The art of who to start or sit can be as tricky as the art of finding who optimal candidates are to consider as “borderline candidates.” So, hopefully, the biggest question marks at the running back position are here to help put your Week 10 worries at ease.
As always, check out The Wolf’s Week 10 Fantasy Rankings if you have any other tricky lineup decisions.
Week 10 RB Start ‘Em
Chuba Hubbard vs New York Giants (in Germany)
Chuba Hubbard outplaying expectation has become just about as cliche as playing “Sweet Caroline” at sporting venues. But that won’t stop the crowd in Munich from outdoing their decibel level from when they did “Country Roads,” and it shouldn’t stop Hubbard from putting up another useful fantasy performance against the mediocre Giants defense.
Not that I doubt the talent of Jonathan Brooks, but his time doesn’t quite seem here yet.
But Canales has said anything from Brooks being ready a month into the season to him not playing at all.
Even though slated to see his first NFL action, Brooks gets slapped with a “questionable” designation this week. And with a bye coming up after next week, there’s nothing that says the Panthers are looking to rush a considerable workload onto Brooks’ shoulders, unless, of course, Dave Canales has committed to a to-o-on of frankly unnecessary coachspeak over the past few weeks-plus.
Rhamondre Stevenson at Chicago Bears
Rhamondre’s yardage totals the past few games leave a lot to be desired, but he’s put up 20+ point fantasy days thanks to two touchdowns each of the past two weeks. And the yardage struggles have not lost him any work.
Now, touchdown regression has to happen for everyone at some point, but I don’t know this is the week. The Bears have been stout against the pass, allowing the 6th-fewest yards in the NFL, and haven’t been bad against the run. However, by allowing 5.1 yards per carry, Rhamondre may not get scoring opportunities from being leaned on in the gameplan, but he has a chance to get a decent yardage total as well.
It’s not all sexy, but there’s signs for hope, and if struggling to fill a starting fantasy slot, there’s plenty worse options.
Najee Harris vs Washington Commanders
Some may be waiting for Jaylen Warren to come out of Pittsburgh’s bye this week with a rejuvenated knee and a favorable game script to see passing down work in what could be a negative game script versus an impressive Commanders squad.
But the Steelers are 6-2 for good reason. They’re quietly one of the most winning franchises during Mike Tomlin‘s coaching tenure, and they have an extra week to prepare for Washington. They’ve only given up more points than the Los Angeles Chargers this season, and Najee’s coming off three straight 100-yard rushing performances.
I get it. Jaylen Warren is always the hotter name, but an increased role is far from a lock. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but Warren’s still sitting on my bench until I see it on the field.
Week 10 RB Sit ‘Em
Tony Pollard at Los Angeles Chargers
Pollard’s put serviceable numbers against stout run D’s this season, including 15.2 and 14.7 points against the Jets and Lions, respectively. And he didn’t need a TD to get there, which is good because you can’t count on one happening in L.A.
But Tyjae Spears returns this week, and neither one saw an injury designation after Friday practices.
To be fair, we’ve heard this story in a way:
Pollard wasn’t supposed to go off for 30+ touch day last week, but this is different. The effect of Spears’ workload on Pollard’s production was slight when Tyjae was last healthy, but couple that with arguably the toughest run D test this season, and there’s too much risk here. Pollard is a start only if you must break glass in case of emergency.
Austin Ekeler vs Pittsburgh Steelers
Ekeler may have had a 17+ point PPR day with Brian Robinson this week, but we can’t forget that he only had 11 of the 30 running back carries on just a 47% snap count.
It’s very significant that not getting a full workload was a primary reason for Austin choosing Washington in free agency. It’s not often that you hear of this type of situation, where I think we all would love to see what kind of numbers Ekeler could put up in a workhorse role, but the RBBC approach even without B-Rob, looks like it wasn’t just a one-off last week against the Giants.
He saw four out of the five running back targets, so maybe the snap count goes up if Washington is playing from behind, but just because Brian Robinson is out again, doesn’t lock in a prominent enough role to risk starting him against a good Steelers defense.
Rico Dowdle vs Philadelphia Eagles
A 21+ point fantasy day last week isn’t enough to plug him in against the Eagles and their 4th-best fantasy defense against running backs.
I could see a similar outcome to that of Dowdle’s performance against another tough defense in the Lions in week 6. With only 55 all-purpose yards, catching five of six targets helped him salvage a bit of fantasy utility for 10.5 PPR points.
But this time Cooper Rush will be under center instead of Dak Prescott, which will only make it harder to put up starter-worthy fantasy performances in general.
Too Close To Call
Rachaad White/Bucky Irving vs San Francisco 49ers
I couldn’t figure out which direction to take with either of these guys here. In what could be a higher-scoring game against a middle-of-the-pack run D, one of these guys could see decent fantasy numbers. Someone has to step up due to the absence of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and the ability of Liam Coen and Baker Mayfield to keep this offense afloat despite the injuries.
But the workload is just even enough. White’s overall light advantage in overall touches is balanced out by Bucky’s lead in touches in the red zone (11-to-3 when both players were active since week 3). Plus, Irving has shown to be the one more likely to help his own cause. Per NEX GEN Stats, his 42.2-percent broken tackle rate is the highest among 47 qualifying backs with at least 50 carries, while Rachaad’s 20% is only 38th.
It doesn’t get Bucky more overall looks though. So if you’re looking for who to flex between the two, you might just be trying to guess who falls into the endzone between the two, and that’s too close to call.
