Tag: Ronald Jones fantasy football

7 handcuff running backs to target in fantasy football drafts

Seven of the top running back tandems to handcuff in fantasy football drafts.

It’s common for fantasy football players to “double down” on running backs in whom they’ve made a significant investment by adding the backup late in drafts or auctions. The term for this practice is called “handcuffing” – having two running backs from the same team on your roster.

The key to executing a proper handcuff is in direct relation to the investment made in the first of the two running backs. The player almost certainly needs to be an RB1. There are exceptions to the rule – the first back can be an RB2 in the event there is a belief that two backs will share playing time.

The rationale is pretty simple – if the top guy gets injured, the “handcuff guy” can step in and closely replicate the production.

These are the top seven handcuff players you should consider.

Fantasy football preview: Kansas City Chiefs running backs

The best way to approach KC’s muddled backfield in fantasy football.

While the trading of wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins doesn’t necessarily signal major philosophical changes to the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense, the team is poised to have a different look in 2022.

The signing of larger wide receivers Marquez Valdes-Scantling and JuJu Smith-Schuster at least positions them to employ a more physical ground game. Of course, when you have Patrick Mahomes at quarterback and arguably the NFL’s top tight end in Travis Kelce — not to mention historically pass-happy head coach Andy Reid — one still figures handing off will be Plan B.

Kansas City’s receiver overhaul garnered most of the offseason attention, but they didn’t play a pat hand in the backfield, either. Gone is Darrel Williams, last season’s leading rusher signed with the Arizona Cardinals in May, replaced by former Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Ronald Jones II, who fell behind Leonard Fournette last season. The team also re-signed Jerick McKinnon and drafted Rutgers’ Isaih Pacheco in the seventh round.

With a lot of changes happening in Kansas City, let’s look at the team’s running back room to see how Reid might divvy up the touches in 2022.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running backs: What to expect in fantasy football

Here’s how the Tampa backfield should shake out in 2022.

The running back room for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have a different look this season after the team allowed Ronald Jones to leave via free agency.

While the exodus of Jones wasn’t unexpected, it does create a void, since he had been the team’s leading rusher in 2019 and 2020 and was No. 2 to Leonard Fournette last season.

New Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles inherits a veteran, playoff-tested team that won’t have a lot of positional uncertainty. However, the running back battle behind Fournette will have to clear itself out during training camp and the preseason.

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Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 8

Fantasy football risers and fallers entering Week 8.

There was a time that if a quarterback threw 400 passes, there was something wrong with the offense – either it had no run game or the defense was awful and required the offense to throw to try to stay in games they were losing.

Those days are over. Now 500 is the new benchmark and is the reason why fantasy football quarterbacks tend to be devalued – because so many can put up big numbers. This is a growing phenomenon. In 2018, 15 quarterbacks threw 500 or more passes, including four throwing more than 600. In 2019, 15 threw 500 times or more with four topping 600. Last season, 15 threw 500 or more passes with three throwing more than 600 times and both of the Super Bowl quarterbacks (Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes) were in the top five for pass attempts.

Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow has thrown 212 passes, which, based on the historical 16-game schedule, would have him on pace to throw 485 times – and he ranks 24th in pass attempts. Brady leads the league with 303 pass attempts, which, if the pace continues, would see him finish the season (based on 16 games, not 17) throwing 693 passes.

While the 17-game schedule will change team and league records with the additional game to pile up stats, we’re at a strange time in the league where numbers created by quarterbacks and receivers continue to grow, and there’s no reason to think they will ever come back down.

You still have to be able to run effectively to win in the postseason, but it doesn’t seem to matter nearly as much in the regular season.

Here is the Week 8 Fantasy Football Market Report:

Fantasy Football Risers

TE C.J. Uzomah, Cincinnati Bengals

At a time when tight end owners are feeling the pinch with George Kittle on IR, Darren Waller missing time, and just about everyone not named Travis Kelce struggling to put up consistent numbers, Uzomah had been s pleasant surprise. Over his last four games, he has posted more than 90 yards twice and scored five touchdowns. The majority of fantasy tight ends are played in hopes of picking up 40 or 50 yards and scoring a touchdown. Uzomah is making it harder to keep him out of lineups, and his price for daily players is going up as he becomes a bigger part of the Bengals offense.

RB Damien Harris, New England Patriots

It’s been a common refrain among fantasy owners for years that running backs in Bill Belichick’s offense don’t get the ball consistently enough and they’re all role players. Not this season. Harris has 95 carries – almost three times the number of carries for the other Patriots running backs combined (37) – has three 100-yard rushing games, and has scored five touchdowns. In his last two games, he has rushed 32 times for 207 yards and three TDs. He may not seem like a “must play,” but those numbers speak for themselves.

WR A.J. Green, Arizona Cardinals

Green went undrafted in most leagues, and there has been good reason for that – he’s fourth on his team in receptions. However, he has been targeted six or more times in five of seven games and, over his last four games, has 66 or more receiving yards in three of them. He is Kyler Murray’s go-to deep threat, averaging almost 17 yards per reception – three yards more per catch than Christian Kirk and four more than DeAndre Hopkins. He isn’t a guy you want to play every week, but he has a role in a high-powered offense, which brings value with it.

QB Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins

All the talk around Miami is the potential that Deshaun Watson will be coming to town. Apparently Tua has heard those words. After missing three games due to injury, he’s had the most prolific two-week passing stretch of career, throwing for 620 yards and six touchdowns. There’s no telling if there is truth to the Watson rumors of whether Tagovailoa will be part of that trade or not, but he’s playing like a man who fears his job is on the line. While it isn’t translating into wins, it’s making fantasy owners giddy with excitement.

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RB Darrell Henderson, Los Angeles Rams

When Cam Akers went down with an Achilles injury in July and Sony Michel was later acquired, the thought was they would be sharing the workload. That hasn’t been the case. Of the six games he has played, Henderson has never had fewer than 13 carries, is averaging 16 carries, and has scored five touchdowns. In the four games since missing Week 3 game against the Buccaneers, Henderson has 66 rushing attempts, while Michel has just 25. For what he has shown in Akers’ absence, he has earned his opportunity to stake his claim to playing time.

Fantasy Football Fallers

WR Allen Robinson, Chicago Bears

Lack of production for Robinson has been a problem all season. He has played in all seven games and has caught just 23 passes. His high-water mark for receiving yardage in a game is just 63, he has five games with 35 or fewer receiving yards, and has scored just one touchdown. For a guy who came to rosters with the expectation of being an every-week starter, only the desperate are still playing A-Rob on weekly basis – and are getting burned consistently for doing it.

QB Jimmy Garoppolo, San Francisco 49ers

For a guy who, by all accounts, is playing for his football life as a starter. He can’t help but be looking over his shoulder at Trey Lance, and it sure doesn’t look like it he’s doing anything but paving the road for the transition. In the five games he has started, he has three games with 190 or fewer pass yards and, in his last two starts since the open competition with Lance began, he has thrown for just 346 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Everyone knows the job will eventually go to Lance, but Jimmy G is doing his best to speed up that process.

WR Julio Jones, Tennessee Titans

People are still treating Jones like the first-ballot Hall of Famer he is, but the numbers don’t lie and speak the truth that Jones is at the tail end of his career. He has missed two of the seven games the Titans have played and, of the five he has played in, he has more than three receptions in just one of them. He has only one game with 60 or more receiving yards, and his next touchdown as a Titan will be his first touchdown as a Titan. Playing him in fantasy lineups now is being done much more on reputation and recollection than his current production.

RB Ronald Jones, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Up until Tampa Bay got to the playoffs last season, Jones was the main man in the Bucs backfield and Leonard Fournette was the No. 2 option. Fournette took over in the postseason and hasn’t looked back. Through seven games, Jones has just 41 carries for 181 yards and one touchdown with just one appearance with more than 27 rushing yards, which came in a blowout Sunday as Fournette was being rested. He isn’t used as a receiving back, because he has brought nothing to the table this season (three catches, 33 yards, no TDs). At this point, the only way Jones retains any fantasy value is if Fournette gets hurt. Until then, he’s little more than a handcuff – and not a productive one. Nobody likes to leave the defending Super Bowl champ, but a trade might be the best thing his career.

WR Robby Anderson, Carolina Panthers

In his first season with the Panthers, Anderson was a bargain find in PPR leagues, catching 95 passes for 1,096 yards and three touchdowns. He was touted as having chic fantasy star potential as an upside guy heading into this season. The results so far? 18 catches (on 49 targets!) for just 204 yards and two touchdowns. Things have gotten worse as the season has gone along. In his last three games, despite being targeted 25 times, he has caught just eight passes for 55 yards and one TD. Unless dropped passes becomes a way to score points in fantasy leagues, Anderson does more harm than good to an owner.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 4

Which direction are some of your fantasy players trending?

It’s never too early to be a step ahead of the rest of the owners in your fantasy football leagues. We’re heading into Week 4, which is the penultimate week before fantasy teams start crumbling and having their bench strength tested.

Thanks to an 18-week, 17-game schedule, bye weeks start in Week 6 and extend all the way to Week 14 – a record nine weeks with anywhere between two and six teams sidelined.

While some fantasy owners made a point to keep an eye on the bye weeks on the night of their auction or draft — in most cases, that was a month and a half ago. A lot of has changed on rosters since.

The NFL is going to get rid of 10 teams for a week in Weeks 6 and 7 – the Falcons, Saints, 49ers and Jets in Week 6 and Bills, Cowboys, Chargers, Vikings, Steelers and Jaguars in Week 7. It’s an annual grind, but one not all owners in a fantasy league are aware of at this point.

You have two tasks as you head into Week 4, accomplished by quietly tipping away from the herd unnoticed. First is make sure you haven’t morphed into a roster that can get killed during a week or two of bye week season. Wins are hard enough to come by. You don’t give them away.

Second is to look at other teams that have owners who are too heavily invested in the 10 teams that are opening up the bye week period. Now is the time to see if you can swing a deal to “help them out” of their predicament.

A lot of times better positioning yourself comes with advanced scouting. Nobody else is talking about bye weeks now. By the time Week 4 is over, it’s going to be all the chatter heading into Week 5, because once Week 6 comes, there won’t be a week without byes until the weekend before Christmas.

Do your homework while others are oblivious.

Here is the Week 4 Fantasy Football Market Report:

Fantasy Football Risers

WR Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals

Chase was a controversial franchise pick when OT Penei Sewell was on the board to be a decade-long anchor for Chase’s former college QB, Joe Burrow. However, through three games, he is making it impossible not to start him in fantasy lineups. He isn’t running the route trees of Tyler Boyd or Tee Higgins but is averaging 20 yards per receptions and has four touchdown catches – including on passes of 34, 42 and 50 yards. He is kind of a one-trick pony, but it’s a great trick. He can only get better as more routes are designed to make him the first option instead of the streaking deep threat. If you don’t have him, make a trade to get him. If you have him, the return offers may be crazy.

Kirk Cousins, QB, Minnesota Vikings

I’ve never been a fan of Cousins. He has tended to choke on the biggest stages at critical times of games and seasons. Every year, it’s difficult to endorse him as a full-time fantasy starter, but he has become a more polished field general. This season, he has thrown for 918 yards with eight touchdowns and a passer rating of 118.3. If you want a consistent option, Cousins is your guy. He has gone 17 straight games with a passer rating of 90.0 or above – only one player in NFL history under the passer rating standard has done that. That would be Peyton Manning (23). Name every great QB in the history of the game and, aside from Peyton, nobody other than Cousins can make that claim.

WR Brandin Cooks, Houston Texans

The Texans are a hot mess, but they are forcing the ball to Cooks – their only viable offensive weapon. Everyone has suffered without Deshaun Watson in Houston’s offense. Cooks dominating the team’s target share (35.6 percent) is on par with that of Green Bay Packers WR Davante Adams (35.8) over the first three weeks of the season. The Texans have thrown 90 passes – 32 to Cooks. They have completed 58 – 23 of them to Cooks. Nobody has more than nine targets or six receptions. It’s difficult to endorse anyone from the Texans. Given these numbers, some defenses may make it a mission to bracket him, but his value at the moment is as high as it may ever be.

QB Sam Darnold, Carolina Panthers

I will be the first to admit that I’ve never been a “Darnold guy.” I thought he was overhyped coming into the draft and the Jets’ willingness to cut bait with him lent to that argument. However, in his first three games in Carolina, he has accounted for two touchdowns in each outing (three passing and three rushing), topping 300 passing yards twice and reaching 279 in the other. While he’s not getting a hearty endorsement, with bye week season coming up, it’s nice to have a replacement – even if just for a week – who has shown consistency in scoring points.

WR Cooper Kupp, Los Angeles Rams

Typically we don’t put players who are obvious weekly fantasy starters, unless they’re playing so light’s out for your team, someone might come to you with a crazy trade offer to include him. Kupp is having that kind of start with Matthew Stafford. Through three games, Kupp has been targeted 33 times, caught 25 passes for 367 yards and scored five touchdowns. Robert Woods, on the other hand, has numbers of 19-11-124-1 through three games. Kupp has three more receptions than the next two Rams combined and has almost 100 more receiving yards than the next two teammates combined. It’s hard to imagine many fantasy owners with Kupp aren’t 3-0, because this is rarely seen dominance, especially with a new quarterback.

Fantasy Football Fallers

New England Patriots tight ends

Through three games, if a fantasy receiver had 20 catches for 184 yards and no touchdowns, he would be no great shakes. Unfortunately, those are the combined numbers of Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith (10-109-0 for Henry, 10-74-0 for Smith). Then there is the matter of their contracts (three years, $37.4 million for Henry, four years, $50 million for Smith). You kind of get the idea the front office thought Cam Newton was going to the be the QB when free agency opened. While both were likely brought onto fantasy rosters to be regular starters, they’re killing owners who have them.

WR Stefon Diggs, Buffalo Bills

Diggs was the league leader in targets, receptions and yards in the league last year. This season, he has 19 receptions for 191 yards – never hitting 70 in any game – and one touchdown. He’s second on the team in receptions, third in receiving yards, and third in touchdowns on his own team, much less the league. With Josh Allen at the wheel, the big days will come along. But, for now, if fantasy owners have options, it won’t take long before they start looking elsewhere, if they have viable options and Diggs has an unfavorable matchup.

RB Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts

Taylor was an investment in most leagues to be RB1 and a cornerstone player. Granted, his first three games were against Seattle, the Rams and Tennessee – all playoff teams last year – but still, the numbers are pretty brutal. He hasn’t hit 65 rushing yards in a game, his number of carries has dropped in each contest (17-15-10), he has just eight receptions (six in Week 1 and two since), and he hasn’t scored a touchdown. For a Colts team that hasn’t won yet and has its season swirling like a toilet bowl, those forced to keep riding Taylor can’t wait for the Texans and Jags to show up.

TE Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons

The fourth overall pick was expected to be an impact player right out of the gate. While he has flashed the ability to be a downfield threat, the reality is that he is fourth on the team in receptions – behind retread Cordarrelle Patterson for receptions, yards and touchdowns. In three games, he has caught just 11 passes for 139 yards and no TDs – with 35 or fewer yards in two of them. He’s going to be an immense talent, but, for now, he’s an anchor tied to a fantasy owner’s leg, and the Falcons don’t have the look of an offensive juggernaut anytime soon.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running backs

Both Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones were viewed not necessarily as starters, because they were slated to split time. But few could have expected how little they would have to split up. Fournette is the lead dog by default but has just 24 carries for 92 yards. Jones has just 15 carries for 52 yards. The only rushing touchdowns the Bucs have are from Tom Brady and Chris Godwin. Brady has thrown the ball almost six times as often as Fournette and Jones have run the ball. At this point, both are too poisonous to play, unless you’re forced into it.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 7

Checking in on the fantasy football options whose value is rising and falling.

One of the things I believe that has made me consistently successful in fantasy football leagues is that I find a way to avoid teams altogether. This year as I prepared for the one fantasy football draft and one fantasy football auction that mean most to me, my list of teams I wanted nothing to do with under any circumstance was limited to the New York Jets, Washington Football Team and Jacksonville Jaguars. I entered the fray knowing there was no way I was going to end up with anyone on any of those teams. I would take Mecole Hardman before I took Terry McLaurin, D.J. Chark or Jamison Crowder…

That’s me.

Now I’m wondering if I want anyone from the NFC East – and that includes Dallas Cowboys RB Zeke Elliott. Saquon and Dak are gone. The Eagles can’t keep anyone but Carson Wentz healthy (who would have figured that?). As least Dak could post giant fantasy football numbers because his defense stunk. Saquon was the only Giant I wanted and I still want nobody from WFT — which is more in line with WTF.

Through six weeks of the season, the teams of the NFC East are a dumpster fire. They have a combined record of 5-18-1. If you take the games in which they didn’t play each other and one team likely had to win, their record is 2-15-1 outside the division.

This is bad on a scale rarely seen.

The good news? There is none.

The bad news? If things hold up in the NFL and the fantasy football playoffs are held in Weeks 14-16, of the 12 games those four teams will play, only one of them will be against a division opponent (when Dallas is scheduled to play Philly in Week 16). At least if they were playing each other, you could get excited about the inept possibilities.

In the leagues that matter to me, I am fortunately underrepresented by teams from the NFC East. More of you should join me.

Here is the Week 7 Fantasy Market Report:

Fantasy Football Risers

Ronald Jones, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

For most of his short career, Jones has been a player with a lot of talent who never put it all together. In his first two seasons, he never rushed for more than 80 yards in a game. In his last three, he has topped 100 yards in each rushing 60 times for 330 yards and two touchdowns. It’s taken him two-and-half years to live up to being a big deal in Tampa, but he’s finally done it.

Deshaun Watson, QB, Houston Texans

His stock took a dive (so did his team) to start the year, but people forget he played the Chiefs, Ravens and Steelers in those game – and two were on the road. Once he got past that hurdle, over the last three games, he has topped 300 yards in each – throwing for 994 yards and nine touchdowns. Those are the kind of numbers he was drafted for and the reason he is almost unbenchable.

Mike Davis, RB, Carolina Panthers

When Christian McCaffrey went down, seeing as he was the No. 1 overall pick in most leagues, it was a death blow. But, those who handcuffed McCaffrey with Davis have been keeping their heads above water. In the four games McCaffrey has been out, Davis has two games with 84 or more rushing yards and has scored a touchdown in each game. His role may greatly diminish when McCaffrey returns, but he has been a solid RB2 in any format.

Adam Thielen, WR, Minnesota Vikings

Thielen was drafted to be a borderline WR1 – a guy barely in or barely out of the top 10 on draft day. But, while Justin Jefferson has been stealing the headlines of late, Thielen has seven touchdowns in six games and only has one game in which he didn’t score. He is a machine and the guy Kirk Cousins looks to when he needs a big catch. Minnesota may stink and his quarterback is a bum, but Thielen just keeps on rolling.

Darrell Henderson, RB, Los Angeles Rams

Henderson has become one of the more interesting backs this season as the guy grabbing the job to replace Todd Gurley. In the opener, he had just three carries for six yards. But, in the five games since, he has rushed for 80 or more yards three times and has scored four touchdowns. His disparity just keeps growing, even with Malcolm Brown and rookie Cam Akers available.

Fantasy Football Fallers

Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore Ravens

What made Jackson the MVP last year was that he was an incredible rushing threat, but also had three or more TD passes in seven of 15 games. This season, the only game he had three passing TDs was Week 1. He’s still someone I wish I had in every league. He’ll never be benched, but he hasn’t been light’s out, which is what everyone who took him as the first or second fantasy QB expected. I never want to go up against him, but he has yet to have that one-man gang game that blows an opponent out of the water.

Jarvis Landry, WR, Cleveland Browns

The knock on Landry is that his value is much higher in PPR leagues because he has never been known as a touchdown threat. But, he’s been a bust in any format. He doesn’t have more than five receptions in any game, has just two games with more than 50 receiving yards (61 and 88) and his next touchdown will be his first touchdown. He’s pushed himself out of lineups and firmly in trade talks to move him as a name, not for his production.

Devin Singletary, RB, Buffalo Bills

He had the chance to be the go-to guy in the run game, especially when injuries made him about the only option. But, through six games, he has just one touchdown, brings little as a receiver in the Bills offense and, over the last three games, has rushed 39 times for just 113 yards. He is becoming a harder sell all the time to justify starting every week.

Zach Ertz, TE, Philadelphia Eagles

This a real head-scratcher. He’s expected to miss three or so weeks, but that is actually a good thing for Ertz owners. At a time when some tight ends can dominate weeks, Ertz was considered one of them, but hasn’t been that. Not even close. In six games, he has more than 42 yards receiving just once, less than 20 in half of them and has just one catch of more than 12 yards. At least he doesn’t hurt an owner now because his bad games don’t count against them.

Julian Edelman, WR, New England Patriots

You weren’t expecting a ton of touchdowns from Edelman, but you were expecting receptions and yards. In five games, he has just 20 catches for 302 yards – with eight receptions and 179 yards coming in one game. He proved against Seattle in Week 2 that he still has dominance in him, but, over the last three games, he has caught just seven passes for 66 yards. He’s borderline dump-worthy for those with deep rosters.