With another four teams on a bye, fantasy football managers will be scrambling again as they attempt to set lineups featuring fantasy relevant running backs (RBs) whose potential snap counts, receiving targets, and carries give them the best chance to win their weekly matchups in Week 11.

As for Week 10, we finally saw Kyren Williams’ return to action. He only played 27% of the Rams’ offensive snaps but their backfield is a work in progress and he’ll likely see increased playing time in the coming weeks. We also witnessed some interesting shifts in RB usage across a few backfields last week. We’ve adjusted our RB handcuff grid to reflect those changes and as we usually do in this column, we’ll examine some backfields that are in flux and analyze their recent and potential future RB usage in an attempt to project how their RBs will be utilized moving forward.

 

 

NFL Week 10 Running Back Usage Report

San Francisco 49ers 

Head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed that he expects Christian McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell to “have about even” carries  from now on. Whether that truly happens remains to be seen. Against the Chargers on Sunday, McCaffrey played almost twice as many snaps as Mitchell (47 to 24) but Mitchell did have more carries (18) than McCaffrey (14). The good news for fantasy managers rostering McCaffrey is that he ran more routes than Mitchell (23 to 5), caught more passes than Mitchell (4 to 1), and took five of the team’s seven goal line carries. He converted one of those goal line carries into a TD. Given both McCaffrey’s and Mitchell’s injury history, having them split carries moving forward is probably a good idea for real life football. For fantasy purposes, not so much. We’ll have to monitor this situation to see how it plays out over the rest of the season.

Chicago Bears

The Bears placed Khalil Herbert (hip), David Montgomery’s handcuff, on the IR. The designation means that he’ll miss at least the next four games and won’t be eligible to return to action until Week 15. Rookie RB Trestan Ebner will likely fill the change of pace and handcuff role vacated by Herbert, but the Bears may also choose to elevate Darrynton Evans from their practice squad.  The Bears run the ball more than anyone in the league (59.6% of the time) and Montgomery will continue to get the bulk of the playing time in the Bears’ backfield. However, with QB Justin Fields averaging 12 carries and 111 rushing yards per game since Week 6, and eating into Montgomery’s workload, don’t expect much more than RB2 type production from him for the rest of the season. 

Houston Texans

The Texans claimed Eno Benjamin off the waiver wire on Tuesday. He was released by the Cardinals on Monday after playing just one snap in Week 10. Rookie RB Dameon Pierce should remain the Texans’ primary back but once activated Benjamin will likely absorb some of his workload. Despite never having carried the ball more than 106 times a season in his four year college career, Pierce has shown no signs of slowing down. He's averaging 21 carries per game and 4.37 YPC in his last five games. Rex Burkhead, whose been playing an average of just 22% of the team’s offensive snaps over the past three weeks and Dare Ogunbowale, (7 receptions on the season), will obviously see less playing time with Benjamin on the active roster. Keaontay Ingram will take over Benjamin’s former role as the Cardinals’ change of pace back and he’ll also be James Conner’s handcuff.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Rachaad White got the start ahead of Leonard Fournette in Week 10 but both backs rotated in and out until Fournette was forced from the game due to a hip injury in the third quarter. With 14 carries for 57 yards (4.1 YPC) and a TD, Fournette was enjoying his best game in weeks, but White was even more effective with 22 carries for 105 yards (4.8 YPC). Fournette’s injury doesn’t appear to be too serious, and the Bucs’ Week 11 bye should allow him to be active for Week 12. Before his Week 11 exit, Fournette had more carries (14) than White (11) but White played more snaps than Fournette. We’ll have to wait until Week 12 to see if that trend continues.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Najee Harris played more snaps (50) than Jaylen Warren (36) in Week 10 but in the Steelers’ last two games Warren’s percentage of snaps played has increased, while Harris’ has decreased. At the same time their fantasy production in PPR scoring formats has been virtually equal. Harris has averaged 10.9 fantasy points per game compared to 10.6 for Warren during that time frame. There’s no need for fantasy football managers rostering Harris to panic just yet. He did have 20 carries in Week 10 compared to just nine for Warren. However, if this trend continues, both backs may be reduced to producing flex type fantasy production moving forward. 

Kansas City Chiefs

In last week’s column we said that both Isiah Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire were both rosterable but not startable. Well, after Edwards-Helaire played only four snaps in Week 10 it seems the only reason to roster him is for his value as Pacheco’s handcuff. The Chiefs’ backfield strategy seems to evolve every week but at least for now, Pacheco seems firmly in place as the team’s primary back and Jerick McKinnon is the team’s passing down back.

 

 

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