Just as fantasy football owners were starting to come to grips with the loss of J.K. Dobbins, his replacement, Gus Edwards, also appears to have torn an ACL, an injury which would end his 2021 NFL season before it begins.
In that event, the snakebitten Baltimore Ravens will have lost both of their top-two running backs in the past 10 days. A third running back, Justice Hill, joins them, but he had lost his job prior to an Achilles injury.
Veteran Le’Veon Bell was signed to the practice squad, it’s unclear how much of the offense he possibly could have digested in such a short period of time, even if he gets activated for Week 1’s Monday Night Football tilt at the Las Vegas Raiders.
Running back Ty’Son Williams, a 2020 rookie practice squader, is the safer bet for the bulk of the action this week, and likely the rest of the way. The Ravens may attempt to pair Williams with Bell, given the latter’s immense talent as a receiving outlet.
While we don’t know for sure yet if Edwards will be done for the season, the initial reports sound anything but encouraging. He’s almost guaranteed to miss Week 1, and if we don’t hear the dreaded confirmation of an ACL tear in the next 48 hours, he may not be an automatic drop just yet.
Be patient, but if you have roster room and open waivers right now, check for Williams and Bell, although he looked fairly close to washed up in 2020. Williams is fresh and, at 6-foot, 220 pounds, has the size to withstand an NFL beating. The BYU product is no stranger to injury that granted him this opportunity, tearing an ACL of his own in 2019. He probably was drafted or added already on the wire in competitive leagues that chose late, but it’s worth a look.
This situation is fluid and developing, so be ready to pounce on the wire as soon as possible. The Ravens may not even be done yet adding running backs. There’s a chance someone like Todd Gurley, who has been in contact with the team this offseason, could be in the cards, given his receiving prowess. That is, if Bell doesn’t show enough to be elevated to the active roster, because he, too, is obviously a talented pass-catching back.