Bye Weeks: Buffalo, Cleveland, Miami, New England, N.Y. Jets, San Francisco
David Johnson is back in the RB1 conversation
thanks to a new OC and a tasty matchup.
Grab a Helmet
David
Johnson vs OAK: Well it only took 9 weeks, but the
Cardinals seem to have FINALLY figured out how to use David Johnson!
The 183 total yards and 2 scores against the Chiefs were easily
Johnson’s best totals of the year, and should be just an appetizer
to the main course that Oakland’s defense should serve up this
week. With limited talent and a rookie at QB, Arizona must continue
to run the offense through Johnson every chance it gets. The Raiders
have surrendered the second most yards to running backs this season,
and don’t have the ability to get too far out ahead of the Cardinals.
25 touches should be the absolute floor for Johnson this week,
and all things considered, he has one of the best matchups of
RB1 candidates this week.
Saquon
Barkley vs TB: The sledding remained tough against
a stingy 49ers front Monday night, but Barkley continued his season
long streak of going over 100 total yards, making him one of the
highest floor backs in the NFL. He’s been a PPR demon with 62
receptions, and even if the rushing yardage hasn’t been eye popping,
he’s still found the end zone 7 total times. Barkley is in a big-time
blow-up spot this week against Tampa Bay. The Bucs are going to
move the ball on offense, but can’t stop anyone on defense, and
have lost one of their best defenders, Lavonte David. Most of
the sloppy weather should move out of the Northeast by Sunday,
and the Giants have a real chance to get their offense back on
track. I think Barkley finds the endzone twice, piles up 150+
total yards and slots in as an easy top-3 option for Week 11.
Aaron
Jones @ SEA (Thu): I’ve seen some ridiculous stats
being thrown around about Aaron Jones these past few weeks. He
leads the NFL in most explosive run metrics over the last two
years, and put those stats on display last week against the Dolphins
when he went for a career high 145 yards and 2 touchdowns on only
15 carries. It took some time but he seems to have completely
overtaken Jamaal Williams as the team’s bellcow back, and as long
as Aaron Rodgers remains upright, he’ll never see an 8-man front.
Jones hits the hole like a lightning bolt and gives the Packer
offense a dimension they haven’t had since Ahman Green was running
around Lambeau Field. Jones hasn’t been below 5 yards a carry
in any game this year, and should be a big part of the game plan
on the road against the rival Seahawks. I don’t know that he’s
a 20-carry back, but he barely needs half that to make an impact.
Ride the wave and fire him up as an upside RB2.
Grab Some Pine
James
Conner @ JAX: A few things concern me about Conner
this week. First, he’s coming to a part of the season where young
players can tend to wear down, especially since this is his first
full year as a healthy pro. He’s hardly ever come off the field
through the first 10 weeks, and got banged up last week against
the Panthers. With Le'Veon Bell not coming back, Pittsburgh has
to be thinking about lessening Conner’s workload down the stretch,
especially with Mike Tomlin praising rookie back Jaylen Samuels
for his mop-up work last week. While the Jacksonville defense
has unachieved all year, they still have only given up the 7th
fewest fantasy points to running backs, holding their last two
opponents to under 100 yards rushing. Conner has established himself
as a weekly “must start”, but I think he has a chance to lay his
first egg since a Week 4 dud against Baltimore.
Eagles RBs @ NO: If there is
one thing that’s been pretty clear this year it’s that 3-headed
RBBC situations are usually just a bunch of average players being
shuffled in and out. Since the loss of Jay
Ajayi the Eagles have split the work between Corey Clement,
Wendell
Smallwood and Josh
Adams. Smallwood has produced at times, Clement has been nearly
invisible, and Adams, who has shown the most as a runner, still
doesn’t get enough touches to be a reliable fantasy play. This
Eagle offense just hasn’t been able to put it all together, and
I doubt the running game suddenly catches fire this week against
one of the best run defense units in the league. Starting any
of these guys is a roll of the dice, and a situation to avoid
if you can.
Lamar
Miller @ WAS: Three times this year the Ghost of Lamar
Miller has shown up to haunt defenses with 100-yard games and
flashes of old fantasy glory. But most times it’s Miller’s
fantasy owners who get that recycled old candy that’s been
sitting around for over a year. When Miller has been good, he’s
been top flight RB2 good. When he’s been bad, he’s
been barely rosterable. And so goes the Jekyll and Hyde game of
which Miller will show this Sunday in Washington. The Redskins
have given up the 5th fewest rushing yards to backs this season,
making this a clear “shy away” from Miller week.
