Backfield Breakdown: Week 10 Recap & Week 11 Sleepers

This article is part of our Backfield Breakdown series.

The one where Mark Ingram, D'Ernest Johnson and James Conner get three-down roles.

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Week 10

Doesn't include MNF. GL Looks = Targets + Carries inside the 5-yard line

Full Season

Adjustments denoted by asterisk

• For the Giants, we show Saquon Barkley for Weeks 1-4 and Devontae Booker for Weeks 5-10.
• Alex Collins and Darrel Williams only show their five starts, i.e., the past five games.
• Jeremy McNichols only shows the two games since Derrick Henry's injury.
• Brandon Bolden only shows the seven games since James White's injury.

Doesn't include MNF. 

Week 10 Injury Report

Inactives

Alvin Kamara (knee)

Kareem Hunt (calf) + Nick Chubb + Demetric Felton + John Kelly (reserve/COVID-19)

Damien Harris (concussion)

Latavius Murray (ankle)

Jamaal Williams (thigh)

JaMycal Hasty (ankle)

Justin Jackson (quad)

Clyde Edwards-Helaire (IR-R/knee)

Chris Carson (IR-R/neck)

Chase Edmonds (IR/ankle)

Miles Sanders (IR/ankle)

Malcolm Brown (IR/quad)

In-Game Injuries

Jermar Jefferson injured his ankle in the second quarter.

Aaron Jones injured his right knee late in the third quarter.

Week 10 Route Report

Shows all RBs with 10+ routes and/or multiple targets.

Week 10 Red-Zone Report

Inside the 5-Yard Line

• D'Ernest Johnson got three snaps inside the 5-yard line but no targets/carries. Same for Najee Harris.
  • Patrick Laird, Brandon Bolden and Nyheim Hines each got two snaps with no look.

Red Zone Looks (carries + targets)

Week 11 Waivers & Sleepers

Picking from players rostered in half or less of Yahoo Leagues.

Waivers, Pt. 1 —Top Adds & Streamers

1. Rhamondre Stevenson - 32%
2. Jeff Wilson*
3. D'Onta Foreman - 4%
4. Ty Johnson - 19%
5. Brandon Bolden - 48%
6. Jordan Howard - 48%
7. Eno Benjamin - 6%
8. Patrick Taylor - 0%

• * Wilson added after MNF. It's a tough choice here between Stevenson and Wilson, with Damien Harris (concussion) and Elijah Mitchell (finger) both uncertain to play Week 11. The Patriots play Thursday, but Harris did return to practice Tuesday. Hmmmm...
• Note: Alex Collins is 52% rostered and thus doesn't qualify for the list above, but he should be rostered pretty much everywhere, and apparently isn't. I recommend adding him if you have a need at RB and he's available in your league. The Seahawks don't have much else in the backfield if Chris Carson (neck) can't make it back this year.

Waivers, Pt. 2 — Bench Stashes & Sleepers

1. Jamaal Williams - 48%
2. Khalil Herbert - 36%
3. Samaje Perine - 7%
4. Larry Rountree - 1%
5. Jaret Patterson - 2%
6. Matt Breida - 0%
7. Carlos Hyde - 20%
8. Salvon Ahmed - 3%
9. Ty Montgomery - 0%

Week 11 Drops & Benchings

Drop'em

Mike Davis

Chuba Hubbard

Devin Singletary

Ronald Jones

Derrick Gore

Bench'em

Zack Moss

Jordan Howard

Nyheim Hines

Jeremy McNichols

Adrian Peterson

Week 10 Game-by-Game Breakdowns

Ravens (10) at Dolphins (22) 

• Freeman made a third straight start with Latavius Murray (doubtful/ankle) missing another game.
  • Murray didn't practice this week, so it won't be a shock if he also misses Week 11 at Chicago.
  • Ty'Son Williams played six snaps on special teams, none on offense.
• Freeman played 60% of snaps on first down, 57% on second down and 53% on third down.
• In terms of snaps/touches, Freeman's workload was similar to the previous game (Week 9) when he put up 13-79-0 rushing and 2-4-1 receiving on 58% snap share in a win over Minnesota.
  • His share of the RB/rushing workload was much larger Thursday night, however, with Bell getting only three looks, down from 11 the previous week.
    • Bell blocked on 13 of his 26 pass snaps, per PFF, and finished without a target.
  • Per PFF, Freeman blocked on 10 of 27 pass snaps (37%), after doing so on just five of 37 (13.5%) the previous week.
    • For the year, Freeman has blocked on 16.1% of pass snaps, a much lower rate than both Bell (38%) and Murray (29%). That's helped him see multiple targets in five straight games, averaging 3.2 in that stretch despite playing with a QB who has thrown to RBs sparingly throughout his career.
    • Miami's blitz-heavy gameplan Thursday night — with at least one extra rusher on 60% of dropbacks, per PFF — may have cost Freeman a target or two with the increased blocking responsibilities. Of course, the gameplan also worked, which eventually forced the Ravens into catch-up mode and allowed Freeman to run a bunch more routes. So, really, Miami's blitz-happy strategy ultimately cost Freeman carries not targets. But you get the point. (BTW...Miami entered Thursday with the fifth-highest blitz rate in the league, 32%, so it's not like this was out of nowhere.)

• Gaskin returned to his typical snap range with 62% share, after a season-high 72% in the Week 9 win over Houston.
• This was Gaskin's fourth straight game with at least 58% snap share and more than 60% of Miami's RB carries.
• Malcolm Brown (IR/quad) has now missed three games. In those games, Gaskin has seen 46 of Miami's 59 RB carries (78%) and 12 of the 17 targets (71%).
  • But he's scored just 8.5, 16.7 and now 5.5 PPR points, averaging 2.2 YPC and 4.7 YPT over the past three weeks.
  • Ahmed has been no better the past three weeks, with 2.6 YPC on 13 rushes and only two catches for 15 yards.
• Laird played a season-high 23% of snaps, but eight of his 15 plays were on third down and all 15 were passes.

Falcons (3) at Cowboys (43) 

• Patterson played 60% of snaps in the first half and zero snaps after halftime.
  • No injury was reported; the Falcons were losing 36-3 at the break.
  • Update: Patterson sprained his ankle and could miss Thursday's game against the Patriots.
• Davis played 50% of snaps in the first half and 21% in the second half.
• Gallman played 16% of snaps in the first half and 66% in the second.
  • He got 11 of his 15 carries and both targets in the second half. No need to add him outside of deep, deep leagues.
  • Two of Gallman's four first-half carries were just running out the clock at the end of the second quarter.

• Elliott got 64% of snaps in the first half, with 11-28-2 rushing and 3-15-0 on three targets.
  • Pollard got 38%, with 7-18-0 rushing and 1-0-0 on two targets.
• Elliott then played 50% of snaps in the third quarter, adding three carries for 13 yards before sitting out the fourth quarter.
• Pollard had a busy Q3 with four catches, three carries and 60 total yards on 11 snaps (55%).
  • He then played just 15 snaps in the fourth quarter, while Clement got 12.
    • All seven of Clement's touches came in the fourth quarter.
• Elliott now has a 15-1 advantage over Pollard for goal-line looks this season, despite having a far more modest advantage in total touches (168-106).

Jaguars (17) at Colts (23) 

• Robinson returned after missing one game with a heel injury, and while Hyde was tabbed as the starter again, J-Rob finished with 60% of snaps and 17 looks (including a goal-line TD).
• Robinson took 46% of snaps and four touches in the first half, before seeing 70% snap share and 13 looks in the second half. 
  • In other words, Robinson resumed his normal role... but not until the second half.

• Marlon Mack was a healthy scratch for the second straight week.
• Taylor finished the afternoon with career highs for snap share and targets, though yardage was tough to come by after the first quarter.
  • Taylor put up 10-93-1 rushing in the opening frame, and was held to 11-23-0 thereafter.
• Taylor played 96% of snaps in the second half, with seven carries and three targets on 24 snaps.
  • The Colts didn't abandon the run, they just struggled to move the ball and sustain drives.

Lions (16) at Steelers (16) — OT 

• Tough break for Swift's fantasy managers with 93% snap share and 39 looks but zero TDs or goal-line carries.
  • The backup RBs poached just five carries, but one of those was a 28-yard TD by Jefferson and another a 42-yard score from Igwebuike.
• Jamaal Williams (thigh) missed a second straight game.
  • In the first game Williams missed, Swift got only 17 touches and 71% of snaps, but that was in a 44-6 blowout loss to the Eagles in Week 8. We can expect 20+ touches from Swift whenever Williams is out... and also sometimes when he isn't.
• Jefferson left early with an ankle injury and may miss time.

• Lotta rain, lotta Najee, not a lotta points.
  • Mason Rudolph must have good dirt on the Rooney family. I'm not sure why they keep letting him be their backup QB; he's third-string quality, if that.

Browns (7) at Patriots (45) 

• With everyone else either injured or on the COVID-19 list, Johnson stayed busy deep into the blowout, including 11 touches for 72 yards in the fourth quarter.
  • Apparently the only way to get more than 20 touches out of a Cleveland RB is if both Chubb AND Hunt are injured.... who knew!?!?
  • Seriously, the two D'Ernest games are the two best RB workloads we've seen under Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland. Unusual circumstances, granted.
• The Browns have a Week 11 home date with the Lions, so consider Johnson a top-five RB1 if both Hunt and Chubb are out again.
  • Chubb will probably be back, right? He was first placed on the COVID-19 list Tuesday (Nov. 9). And the game is Nov. 21. Most guys have come back much sooner than 12 days.

• Damien Harris wasn't able to clear concussion protocol, but Stevenson pulled it off and rumbled for 20-100-2 in his first career start.
  • Stevenson also got five targets, giving him four games in a row with multiple targets. And he's caught 11 of 13 for 111 yards this year. It might be that Belichick and McDaniels actually like Stevenson better than Harris in the passing game... which is pretty interesting if you think about how the two were discussed as prospects coming out of college.
    • Ok, rant time: Anyone else notice that analysts and prospect/draft people have been pretty bad at evaluating RB pass-catching ability the past 3-4 years? The guys touted as three-down threats really haven't been, with possible exceptions for D'Andre Swift and Najee Harris... but those two were primarily touted for pure running ability if I recall correctly, with receiving skills more of a possible/uncertain bonus. And both have struggled on the ground, albeit with team context largely to blame, seemingly.
      • Any day now for Clyde the Glyde, dual-threat extraordinaire, who managed 55 receptions on probably 400 pass snaps his senior year at LSU and now has been similarly unimpactful as a receiver in the NFL. Brian Westbrook Jr.! (I should really be more patient. CEH hasn't been too bad and could still be good.)
• Stevenson played 63% of snaps through three quarters, with 18 of the 24 RB carries (75%) and four of the seven RB targets.
  • He then played just three snaps in the fourth quarter, while No. 3 back Taylor got 67% and three of his six carries in the final frame
• Bolden got 32% of snaps through three quarters, with 3-32-0 rushing and 3-38-0 on three targets. In other words, his usual role as James White's replacement, rather than getting any extra rushing work with Harris out.

Saints (21) at Titans (23) 

• With Alvin Kamara (knee sprain) inactive, Ingram got the start and put up 14-47-1 with 4-61-0 on seven targets.
  • Ingram tied for the team target lead and played 85% of snaps, but his fantasy managers seem to have caught a break with Ty Montgomery suffering a finger injury in the first quarter and missing the rest of the game.
• Montgomery was listed as questionable with a hamstring injury, but he ended up playing and took six of 16 snaps (38%) in the first quarter, with one carry for two yards.
  • Per PFF, Montgomery took five of his six snaps in the backfield.
    • Prior to Sunday he'd taken just 13 of 147 in the backfield, w/ 10 in one game (W7).
• Ingram played 63% of snaps in the first quarter, and 92% thereafter.
  • He had a 13-yard TD run, a 34-yard gain on a wheel route, and was unsuccessfully targeted in double coverage on a two-point attempt that would've tied the game. Busy day for a fella his age.
  • The workload should be RB1-caliber if Kamara misses more time, especially if Montgomery is out as well. And with the Saints playing on Thanksgiving (against the Bills) next week, Kamara likely will miss a third game if he misses a second. First, the Saints travel to Philadelphia in Week 11, possibly with Ingram as the workhorse for what's basically a second/third-string offense apart from the O-line at this point. Even the Lions probably have a better group of pass catchers as things currently stand.

• Foreman got the start and took seven of the 10 RB carries in the first half, albeit on just 41% of snaps and with just one of the four targets (McNichols had the other three).
  • The rushing workload was split more evenly after halftime, with Peterson getting five, Foreman four and McNichols four, and each playing 29-36 percent of snaps.
• All three saw at least one look in each quarter, and no one RB saw more than four looks in any quarter. It was an even three-way split for the second straight week.
• It looks like McNichols really needs negative game script or a ton of snaps in two-minute drills in order to get a decent workload... same as he did with Derrick Henry healthy. That's a bust of a waiver add, with Peterson looking no better. Foreman at least didn't cost anything, and he flashed Sunday with receptions of 39 and 9 yards to make up for the modest rushing line (11-30-0).

Buccaneers (19) at Washington Football Team (29) 

• Despite the score, Bernard didn't get a chance to pile up targets in comeback mode. The Bucs ran just five plays in the fourth quarter, scoring a quick TD before Washington put together a 10-minute drive to ice the game.
  • Fournette got four touches for 21 yards on those five plays, including two carries running out the clock at the end of the game (just to rub it in RoJo's face that he isn't wanted anymore?).
• Fournette got 78% of snaps on first/second down.
  • Bernard took nine of his 14 snaps on third/fourth down.
• Fournette is tied for fifth among RBs with 48 targets, and he's seventh with 190 routes.
  • He had another drop Sunday, his fifth of the year after five on 46 targets last season. Fournette is flat-out bad as a receiver, but his blocking seems to have improved, and any RB who gets pass snaps alongside Tom Brady will see targets.
    • Gio offers zero rushing threat, while RoJo is even worse than Fournette as a pass catcher/blocker. It might not be ideal to have Fournette seeing this many routes/targets, but there's also no reason for it to stop at this point when the alternatives are so poor.
      • I'll also add that it's a fluke for Fournette to have only four TDs from 770 total yards as the lead back in a top-10 offense. He has zero receiving scores on 38 catches, and hasn't scored a rushing TD from outside the 10-yard line. But he's getting carries and targets, and has nine of Tampa's 13 GLLs for RBs this year.

• He was listed on the injury report with his shin fracture again, but Gibson returned to his normal role with 63% snap share and put up 24-64-2 with 2-14-0 on two targets, after getting just 11 touches and 33% of snaps in Washington's final game before a Week 9 bye (a 17-10 loss to Denver in Week 8).
  • Gibson played 29%, 42% and 33% of snaps the final three weeks before the bye. The shin may have been a factor, but mostly WFT were just getting their butts kicked and then turning to McKissic in catch-up mode.
• Speaking of which, McKissic slumped to his smallest snap share (38%) since Week 1, with his fewest touches (six) since Week 5. He had two carries for four yards and a 4-35-0 receiving line on four targets.
• After 11 carries in the final game before the bye, Patterson played five snaps in Sunday's win, taking exactly one carry in each quarter.

Bills (45) at Jets (17) 

• Moss ended up playing after being listed as questionable with a concussion.
• Breida's involvement was new, and not just a product of the game being a blowout.
  • He got three snaps in the first quarter... and caught three passes for 22 yards and a TD.
    • All three catches were on first down, so it wasn't a case of him being the designated third-down/passing-down back. Actually, Moss got seven of eight third-down snaps in this one, rather than the usual split between him and Singletary on those plays.
  • Breida then got two snaps in the second quarter (but no touches) and ran for a 15-yard TD on his lone snap in the third quarter. And then added two carries for 13 yards on two snaps in the fourth.
    • All in all, he had six touches for 50 yards and two TDs on eight snaps. Efficient!
• Moss and Singletary both got goal-line carries in the second half, and both converted.
  • That was Singletary's third GLL out of 108 total looks (80 carries, 28 targets) this season.
  • Moss has six on 97 looks (72 carries, 25 targets). Better, but still not a ton.

• Coleman returned from a hamstring injury after missing three straight games. It didn't hurt Carter in a game where the Jets RBs combined for 22 carries and 17 targets, but Coleman did steal 22% of snaps, four carries and three targets — that's not nothing — and Johnson still took a lot of the passing-down work.
  • Carter did score a garbage-time TD, his fourth rushing score in the past six games.
  • This was his sixth consecutive game playing more than half the offensive snaps, though he dropped to 52%, after 72% in Week 7, 70% in Week 8 and 58% in Week 9.
    • During the six-game stretch, Carter has averaged 13.0 carries, 4.3 receptions and 16.9 PPR points

Vikings (27) at Chargers (20) 

• Cooks missed Weeks 3 and 5. Since then, he's averaged 22.0 carries for 105.5 yards and 0.5 TDs in four games, but with just 2.0 catches for 9.8 yards on 3.0 targets.
  • Cook has played at least 71 percent of snaps and seen at least 20 looks (carries+targets) in four straight.

• Rountree retook the lead for the No. 2 role, which has been back and forth between him, Kelley and Justin Jackson (inactive - quad) all year. The rookie scored his first NFL touchdown from one yard out in the second quarter.
  • It was Rountree's second goal-line look this season, while neither Kelley nor Jackson has one.
  • Ekeler has eight of the team's 10 GLLs from RBs this year, including a two-yard TD catch in Sunday's loss.

Panthers (34) at Cardinals (10) 

• McCaffrey snap share by quarter: Q1 (83%), Q2 (65%), Q3 (56%), Q4 (14%).
• Abdullah logged seven snaps and five touches in the first half, with Hubbard getting five snaps and three touches.
  • That's a ton of work by the standards of McCaffrey backups, though the big man himself had 17 touches for 129 yards on 32 snaps pre-halftime (the Panther ran a ton of plays, dominating possession).
• Hubbard got two carries from the 5-yard line in the second half; the first going for a TD and the second for a four-yard loss.
  • He also appeared at least partially to blame for a lost fumble that was officially charged to P.J. Walker.

• With Chase Edmonds (IR/ankle) out, Conner's share of the backfield work was maybe even more dominant than the final numbers suggest.
  • Conner played 88% of snaps through three quarters, with six of the nine RB carries and all three of the targets.
  • Conner had most of his production in the fourth quarter with 4-30-1 rushing and a catch for a loss of five, but Benjamin also was more involved in the final frame, with Q4 accounting for four of his seven looks and six of his 15 snaps.

Eagles (30) at Broncos (13) 

• This is what a three-headed backfield looks like when there aren't infinite goal-line carries. And even this required both Howard and Scott to have super-efficient rushing games, with 12-83-0 and 11-81-0, respectively.
  • Gainwell, meanwhile, continues to hold up his one-third in terms of snaps, but he isn't getting carries and has just one target on 23 pass snaps over the past three games.
    • The 1/23 is fluky, but part of the problem is simply that he's not playing enough. Scott, for example, also has 23 pass snaps over the past three games. And all of Philly's RBs combined have just four targets the past three weeks.

• The snaps, but not touches, went slightly more toward the rookie this week. Largely because Gordon played just 21% of snaps in the fourth quarter after losing a fumble at the end of the third.
  • The 57% snap share was a season high for Williams, who previously saw 40-51 percent of snaps in each game.
  • He's up to 5.0 YPC, while Gordon is at 4.4 and had the crucial fumble (returned for a TD) in the process of converting a 4th-and-1 on Sunday. So, there's still hope for Williams to take more of the workload away from the veteran. Eventually.... maybe.

Seahawks (0) at Packers (17) 

• Chris Carson (IR/neck) wasn't activated after returning to practice Wednesday and Thursday. Which may or may not mean he's still having trouble with his neck, which may or may not mean that he'll soon be shut down for the season.
• Collins made a fifth straight start and worked in a classic runner/receiver split with Homer.
  • Rashaad Penny was in uniform but didn't play any snaps.
  • DeeJay Dallas strictly played special teams, including three kick returns for 78 yards.
• Homer saw extra snaps in Q4 with Seattle abandoning the run while playing from behind, but his snap share also got a lift early on because eight of Seattle's 24 first-half snaps came in the two-minute drill at the very end.
  • Prior to the two-minute drill, Collins played 13 of 16 first-half snaps (81%), with five carries for 23 yards. His only issue was Seattle's inability to sustain drives.
• Collins even got 68% of third-quarter snaps (13 of 19) and took six touches for 26 yards, but he then saw just four snaps (22%) and zero touches in the fourth quarter.
• Prior to the fourth quarter, Collins got 61% of snaps and 11 of the 13 RB looks.
  • If you look at the stat tables at the top of this article, you might notice that Collins' workload as the starter isn't too much different from Carson's. The production has been lousy with 3.8 YPC and only one TD in five starts, but there's still RB2 potential here if Carson misses more time and Wilson stays healthy.

• Jones played 63% of snaps through three quarters and caught 4-61-0 on six targets, but he took just seven carries for 25 yards while Dillon got 10 for 38 (plus one catch for 12).
  • Jones injured his knee on the second-to-last snap of the third quarter and missed the rest of the game.
• Dillon played 17 of 20 snaps (85%) in the fourth quarter, adding 11-28-2 and a 50-yard reception on top of his 11 touches for 50 yards from earlier in the game.
• With third-stringer Kylin Hill (torn ACL) out for the year, 23-year-old Memphis product Patrick Taylor spelled Dillon for three snaps in the fourth quarter, taking two carries for seven yards.
  • Taylor ran for 1,122 yards and 16 TDs as a junior in 2018, splitting work with Darrell Henderson and Tony Pollard. But he then suffered a Lisfranc injury in 2019, and was limited to six games sharing a backfield with another future NFLer, Kenneth Gainwell.
  • Taylor has been with the Packers in some capacity since spring 2020 when he signed as a UDFA, but he was only promoted to the roster earlier this month.

Chiefs (41) at Raiders (14) 

• After this one, Chiefs fans might demand an encore from Williams even if Edwards-Helaire is healthy.
  • Williams went off for 9-101-1 receiving, including the highlight-reel Mossing for a long TD, but he also had another pedestrian game on the ground (11-43-0, 3.9 YPC).
  • He's managed just 3.5 YPC as the starter, with nearly as many receiving yards (226) as rushing yards (244) in five games.
• Williams played 69% of snaps through three quarters, taking 11 of the 14 RB carries and eight of the 11 RB targets.
  • Williams then saw just 20% of snaps in the fourth quarter, with his 38-yard TD putting the game away.
  • Gore got four of his six carries and five of his 11 snaps in the fourth quarter.

• The Raiders ran only 51 plays and trailed by multiple scores for about half of the game.
• Jacobs played 22 of 33 snaps (67%) before the fourth quarter, with seven of the 11 RB carries and two of the three targets.
  • He got three targets in the fourth quarter, but on only 43% of snaps, while Drake got the other 57% and also drew three targets.
• Richard got four of 10 third-down snaps and just two snaps otherwise.