Outlook: Yeldon largely serves as the counterpunch to Fournette's bruising style and only receives significant rushing work when Fournette is out with injury. In 2017, he served as the third option behind Fournette and Chris Ivory and only managed 49 carries for the season. With Ivory now in Buffalo, there's a chance Yeldon could see that total increase, but it's also conceivable that he falls below Corey Grant, as well. Yeldon enters this season coming off of three consecutive seasons with at least 40 targets and 30 receptions. In PPR leagues, he could serve as a desperation fill-in flex option because of this role, but Yeldon has been mostly uninspiring as a fantasy asset and is probably best left as a free agent for now.

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Outlook: As I've dug deeper into this Packers backfield the more I realize that it really was an overall effective unit. Sure, it wasn't good enough to carry the Packers after losing Rodgers, but the trio of Montgomery-Williams-Jones combined for 1734 total yards and 14 touchdowns. The main problem with those numbers is they are spread over three players, and when healthy, I don' t know that any one of them will be the main man. Jones was easily the most dynamic, if one dimensional (he only tallied 22 yards on 9 receptions). The former Texas-El Paso star didn't see the field until Week 4, but flashed from Weeks 5-7, showing a penchant for big plays. His lack of polish as a receiver and pass blocker and a knee injury in Week 10 basically made his second half of the season a washout. I really think this Packer running game has a chance to be very strong, and although Jones is the back with the biggest upside, he's got to prove to be more than a big play in a bottle. Until he improves his fundamentals (and don't forget an October arrest that might draw a response from the league), Jones is best viewed as a late-round flyer with upside.

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Outlook: Wilkins is becoming a trendy sleeper among fantasy analysts projecting the Colts running back workload. But while his size would indicate his ability to handle a heavy volume, his college production doesn't give the same rosy outlook. Wilkins never had a 200-carry season and he maxed out at 13 carries per game. He did have excellent career efficiency (6.3 YPC), but there's a real question about whether he can handle 200 carries in the NFL. Let him pass by at the end of your draft unless you're in need of a lottery ticket at the position. He'll likely be on the waivers after a few weeks.

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Outlook: Foreman had just begun to show flashes before a serious Achilles injury left him sidelined for the remainder of the 2017 season. Foreman averaged more than 4 yards per carry as a rookie and had just scored on a long TD run before coming up lame on the last few steps. Had he not been injured, it appeared likely that he would earn more work.

Foreman's biggest risk is his likelihood to either miss games early in the season or have severely limited usage while he completes his recovery. And while there's reasonable excitement for his potential, his 9th round cost is probably too high. If he's on the PUP list, his ADP will plummet to the late rounds or he'll go undrafted and if he starts on a snap count, he'll be a likely cut candidate in redraft leagues. Pass on him for now, but be prepared to act quickly on a potential waiver claim.

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Outlook: Spencer Ware is looking to return in 2018 after spending a full calendar year recovering from a torn PCL and LCL. It is important to note that this is not an ACL/MCL tear, but rather the more devastating PCL/LCL tear. Ware did participate in minicamp earlier this offseason, albeit on a limited basis, but the team believes that he will be ready for training camp, and thus ready to start the season. However, there is still a possibility that Ware does not make the Chiefs roster. Kansas City could save $1.5 million by cutting him and that is certainly an option if they see him trending toward not being ready to play at full strength.

If Ware is cut, it would likely be Charcandrick West who slots in again as the team's primary backup to starter Kareem Hunt, but West himself does not have much fantasy value unless Ware doesn't make the team and Hunt gets injured. There is also a possibility that offseason acquisitions Damien Williams or Kerwynn Williams beat out West for a roster spot, or end up replacing Ware if he gets cut.

At 5'10" and 230 lbs with a 4.67 forty yard dash time coming out of college, Ware is not much of an athletic specimen but he has produced in this Kansas City offense in the past when given the opportunity. Ware produced over 1,300 total yards in 2016 despite playing in just 14 games, and was a viable every week fantasy starter on a 12-4 Chiefs team that ruled the AFC West. Ware's career 4.6 yards per carry don't stick out as being anything particularly great but his knowledge of the offense should earn him the backup role in Kansas City if he's physically recovered from the knee injury that ended his 2017 season before it ever began. Ware is still just 26 years old and he's taken fewer than 600 carries through his college and professional career combined thus far, so there should still be plenty of tread on the tires. Still, given Hunt's tremendous success as a rookie, don't look for Ware to see more than 10 touches in many games this season, which really limits him to essentially being a handcuff to Hunt and likely an undrafted player in most leagues.

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Outlook: Approaching his age 32 season, Blount, the hired gun (on his 3rd team in the last three years) gives the Lions the short yardage battering ram they've lacked for a long time. Despite his size, he can "get skinny" when he needs to and move the chains. Now his final numbers look incredibly poor after winning a ring with the Eagles last year, (766 yards, 2 touchdowns, a 16 touchdown regression from 2016 in New England) but this is a player is familiar to the coaching staff, has a high football IQ and will give Detroit quality snaps and carries, as he owned a respectable 4.4 yards-per-carry average for the Eagles last year. Unfortunately for fantasy purposes he's incredibly one-dimensional, and likely situational as well, especially if rookie teammate Kerryon Johnson develops as the team expects.

The bottom line here is that Detroit brought Blount in to be a veteran presence from winning organizations in a backfield that's frankly stunk for a long time. He'll be a great short yardage option and a fallback workhorse if necessary, but a few hundred yards and half a dozen touchdowns is about the most you can expect, making him an end of the roster RB5.

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Outlook: One of the more under-the-radar draft picks from a fantasy perspective might end up being the Cardinals' selection of Fordham running back Chase Edmonds in the fourth round. Edmonds, who has drawn comparisons to players like Dion Lewis and Matt Forte due to his tremendous agility numbers, is a versatile playmaker who could very well see some playing time as a way to keep Johnson healthy.

Edmonds likely won't see significant enough playing time to warrant weekly fantasy appeal but he is a nice complement to Johnson and would have immediate and significant fantasy value should Johnson suffer another injury this season. The only other backs on the roster are lackluster names like Elijhaa Penny, D.J. Foster and T.J. Logan who really don't offer much upside, so Edmonds is the one to own if you're planning on "handcuffing" Johnson in your fantasy draft.

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Outlook: Hines blazing 4.38 40-yard dash at the NFL combine brought him onto the national radar, but it's his unique prospect profile that makes him an interesting fantasy option with the Colts. Hines began his college career as a WR and shifted into a versatile RB role that included a season with 43 receptions for over 500 yards receiving. For his career, he accumulated 89 receptions and 933 yards.

There's no question about whether he'll be fast enough to play at the next level and if he can translate that into a receiving role, it could be gold. In 2017, the Colts targeted their running backs more than 80 times and in 2016, during Luck's last healthy season, he targeted the RB over 100 times. Particularly in a PPR format, this could be a valuable role for fantasy particularly with new head coach, Frank Reich, who spent two seasons coaching Darren Sproles. In standard formats, Hines is easy to leave behind, but he should be stashed in PPR formats because his athletic profile gives him a very high ceiling.

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