It’s an obvious play, but nonetheless, it’s the right play. If
you have Mitchell on your roster, or claim him this week, you
have to play him. It might be his best chance to shine given that
at some point third-round draft choice Trey Sermon is going to
get the starting nod. The Eagles were middle of the road last
season against running backs.
Ekeler rushed the ball 15 times and scored once, but shockingly
wasn’t involved in the passing game. That should change
in Week 2 against a vulnerable Cowboys defense that couldn’t
stop anything the Buccaneers did in the season opener. Chargers
OC Joe Lombardi is certainly a fan of throwing to the running
backs as evidenced by his 167 RB targets the last time he was
an OC (2015 Detroit). Your star will be the Ekeler you have come
to expect this Sunday.
Gaskin gets no respect, but he continues to plug along as the
main running back in Miami. They didn’t draft an RB as expected
in April and only added Malcolm Brown in the offseason, so I’m
thinking they still have faith in him. He was mediocre in the
opener with 12.6 fantasy points on 49 yards rushing and 27 receiving
on five receptions. He faces a Bills team that he averaged 16
points against last season despite the Dolphins losing twice,
including a 56-26 blowout in which he ran the ball just seven
times. I like him to be fully involved and produce close to 20
fantasy points.
You may be distracted by the 17 fantasy points Jacobs scored,
but dig deeper and you will find he didn’t play that well (40
total yards on 11 touches), but scored twice. Teammate Kenyan
Drake also saw 11 touches. This won’t be a particularly high-scoring
game in Pittsburgh and Jacobs is likely going to be touchdown-dependent
all season.
Barkley may be healthy, but the Giants are being very protective
of their star running back. He saw just 11 touches and 10 rushing
attempts in Week 1 against Denver. Until such point as he starts
getting the average 22 touches-per-game he saw in his first two
seasons, he’s not fantasy-worthy and certainly not an RB1.
Ingram was a pleasant surprise in Week 1 rushing 26 times for
85 yards and a score, but game situations had the Texans with
a big lead and a conservative game plan. That’s not likely
to be the case on the road against a good Browns team. He wasn’t
part of the passing game. That’s where David Johnson and
Phillip Lindsay are better and they are likely to see a lot more
usage in this game. Ingram is great when his team has the lead
and wants to run out the clock, but Houston isn’t likely
to be in that situation very often this season and certainly not
in Week 2.
