two games and 32 of them (41.5%) have gone to running backs. Even Tom Brady is impressed at that rate of dump-offs. Carter actually leads the Jets in targets with White under center, with 22 in seven quarters.
A running back playing 70% of the snaps and earning more than 10 targets per game is a must-start running back, even if it's a small sample size.
Hyde was the least popular of the waiver wire running backs this week and is still available in three-quarters of leagues. If James Robinson is out this week, Hyde may also be the highest-scoring of the waiver wire running backs.
An optimistic take on Howard would be that he takes on a larger role in his second week active. If that happens, he could be a legitimate No. 2 running back against the Chargers.
Gore's role is uncertain, but he looked a lot better running the ball than Darrel Williams. Williams isn't leaving on passing downs, so Gore is a better add in non-PPR.
Chubb is my No. 1 back this week in non and half PPR. This has been a good Bengals defense, but they got exposed a little bit last week and I love the opportunity to play an underpriced Chubb without Kareem Hunt. Expect 20-plus touches and Fantasy points.
Patterson's roster rate could be held down by the Saints' exceptional run defense and the Falcons' low implied point total. But I'm not shying away from a back who has averaged 17.5 touches and 18.3 PPR Fantasy points in two games without Calvin Ridley.
RB Preview
Heath's Projections
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