Just when Clyde Edwards-Helaire started to gain some fantasy momentum, he left the team’s Sunday Night Football matchup against the Bills with an MCL injury that is expected to sideline him “a few weeks,” according to Adam Schefter. Darrel Williams and Jerick McKinnon will replace CEH’s touches, with the former getting the starting and workhorse treatment.
Williams has 99 yards and two touchdowns on the ground while adding seven receptions for 45 yards this season. His three-down skill-set makes him an intriguing Week 6 Waiver Wire streamer until Edwards-Helaire returns to the lineup.
Week 6 will be Williams’ second career start. His start first came in January during the playoffs against the Browns, where he racked up 94 total yards on 17 touches. With Edwards-Helaire on the shelf, Williams saw 80 percent of the snaps compared to Le’Veon Bell’s 16 percent of snaps.
“You just get into these and you kind of go with what’s working, and for whatever reason, Darrel (Williams) was working,” Reid said after the Browns game. “Listen, I’m proud of him too because he’s never hung his head, even when he was third and fourth, he just keeps going. He’s not maybe a household name, but maybe after this game, people will know him and respect the work that he does. He’s a very intelligent football player and he plays, as you saw, a very physical game.”
Last season, Williams posted a career-high 169 rushing yards on 39 carries and caught 18 balls for another 116 receiving yards.
Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy recently said he preferred a running back tandem, which could open the door for more McKinnon touches or even a trade if Edwards-Helaire is out for an extended period of time.
“I think the more the merrier. The more yards you can put on the ground—this is the former running backs coach talking now—the more pressure that it applies to the defense,” Bieniemy said last week. “It’s been good watching these guys do what they do. More importantly, it’s been fun watching the O-line open up those seams up front. And that’s the thing that I love, these guys are developing a chemistry together.”
Check back for The Wolf’s Week 6 Rankings to see where Williams lands.
