Outside of a few stretches filling in for an injured Saquon Barkley, Wayne Gallman has never really sniffed the fantasy radar. No one would expect Gallman to move the fantasy needle against the Patriots on Thursday Night Football, but with Cordarrelle Patterson out with a sprained ankle, it appears that Arthur Smith prefers Gallman over the disappointing Mike Davis.
The Falcons lost Patterson while getting demolished by the Cowboys last week. In Patterson’s absence, Gallman took over as the primary rusher, while Davis saw increased passing game action. But even while getting their ass kicked, Gallman played more snaps than Davis (23 to 20) and out-carried Davis 15 to four. Gallman only trailed Davis in routes run by five (12 to 7). Gallman finished with 71 total yards on 16 touches.
RB touches with Matt Ryan at QB in Week 10
Wayne Gallman – 8
Cordarelle Patterson – 5
Mike Davis – 4Gallman was already out-touching Davis before Josh Rosen garbage time when he added nine more carries.
— Andrew Erickson™ (@AndrewErickson_) November 15, 2021
After the Falcons’ cut Qadree Ollison and Javian Hawkins, Arthur Smith stated the team added Gallman at the end of training camp because of his four-down skill-set.
“It’s obviously not the end of the road for Qadree, but Wayne was a guy we thought, we wanted to bring in here and maybe he could add something for us out of the backfield and more importantly on fourth down,” Smith said. “So that was a big part of it.”
Entering his fifth season, Gallman rushed for 1,444 yards on 336 carries (4.3 YPC). He also snagged 80 passes for 498 yards. The 6-foot, 216 lb veteran filled in admirably for Barkley last season when he set career highs in rushing yards (682) and six rushing touchdowns.
Arthur Smith’s rushing offense has always bred a top-tier fantasy running back and it didn’t change this year with Patterson. The Swiss Army Knife is currently a top-ten running back in fantasy. But, he could miss a week or three due to a sprained ankle.
Check back Tuesday night to see where The Wolf has Gallman on his Week 11 Rankings.
