Backfield Breakdown: Week 3 Recap & Week 4 Sleepers

Who needs Dalvin Cook and Christian McCaffrey when we have Alexander Mattison and Chuba Hubbard? Not to mention the rookie in Pittsburgh...

Week 3 Usage Leaderboard

Top 10 in Bold. Only shows RBs with more than five touches or 30 percent of snaps.

Injury Report

Inactives

Dalvin Cook (ankle)

Darrell Henderson (ribs)

Elijah Mitchell (shoulder) & JaMycal Hasty (IR - ankle)

Josh Jacobs (toe)

In-Game Injuries

Christian McCaffrey left in the first half with a hamstring injury and didn't return.

James White was carted off in the first half with a hip injury. He's out indefinitely.

Chris Carson may have gotten banged up. Get ready for Pete Carroll's injury report shenanigans.

Route Report

Red-Zone Report

Inside the 5-Yard Line

• Five RBs got multiple snaps inside the 5-yard line, but not touches. They were J.D. McKissic (three snaps), Alexander Mattison (two), Alvin Kamara (two), Austin Ekeler (two) and Najee Harris. All besides McKissic reached 20 PPR points anyway.
• Despite getting none this past weekend, Jonathan Taylor leads the NFL with six opportunities (all carries) inside the 5-yard line this season... but zero TDs on those attempts.
  • Mark Ingram, with five, is the only other player with more than three carries inside the 5-yard line. Chubb, Henderson, Henry and Javonte Williams have three apiece, while Aaron Jones has seen the third-most opportunities (four) between his two carries and two targets.
• Seven QBs have taken multiple carries inside the 5 this year:
  • Lamar Jackson (3), Jalen Hurts (2), Taylor Heinicke (2), Sam Darnold (2), Kyler Murray (2), Jacoby Brissett (2), Taysom Hill (2).
• Atlanta's Mike Davis has just one carry, one target and zero TDs inside the five, but his seven snaps there are tied with Alvin Kamara for second most. However, teammate Cordarrelle Patterson has also played four snaps inside the five, and also has one carry there.
• Ten players have accounted for 100 percent of their respective teams' inside-the-five carries this season:
  • Jonathan Taylor (6), Mark Ingram (5), Darrell Henderson (3), Damien Harris (2), Joe Mixon (2), Aaron Jones (2), Chris Carson (2), Ty Johnson (1), Darrel Williams (1), James Robinson (1).

Red-Zone Opportunities (carries + targets)

Week 4 Waivers & Sleepers

Lists only include players rostered in half of less of Yahoo leagues.

Waivers, Pt. 1 — Potential Week 3 Starters/Streamers

1. Chuba Hubbard - 26%
2. Peyton Barber- 7%
3. Kenneth Gainwell - 35%
4. J.D. McKissic - 39%
5. Alex Collins - 1%
6. Ty Johnson - 10%
7. Kyle Juszczyk - 1%

Hubbard is heads and tails above the pack this week, though perhaps not worth spending too much FAAB on if you don't actually need RB help. (It sounds like Christian McCaffrey will miss 1-3ish weeks).

     
Waivers, Pt. 2 — Bench Stashes & Sleepers

1. Kenneth Gainwell - 35%
2. Tony Jones - 17%
3. Jeff Wilson - 19%
4. Carlos Hyde - 14%
5. Darrel Williams - 10%
6. J.J. Taylor - 1%
7. Damien Williams - 6%

Week 4 Drops & Benchings

Drop'em

Tevin Coleman

Devontae Booker

David Johnson

Devonta Freeman

Bench'em

Ty'Son Williams

Damien Harris (vs. Tampa)

Kenyan Drake

Ronald Jones

Week 3 Game-by-Game Breakdowns

Panthers (24) at Texans (9) 

• McCaffrey played 18 of 19 snaps in the first quarter, then injured his hamstring after four snaps in the second quarter. He missed the rest of the game, and
• Hubbard played 70.6% of snaps in the second quarter, 62.5% in the third quarter and 81.0% in the fourth. He finished the night with a 40-11 snap advantage over Freeman, though the veteran did have five carries and a target on his limited plays.
• Hubbard has seen a carry or target on 41.5% of his snaps (27 on 65).
  • Last year, Mike Davis got a carry/target on 40.6% of snaps.
  • McCaffrey has seen a carry/target on 48.5% of snaps in his six games under the current coaching staff (47 on 303).

• Ingram leads thee way with 38.1% snap share through three weeks, followed by Johnson (38.1%), Lindsay (22.2%) and Burkhead (14.9%).
  • Ingram has a larger share of team rush attempts — 53.5%, well ahead of Lindsay (23.3%) and Johnson (12.8%).
• You could maybe squeeze a volume-based RB2 out of this situation if the Ingram and Lindsay roles were combined into one. Counting on Ingram to be that when he's still losing some work to Lindsay... not ideal. Maybe the best hope here is Lindsay taking it all for himself if Ingram is eventually released or traded. But even then, Johnson and Burkhead would likely still have roles.

Bears (6) at Browns  (26) 

• QB Justin Fields (hand) was a disaster and also got banged up. He didn't steal much rushing work (three carries for 12 yards) from Montgomery, but he also didn't do enough to keep the offense moving.
• The Bears ran 42 plays, including nine sacks. In other words, they finished an NFL game with 13 rush attempts and 20 pass attempts. How?
• Through three weeks, Montgomery is at 72.6% snap share and 42.3% touch share, with 46 of Chicago's 54 RB carries (Williams has the other eight) and nine of the 17 targets (Williams again has the other eight).
  • Montgomery is averaging only 3.0 targets per game to Williams' 2.7, but Monty has a far larger lead in terms of routes — 17.7 to 9.7.
  • Montgomery has been targeted on 17.0% of his routes, down only slightly from 18.7% last season. The bigger factor in his lack of receiving production is Chicago's lack of play volume, with the feeble offense averaging 57.3 plays and 28.0 pass attempts per game.

• Hunt got six targets in the first half and six carries in the fourth quarter. Chubb also got seven carries in the fourth quarter, before Johnson came in for five snaps and two carries on the very last drive.
• Through three weeks, Chubb is at 52.7% snap share and 31.7% touch share, averaging 16.0 carries and 1.0 target per game. He has 11 red-zone looks and three goal-line looks.
  • Hunt is at 41.3% snap share and 24.2% touch share, averaging 9.7 carries and 3.7 targets per game. He has six red-zone looks and one goal-lone look. Hunt has been slightly better for PPR, while Chubb is a couple points per game ahead of his teammate in standard scoring.
• Felton took only one of his 11 snaps in the backfield, compared to nine in the slot. We won't bother listing him with RBs after this week unless something changes.

Ravens (19) at Lions (17) 

• Williams made a third straight start, playing 50% of snaps after 51% and 49% the previous two weeks. I guess we know what to expect in terms of playing time, though it apparently doesn't come with guarantees for touch volume.
  • This wasn't a game where Baltimore played from behind (until the final drive). The Ravens just chose to lean on Lamar Jackson's arm, and then when they did want to run, they often subbed in Murray.
• Murray's carry share was a season high, but the raw number (seven) a season low. And neither he nor Freeman has been targeted this year.
• Williams has all seven of the RB targets, not including the three for FB Patrick Ricard.
• These RBs stink. Any analysis should account for the possibility of Baltimore actually adding a decent option at some point.

• The split tilted more toward Swift after halftime; 62.5% of snaps, with a 9-7 lead in carries and a 6-0 lead in targets.
  • However, Williams scored a one-yard TD in the fourth quarter, coming in for Swift after the young RB took four consecutive touches (including being stuffed on his own chance from the 1-yard line).
• For the year, both backs have two carries inside the 5-yard line and three inside the 10. But Swift also has two targets inside the 10, and a 7-5 snap advantage in that area. So basically he has the same slight advantage over Williams as everywhere else on the field. They're used interchangeably, more or less.
• Through three games, Swift has played 62.9% of snaps and has a carry/target on 42.4% of his snaps.
  • Williams has played 40.5% of snap, with a carry/target on 49.4% of those. It does seem strange that Williams would get the ball on a higher percentage of plays, and Week 3 was the first time all year where the opposite was true (Swift had far more touches on a similar snap count). Perhaps the start of a trend?
• Williams has been targeted on 34.1% of his routes this year, fourth most among RBs with 30-plus routes. Swift has been targeted on 30.7% (7th). That's how they've combined for 37 targets in three games; that, and Jared Goff averaging 41.0 pass attempts.
  • Some degree of regression is more likely than not (for both the RB targets/route and Goff's volume), but it won't necessarily be by a lot, considering two of Detroit's three best skill-position players are running backs. Goff and Co. may be content to pepper Swift, Williams and T.J. Hockenson with targets all year long.

Chargers (30) at Chiefs (24) 

• Ekeler played 58% of snaps Week 1 and 63% of snaps Week 2. The upward trend is promising, as the Chargers have played all close games so far. It is possible the divisional matchup contributed to Ekeler's season-high snap share Week 3, so maybe 60-65 percent is a better expectation going forward. Then again, the Chargers face the 3-0 Raiders in Week 4, followed by potential wild-card contenders (Cleveland, Baltimore) in Weeks 5 and 6. Not an easy schedule, but it could help Ekeler's market shares.
• Through three weeks, Ekeler is at 64.4% snap share and 31.7% team touch share, averaging 11.7 carries and 5.0 targets. He has two of the three goal-line opportunities for the Chargers' backfield, and 12 of the 16 red-zone opportunities.
• Rountree and Jackson have combined for 20 carries and four targets this year. The rookie got more work Weeks 1 and 3; Jackson saw more in Week 2.

• It was the usual split in terms of playing time, but with more total work for the KC backfield (24 carries, 5 targets). Edwards-Helaire bounced back from his second lost fumble of the year to post a 17-100-0 rushing line and a short receiving score.
• Williams and CEH both got one snap inside the 10-yard line, without a carry or target. Edwards-Helaire still doesn't have a carry inside the five this year, but the sample is just three snaps, with him getting one and Williams two. TBD on goal-line work, though my guess is Edwards-Helaire gets most of it.

Falcons (17) at Giants (14) 

• Patterson has now been targeted on 16 of 41 routes, with 39.0% being the league high among RBs.
• Ok, how cool is it to see an NFL team using Cordarrelle Patterson the same way I used him in Madden 15!?!?
  • It was sustainable in the video game, I'll tell you that much.

• Devontae Booker was a healthy scratch, which makes sense because he's a replacement-level back . (He signed a contract with $2 million guaranteed this spring, cashing in on a robust market that definitely wasn't just the Giants bidding against themselves.)
• Barkley managed only 3.2 YPC but finished with 22 touches and a short TD. That's his pre-injury workload; one few RBs can match. Team context is the main/lone concern now. But it's a pretty big one.

Cardinals (31) at Jaguars (19) 

• Conner got his first two inside-the-five carries of the season and converted both for scores. He now has four snaps to Edmonds' two inside the five, with a 2-1 advantage in carries.
  • Conner also has an 8-5 advantage in red-zone opportunities.
• But Edmonds has a 63/42 snap share advantage, and 16 more targets (17-1) with only four fewer carries.

• The snap share was actually a season low for Robinson, who played 63% in Week 1 and 73% in Week 2. However, he had season highs for everything we care about in fantasy football, taking 21 touches for 134 yards and his first TD of the year.
• Robinson got the lone snap inside the 10-yard line; it was his four-yard rushing TD in the second quarter.
• Robinson is now averaging 10.3 carries for 53.3 yards and 4.0 catches for 30.7 yards. He's taken 62% of Jacksonville's RB carries (31 of 50) and 78.9% of the targets (15 of 19), with Hyde getting the rest.
  • Robinson has three RZ opportunities to Hyde's one, and one goal-line look to Hyde's zero. Not a lot of that stuff to go around in Jacksonville, huh?

Washington Football Team (21) at Bills (43) 

• Despite trailing for nearly the entire game, Washington finished with more rush attempts (25) than passes (24).
• Gibson got four carries for 14 yards on Washington's final drive, at which point Buffalo was up by four TDs. That's not to say he'll get garbage-time work in wins, but Washington did keep most of its starters in through the end of Sunday's ugly loss. Gibson even played 72.2% of snaps in the fourth quarter.
  • Surely there's really smart logic behind that; maybe ask Michael Thomas if he has any opinions?
• Gibson didn't do much apart from his 73-yard receiving TD on a screen pass in the first half. But it was quite a TD. He is a 220-pounder with 4.4 speed.

• Just in case you were finally thinking about trusting Singletary....
  • Actually, this game reminds us of two problems. A) Losing snaps and touches to Moss. B) That Bills RBs combined for only 21.7 PPR points even in a massive win; remember, Josh Allen is still greedy (especially in the red zone).
• Matt Breida was a healthy scratch.

Bengals (24) at Steelers (10) 

• Evans, a rookie sixth-round pick, had played just two snaps on offense through the first two weeks. He got three of the seven snaps on 3rd-and-medium/long Sunday. That's not a big deal, in and of itself, but it does create some level of worry that he'll steal more passing downs from Mixon as the year goes along.
  • Everything else for Mixon looks pretty good, however. The Bengals are better, even if they aren't actually good. And they can actually block this year, kind of. And Mixon has played 74% or more of snaps in every game.

• Maybe it's because I write this article, but i was shocked to see Harris under 10 percent owned on DraftKings this week. He's been playing all of the backfield snaps, and his team had just lost its target-hogging wideout to an injury. Obviously I had no clue this would happen, but Harris was one of the better non-McCaffrey bets to lead RBs in targets this week. And now with McCaffrey injured, the rookie is the favorite for the season-long snap lead at his position. It basically forces him to be an RB1 no matter how awful the blocking is.
  • ICYMI, Najee caught 14 of 19 targets for 102 yards, atoning for yet another subpar rushing line (14-40-0, after 16-45-0 and 10-38-0 the first two weeks).

Colts (16) at Titans (25) 

• Marlon Mack was a healthy scratch, after seeing five carries and a target on 12 snaps the previous week in a 27-24 loss to the Rams. Mack was also active for Week 1 but didn't play.
• Hines got three RZ opportunities to Taylor's one, including a nine-yard rushing TD on a second down.
• Taylor played 60.0% of snaps through three quarters, with a 10-5 lead in carries and 3-2 lead in targets over Hines. 
  • But then Hines got 87.5% of snaps and four targets in the fourth quarter, dominating snaps in catch-up mode.
• Hines is now averaging 5.3 carries for 21.4 yards and 4.0 catches for 39.7 yards... pretty similar to last year (5.6 for 23.8, 3.9 for 30.1). But his role does seem a little smaller, philosophically, i.e., he's needed a lot of help from negative game script.
  • Fourth quarters have accounted for 41.3% of Hines' snaps and half of his 16 targets this season.
  • He's averaging just 3.7 carries and 2.7 targets prior to the fourth quarter, whereas Taylor is at 11.7 and 3.0, respectively. So, Taylor should do better if the Colts do better. If.

• McNichols played 11 of 11 snaps on 3rd-and-medium/long, but only seven snaps otherwise.
  • Henry got both snaps on 3rd-and-short. Plus 83.9% of first-down snaps and 90.9% of second-down snaps.
• Henry leads the league in carries (80), rushing yards (353) and rushing first downs (18), plus he's tied for the lead in rushing TDs (three).

Saints (28) at Patriots (13) 

• Kamara scored more than half his fantasy points on a single first-quarter drive, capped off by his 11-yard receiving TD.
  • The 24 carries were a career high, with seven coming in the fourth quarter.
• Jameis Winston attempted 21 passes, after 20 and 22 the first two weeks. Part of that is the Saints trying to run more, but they've also just been in some really strange games, and only Seattle has run fewer plays than the Saints' 55 per game so far.
• Jones' snap share has dropped a bit each week, from 35% to 27% to 21%. He has 16 carries and three targets, but with 12 of those 19 touches coming in the opener.
• Kamara is at 79.8% snap share, up from 65.1% last season and 68.5% in 2019. I still see potential for his 2021 to be as good as his 2020. He's certainly where you want him in terms of snap, carry & target share... he just needs to be eating from a larger/yummier pie.

• White left in the first half with a hip injury. He was carted off, and then ruled out shortly thereafter. Bolden filled in as the main pass-catching back and ended up leading the backfield in snaps with the Pats playing from behind.
• For what it's worth, the Saints held Aaron Jones to 1.8 YPC in Week 1 (five carries for nine yards) and limited Christian McCaffrey to 3.0 YPC in Week 2 (24 for 72 yards). That should make Harris and his fantasy managers feel at least a little bit better. Until they see the Week 4 matchup, that is. Regardless, better days ahead and all that...

Dolphins (28) at Raiders (31) - OT

• Ahmed played 20% and 31% of snaps in the first two games, with nine carries and six targets. He got just five snaps (6%) Week 3.
• Brown has five, five and seven carries, but with snap share jumping around from 30% (W1) to 12% (W2) to 41% (W3).
• Brown got Miami's first two inside-the-five RB carries of the season, though his lone TD came from 24 yards out in the first quarter. It didn't go well, with Brown stuffed on back-to-back plays in the final minute of the game, before QB Jacoby Brissett finally punched it in on fourth down. And that after Brown had been stuffed on a 3rd-and-1 earlier in the fourth quarter. He may keep the short-yardage role by default, with Gaskin and Ahmed both around 200 pounds.
• Gaskin had season highs for carries and targets, but his snap share (52%) was down slightly from 54% and 61% in the first two games. That may be due to his Week 2 pass-blocking struggles, though he nonetheless finished Week 3 with season highs for touches (16) and total yards (74)
• Brown got 12 pass-blocking snaps (the most among all RBs in Week 3) and didn't give up a pressure, after playing just five total snaps as a pass blocker through Miami's first two games. (Last week in Backfield Breakdown we mentioned that Gaskin had given up six pressures, four hurries and two QB hits on 13 pass-blocking snaps in the Week 2 loss to Buffalo.)
  • Gaskin logged five pass-blocking snaps in Sunday's game without allowing a pressure, per PFF. So, Gaskin seems to have lost a bit of playing time because of the pass-blocking issues in Week 2, but he also bounced back and even had his best rushing day of the year as well. We'll keep an eye on this, as there's still an argument for Miami returning Gaskin to his 2020 role at some point.

• Josh Jacobs (toe) was out for a second game in a row.
• Barber was busy throughout, including eight carries and three targets on 42.5% snap share in the first half.
  • Drake got six carries and four targets on 57.5% of snaps in the first half, but then saw just two carries and two targets on 32.6% snap share after halftime.
• Barber played all 14 snaps in overtime, taking seven carries for 47 yards.
• PFF grades the Raiders offense as the league's worst for run-blocking through three weeks.

Jets (0) at Broncos (26) 

• Tevin Coleman (illness) was inactive. It isn't clear if he got sick, or if he was held out because he has sickle cell trait and the game was played in Denver. Meanwhile, La'Mical Perine was also inactive and Josh Adam strictly played special teams.
• Carter was lauded for his pass catching out of UNC this spring, but he's actually the relative thumpher in this oddball backfield. In Sunday's game, he played 52.2% of snaps on first down, 50.0% on second down and only 15.4% on third down. The snaps should lean more toward Carter if the Jets ever manage to be something in the neighborhood of competitive.

• Williams got three goal-line looks to Gordon's two, including a one-yard TD after Gordon was stopped just shy of the goal line on Denver's second drive of the game.
• Gordon played 53.1% of snaps on first down, 56.5% on second down, 50.0% on third down.
• Gordon took his final carry with the Broncos up by 23 points and three minutes remaining. After that, Crockett got his four snaps and three carries to close out the contest.
• Williams lost a fumble in the fourth quarter and averaged only 2.5 YPC, but he also scored his first touchdown and caught three of four targets for 33 yards.
• For the season, Gordon has seven targets on 46 routes (15.2%) and Williams has six on 32 (18.8%). Neither will be mistaken for Christian McCaffrey, but they should see a few more looks once competition stiffens and the Broncos aren't beating up on chumps. Then again, that could also mean fewer carries to go around.

Buccaneers (24) at Rams (34) 

• Fournette got his second start, switching back in after Jones got the nod Week 2. Last week, Fournette saw 11 carries and four targets on 49% of snaps, while Jones got six and three on 51%. In Week 3, the Bucs fell behind by multiple scores and ended up using Gio a lot more.
• Week 3 accounts for 10 of Bernard's 15 targets (66.7%) and 33 of his 56 snaps (58.9%) through three games. And he still hasn't taken a carry this year.
• Fournette has played 10 snaps inside the 10-yard line, but has only two carries and no targets on those plays. Jones has four snaps inside the 10, and Bernard only two (including the receiving TD in Week 3).

• Darrell Henderson (rib) was inactive after failing to practice all week.
• Funk played 38.2% of snaps in the first half — but with only one touch— and he then dropped to 3.2% after halftime.
• Sony Michel played 90.3% of snaps in the second half, after 58.8% in the first half. But even in the first half he had nine carries, two targets and 44% of the Rams' touches on offense. I'll likely have Michel as a high-end RB2 or even low-end RB1 if he fills in for Henderson again Week 4 versus the Cardinals.

Seahawks (17) at Vikings (30) 

• Carson played 63.2% of snaps in the first quarter and only 32.4% thereafter. He may have been injured, with ESPN's Brady Henderson reporting in the third quarter that Carson was being checked out on the sideline while Homer took over in the backfield.
  • The score was also a factor in Homer getting more work, as he often plays in obvious passing situations, but it doesn't explain why early down backup Alex Collins went from 11% snap share in Week 2 (a close game) to 26% in Week 3. Carson wasn't right.
• Carson got off to a fast start that included a 30-yard TD run early in the second quarter, but if you watch the replay until the end, it does look like he may have suffered a minor injury on the play:

• Dalvin Cook (ankle) didn't play.
• In the first half, Mattison got eight carries and six targets on 72.7% of snaps, putting up 14.6 PPR points.
  • In the second half, he added 18 carries and two targets on 62.9% of snaps, adding another 8.5 points.

Packers (30) at 49ers (28) 

• Dillon played more than 20% of snaps in each of the first three quarters but then got just one of 15 snaps in the fourth quarter (Jones took 14 of 15 with the game on the line).
• Jones got the only goal-line look and seven of the eight red-zone looks. Through three games, he has all five of Green Bay's goal-line RB looks, and 18 of the 20 RZ looks. In other words, Dillon is mostly stealing low-value carries between the 20s.
• Davante Adams accounted for 18 of Green Bay's 31 targets.

• Kyle Shanahan pulled an old trick out of his hat, giving Juszczyk significant playing time as a halfback (mostly on clear passing downs) for the first time since 2018. It makes sense, given that he and Sermon may be the team's only healthy RBs who actually know the playback. Also, Juszczyk can catch and block... I kinda wonder why he isn't just the permanent third guy? Presumably because Shanahan wants speed at the position even on 3rd-and-long.
• Kerryon Johnson, Trenton Cannon & Jacques Patrick were all active for Sunday night's game, but the first two strictly played special teams and the rookie didn't play at all. Sermon was the lead back, and Juszczyk also got work.

Eagles () at Cowboys () 

Coming Tuesday!