Backfield Breakdown: RB Usage Report & Week 9 Waivers Preview

Seven RBs reached 80% snap share Week 8, with Aaron Jones (92%) and Kyren Williams (89%) leading the way despite playing on three days' rest Thursday night. The others were essentially the usual suspects: Saquon Barkley (83%), Jonathan Taylor (83%), J.K. Dobbins (82%) James Conner (81%) and Tony Pollard (80%). Each of the seven had at least 21 touches, and there were five additional RBs with snap shares in the 70s and 17 or more touches (Rhamondre Stevenson, Joe Mixon, Chuba Hubbard, Breece Hall and D'Andre Swift).

It's been a great year for running backs, both in terms of production and health, although we don't quite have anyone on the peak-McCaffrey level of production in PPR leagues. Mixon is actually in that range in his healthy outing, but that's only a four-game sample, and Henry is at the McCaffrey level in non-PPR formats. Below you'll find the usual breakdown, starting with another relatively light week for injuries...

Injury Report 🚑

New Injuries

Tyrone Tracy (concussion / day-to-day)

Jordan Mason (shoulder / day-to-day)

Rico Dowdle (illness / day-to-day)

Kendre Miller (hamstring / week-to-week)

Dameon Pierce (groin / day-to-day)

Tracy worked ahead of a healthy Devin Singletary for the second week in a row, only to suffer a concussion in the fourth quarter after taking 20 carries for 145 yards and a touchdown. Tracy also drew three targets, the same number as Singletary, who took a season-low two carries for 11 yards. Tracy played 57 percent of snaps, after getting 67 percent the week before (but only nine touches) in a blowout loss to Philadelphia. He's clearly the lead back in New York now but may miss some time in concussion protocol.

Mason, on the other hand, seems to be nearing the end of his time in a lead role. He was forced out early from two of the past three games, and while coach Kyle Shanahan doesn't seem to consider it a serious problem, Christian McCaffrey (Achilles) may be ready to play after a Week 9 bye. I'm guessing McCaffrey won't have his old, every-down role, at least not right away, but he should get enough work to make Mason nothing more than a bench stash for fantasy.

Missed Week 8

Travis Etienne (hamstring / week-to-week)

Jerome Ford (hamstring / week-to-week)

Tyjae Spears (hamstring / week-to-week)

Cordarrelle Patterson (ankle / week-to-week)

Jonathon Brooks (NFI - knee / could play Week 8 or 9)

Clyde Edwards-Helaire (illness / could play Week 8 or 9)

MarShawn Lloyd (IR - ankle / eligible since Week 6)

Christian McCaffrey (IR - Achilles / likely out until Week 10)

Gus Edwards (ankle / out until at least Week 10)

Isiah Pacheco (fibula / out until at least November)

Stock Report 📊

A lot of what you'll see here is building on my work from Box Score Breakdown, the weekly recap article with stat tables for every team that include snaps, routes, and target/air-yard shares, in addition to all the basic stats like carries, catches, yards and TDs. I also discuss role specifics and make note of various circumstances that could cause numbers to be misleading, so it's worth checking out if you're looking to go into even more detail on running backs before making waiver adds or lineup decisions for the upcoming week.

Note: Opps. = carries + targets    

Trending Up 📈

Jonathan Taylor - W8: 83% snaps, 21 of 23 RB opps, 117 total yards + TD

Joe Mixon - W8: 31 of 34 RB opps  /  SZN: 23+ PPR points, 124+ yards in all four full games

James Conner - back-to-back games w/ 80%+ snap share

Tyrone Tracy - W8: 57% snaps, 23 of 29 RB opps, 150 total yards + TD

Nick Chubb - W8: 62% snaps, 18 of 25 RB opps 

Rhamondre Stevenson - W8: 79% snaps, 23 of 28 RB opps, 65 total yards + 2 TDs

J.K. Dobbins - W8: season-high 81% snaps, 24 of 31 RB opps, 68 total yards + TD

James Cook - W8: 20 of 23 RB opps. before garbage time, two TD from inside 10-yard line

Chris Brooks - W8: 22% snaps, five touches for 17 yards

Taylor returned from an ankle injury and hopped right back into his dominant role, handling each of the Colts' 20 RB carries and rushing for over 100 yards. Speaking of dominant roles... Mixon's might be the best in the league for any RB, getting nearly all of the work in an offense that's been more run-focused than anticipated. 

Trending Down 📉

Breece Hall - W8: 74% snaps, 19 of 31 RB opps, 89 total yards (no TD)

Chase Brown - W8: 48% snaps, 13 of 22 RB opps before garbage time, 34 total yards + TD

Brian Robinson - W8: 47% snaps, 17 of 28 RB opps, 76 total yards

Alexander Mattison - dominating RB touches but averaging 2.7 YPC over past four games

Jordan Mason - W8: 14% snaps, shoulder aggravation  /  McCaffrey returning after bye?

Sean Tucker - W8: 10% snaps, three of 31 RB opps, 15 total yards

Tyler Goodson - W8: 3% snaps, dropped TD on his lone target/carry

Emanuel Wilson - W8: 18% snaps, six touches for three yards

Hall, Brown and Robinson aren't panic cases by any means, but there were negative trends for all three this past weekend, with Braelon Allen, Zack Moss and Austin Ekeler all having considerable roles for their respective teams. Robinson got off to a great start this season, but he's slowed down since picking up a knee injury and simply isn't as good of a player as Ekeler. OC Kliff Kingsbury may eventually realize he's costing himself yards/points by giving Robinson more touches than Ekeler (although the snaps have evened out in recent weeks). With Allen and Brown, we may be talking about one-week blips rather than multi-week trends, but it's at least a reminder that they're at risk of ceding a bunch of work in any given game (even if they didn't the week before).

Unsettled Backfields 🎲

These are the backfields that need to be monitored closely, where role changes could be imminent or we aren't sure about the team's depth chart moving forward. Backfields with a clear hierarchy/order won't be included unless there's a long-term injury to the starter and the backup situation is uncertain or confusing. 

Messy Backfields

1. Jacksonville Jaguars
2. Cincinnati Bengals
3. Dallas Cowboys
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Travis Etienne (hamstring) seems more likely than not to return this week, and there's no doubt the Jags will heavily feature their RBs in the gameplan after losing all three starting WRs to injuries Week 8. Of course, they're 7.5-point underdogs at Philadelphia and may eventually be forced away from the run, a situation that would favor Etienne getting more playing time (but not necessarily more touches). Tank Bigsby's average of 5.8 YPC ensures he won't simply disappear upon Etienne's return, but coach Doug Pederson has insisted multiple times that he still views Etienne as the starter (which is perfectly reasonable, given Etienne's talent and the relatively small sample for Bigsby's success). 

For Cincinnati, it appeared Chase Brown had eclipsed Zack Moss in recent weeks, but things swung back in Moss' favor a bit during Sunday's 37-17 loss to the Eagles. The final carry count shows a 12-5 advantage for Brown, but that includes three Brown carries on the final three snaps of the game (it was really 9-5 for carries and 4-4 for targets before deep garbage time, with Moss having a 54/46 snap advantage). Brown is still the one you'd rather have in a fantasy lineup, but neither inspires much confidence right now.

The Cowboys had an odd situation Sunday night, when Dalvin Cook's promotion from the practice squad coincided with Rico Dowdle being too ill to play. Dowdle got about half the snaps and well over half the touches Weeks 3-5, but Ezekiel Elliott then took on more work Week 6, ahead of a Week 7 bye. Elliott was again the lead guy in a three-man committee Sunday night, only with Cook (who looked terrible) and Hunter Leupke instead of Dowdle and Luepke. Dowdle is the best one to have on a fantasy roster, without doubt, but actually putting him in a Week 9 lineup is another matter.

The Buccaneers mostly phased out Sean Tucker this past Sunday, giving him 10% of snaps and three touches while Rachaad White got 11 touches on 56% of snaps and Bucky Irving took 16 touches on 42% of snaps (including seven catches on 15 routes, which was more than a bit fluky). Irving is unlikely to match that receiving volume in future weeks, but we have a pretty good idea at this point that the Bucs prefer him to White as a runner (but still favor White in clear passing situations). Irving is most likely to eventually emerge from the mess, but White is at least his equal as a Week 9 fantasy play given the strong possibility of negative game script at Kansas City. Just don't expect White to match his results from the past two games, which were boosted by receiving TDs and elevated overall play volume for the Tampa offense.

On the Brink

1. Carolina Panthers

Chuba Hubbard figures to remain the starter but may soon lose a portion of the snaps/touches to Jonathan Brooks (knee). What that looks like is unclear. It's possible Brooks will simply take the 20% or so of the workload that's been going to Miles Sanders. But it's also possible Sanders and Brooks both will get some playing time, or Brooks could take over for Sanders and also carve a chunk out of the work Hubbard has been getting. Hubbard's production already tailed off from RB1 range to RB2 the past couple weeks, but he has better matchups ahead Weeks 9-10 (home against the Saints and Giants) before Carolina goes on bye Week 11. It's possible Brooks' role doesn't really come to fruition until the other side of the bye.

Waivers Look-Ahead ±

If you're looking for a more comprehensive waivers article, RW's Kevin Payne has you covered each Tuesday. Here we're just taking a quick look at some RBs to target based on the work contained in this article and Monday's Box Score Breakdown. 

In order to qualify, the RB needs to be rostered in no more than 60 percent of Yahoo leagues.

Potential Short-Term Starters

1. Tyrone Tracy - 52% (concussion)
2. Alexander Mattison - 60%
3. Jaylen Warren - 46%
4. Tyler Allgeier - 37%
5. Justice Hill - 21%
6. Ezekiel Elliott - 25%
7. Jaleel McLaughlin - 15%
8. Kenneth Gainwell - 1%
9. Miles Sanders - 2%

Tracy and Mattison are already rostered in most competitive leagues, and the others on this list are backups whose touch volume is highly dependent on game script and/or coaching whims. A good season for RB health means a tough season for RB waiver acquisitions. Too bad we can't say the same for wide receivers!

Bench Stashes

1. Tyler Allgeier - 37%
2. Zach Charbonnet - 51%
3. Blake Corum - 15%
4. Kimani Vidal - 11% 
5. Braelon Allen - 37%
6. Ray Davis - 26% 
7. Jaylen Warren - 46%
8. Trey Benson - 16%
9. Roschon Johnson - 14%
10. Tyjae Spears - 47% (hamstring) 
11. Ty Chandler - 24%
12. Antonio Gibson - 27%
13. Dameon Pierce - 5% (groin)
14. Jaylen Wright - 7%
15. Khalil Herbert - 7%

Drop Candidates

1. Dalvin Cook - 23%
2. Trey Sermon - 16%
3. Gus Edwards - 18% (IR - ankle)
4. Sean Tucker - 11%
5. Cam Akers - 9%
6. Emanuel Wilson - 7%