Chris Carson was already among the biggest fantasy football bargains of 2019. A year after finishing fifth in rushing yards (1159) and as fantasy’s RB14 (RB5 from Week 11 on), Carson is somehow falling outside of Round 4. This was already blasphemous, especially with Mike Davis + his 146 touches (34 rec) and 700 total yards removed.
But the value is straight up ludicrous with Carson about to spike as a receiver.
OC Brian Schottenheimer recently gushed over Carson’s receiving ability, promising: “We need to get him more involved in the passing game… He’s got unbelievable hands, and he’s a problem for people coming out of the backfield.”
HC Pete Carroll furthered the hype by adding: “We have no hesitation to throw the balls to our guys,” Carroll said Thursday. “They’re all good. Chris is really, really good. Chris might have as good of hands as anybody on the team.”
Though the coachspeak is nice, actions are far more important. Thankfully, Schottenheimer’s bee more creative with his running-backs as receivers than ever before. Carson raved:
“He’s doing a lot with us running backs. He’s splitting us out wide, putting us in different spots around the field. He’s using us more for pass catching than what he did in the previous years. It’s fun for us.”
After losing Doug Baldwin and Davis among others, the Seahawks enter 2018 with 36% of their target share vacated (7th highest in the league). Moreover, Via Graham Barfield, Seattle sneakily threw to their RBs on 26% of first and second downs, the ninth-highest rate in the league. Much of Baldwin and Davis’ damage came in the intermediate portion of the field, and Carson now seems destined to inherit some of this work.
