Backfield Breakdown: Week 17 Recap & Week 18 Sleepers

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Week 17

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

Week 17 Injury Report

Inactives

Antonio Gibson (reserve/COVID-19)

James Conner (heel)

Clyde Edwards-Helaire (shoulder)

Miles Sanders (hand)

David Johnson (reserve/COVID-19)

Tevin Coleman (reserve/COVID-19)

Mark Ingram (knee)

Darrell Henderson (IR/knee)

Derrick Henry (IR/foot)

James Robinson (IR/Achilles) + Carlos Hyde (IR/concussion)

In-Game Injuries

Michael Carter entered concussion protocol in the first quarter. He didn't return.

Ronald Jones injured his ankle. He was scheduled for an MRI on Monday.

Ke'Shawn Vaughn hurt his ribs.

Damien Harris aggravated his hamstring. He was listed as questionable beforehand.

DeeJay Dallas left the game with a thigh injury.

Week 17 Red-Zone Report

Inside the 5-Yard Line

Red Zone Looks (carries + targets)

Week 18 Waivers & Sleepers

Picking from players rostered in 50% or less of Yahoo Leagues.

1. Boston Scott - 31% (Placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list Monday)
2. Jaret Patterson - 25%
3. Kenneth Gainwell - 13%
4. Dare Ogunbowale -  34%
5. Rex Burkhead - 30%
6. Ke'Shawn Vaughn - 4%
7. Le'Veon Bell - 4%
8. Duke Johnson - 8%
9. Jordan Howard - 10% (Placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list Monday)
10. Ty Johnson - 17%
11. Tevin Coleman - 22%
12. Devontae Booker - 22%
13. Ameer Abdullah - 13%
14. Austin Walter - 0%
15. Ryquell Armstead - 0%

Note: I'm not sure what to make of the Philadelphia backfield situation. The timing early in the week suggests Scott and Howard both have a shot to play, but that's obviously far from a sure thing. There's an upside scenario for each of Scott, Howard and Gainwell this week.

Drop/Bench'Em

Cordarrelle Patterson

Myles Gaskin

Melvin Gordon

Week 17 Game-by-Game Breakdowns

Dolphins (3) at Titans (34) 

• Johnson made a third straight start and took 58% of snaps, while Gaskin and Lindsay both had limited roles off the bench.
  • Johnson had a decent game with 7-49-0 rushing and 2-16-0 on three targets, but he hasn't come close to replicating his success from the Week 15 win over the Jets.
• Johnson got more snaps in the second half (53%) too. Gaskin didn't even take over when the Dolphins were down big and in catch-up mode.

• Foreman got 65% of snaps and 26 of the 36 RB carries (72%), up from 35% and 52% over the previous three weeks combined.
  • McNichols all but fell out of the picture, after seeing 21 carries and five targets over the previous three games.
• Foreman got at least 54% of snaps and four carries in each quarter, ultimately finishing with 26-132-1.
• Hilliard put up 8-45-1 and 3-33-0, his best game since Week 12 despite Foreman taking over more of the workload.
• Back in mid-December, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport mentioned Week 18 as a possibility for Derrick Henry (IR/foot). Mike Vrabel didn't make that sound likely Monday, but it does seem Henry is hoping to make it back for the playoffs at least...

Rams (20) at Ravens (19) 

• Michel reached 90% snap share for a fourth time in the past five games.
  • In that stretch, he's averaged 21.6 carries for 99.4 yards and 0.6 TDs, albeit with only 1.8 catches for 12.0 yards on 3.0 targets.

• Murray got only 23% of snaps and four carries through three quarters, then saw 39% and seven carries (for 22 yards) in the fourth.
  • Freeman still got a little more work overall, but with the same recent trend where the gap in snaps is much bigger than the gap in touches. And Murray got the goal-line work for a second straight week, though he didn't score.

Falcons (16) at Bills (29) 

• A similar split to most recent weeks, but with Davis getting both goal-line looks, including a short rushing TD.
  • Patterson had an 8-4 advantage in goal-line looks before Sunday's loss.
• The Falcons still haven't gotten anything from Patterson as a receiver since Week 9. It's now seven straight games with three or fewer catches for 27 yards or less. And it's not like he's dominated on the ground in that time (10.9 carries for 47.0 yards and 0.57 TDs per game).

• Singletary had career highs for rush attempts (23) and yards (110), and two TDs gave him the first multi-score game of his career.
• This was Singletary's fourth straight game playing more than two-thirds of snaps.
  • First, he had 4-52-0 and 6-37-0 in the Week 14 loss at Tampa. Since then, with the Bills winning three straight games by multiple scores, Devin the Dude has averaged 19.0 carries for 78.3 yards and 1.33 TDs, plus 2.0 catches for 16.3 yards on 2.7 targets.

Buccaneers (28) at Jets (24) 

• Jones played 55% of snaps in the first half, with eight of the 10 RB carries and one of the four targets.
  • RoJo then injured his ankle early in the third quarter and missed the rest of the game.
  • Vaughn/Bell split work the rest of the way, though Vaughn also got banged up (ribs).
• Bell played only 6% of snaps in the first half, and while he got 58% after halftime, it translated to just five touches for 20 yards.
  • Jones finished with 10-26-0 and 1-1-0 on one target.
  • Bell finished with 3-5-0 and 3-30-0 on three targets.
  • Vaughn had 8-31-0 and 2-14-0 on three targets.

• Carter got off to a fast start with four touches for 63 yards, but he left with a likely concussion after his eighth snap.
  • His 55-yard run on the opening drive was a season long, and nearly went for a 67-yard TD. He got a shot from the 1-yard line a couple minutes later, but he couldn't convert, and Braxton Berrios scored on the next play.
• Tevin Coleman (reserve/COVID-19) was out and La'Mical Perine a healthy scratch, so Carter's absence left Johnson and Walter as the two running backs.
  • Here are the numbers for Quarters 2-4, with Carter out:

Q2-4 on Sunday

Eagles (20) at Washington Football Team (16) 

• Miles Sanders (hand) was inactive after missing every practice last week.
• Howard was listed as questionable with a stinger, and while he ended up playing, Scott got more snaps, carries and targets (32-21, 14-11, 4-1, respectively).
• Scott was consistently involved, with three or more touches and 38% or more of snaps in each quarter. He finished with 14-47-2 and 4-39-0.
• Scott got 60% of snaps on first down, 45% on second down and 42% on third down.
• Gainwell didn't play much, including only two of seven snaps on 3rd-and-medium/long (Scott got three, Howard two).
• Scott and Howard were added to the COVID list Monday...

• Antonio Gibson (reserve/COVID-19) was out. Patterson took over Gibson's usual role as the lead back, while Williams and Smallwood both got a handful of touches off the bench.
• Williams played fewer snaps than the week before (when Gibson was active), and fewer snaps than both Patterson and Smallwood (who was called up from the practice squad and mostly played on passing downs.
• Patterson scored an 11-yard TD on the opening drive, en route to 11-57-1 rushing and 5-41-0 on five targets. QB Taylor Heinicke stunk it up after a fast start, but Patterson did his part, and played 62% of snaps.

Raiders (23) at Colts (20) 

• The 61% snap share was Jacobs' smallest since Week 10, though not far outside his usual range (65% and 70% the previous two weeks in close games).
• In four games since Kenyan Drake's season-ending injury, Jacobs has averaged 16.8 carries for 67.0 yards and 0.25 TDs, plus 3.3 catches for 25.0 yards on 4.3 targets.

• Taylor played 98% of snaps in the Week 15 win over New England, but has otherwise finished in the 71-79% range each of the past five games.
  • He's also been in the 65-84 percent range every game since Week 5 (besides the New England game).
• JT finished with 20-108-1 and 1-6-0 on two targets.
  • It was his first catch since Week 12. He's been targeted at a respectable rate (19% of routes) for the season as a whole, but largely due to a high rate early on. That hasn't been as much of a factor in the second half of the season, though fantasy managers obviously haven't cared given the rushing production.

Giants (3) at Bears (29) 

• 39 rush attempts in a 26-point loss! (They were trying to run out the clock on their season, not just this game.)
  • Mike Glennon was 4-of-11 passing for 24 yards, with two interceptions and four sacks. Very nice!
• It was a near 50/50 split for Barkley and Booker again, though Barkley's 21-102-0 rushing line doesn't look like it came from a timeshare*.

*It looks like it came from an alternate universe where Daniel Jones threw for three TDs to lead the NFC East-leading Giants to an upset victory over Mitchell Trubisky Patrick Mahomes and the Bears.

• Williams actually had more of a role than Herbert early on, with a 10-3 snap advantage in the first half (Montgomery still got 64%, with nine of the 10 carries and two of the three targets.
• Montgomery was still the lead back by a mile, but his workload dominance wasn't quite to the same extent as the week before when he handled 21 carries and nine targets on 79 percent snap share in the upset win over Seattle.
  • In fact, the snap share was Montgomery's smallest since Week 4. He'd previously played at least 70% in each game since returning from an injury.
  • And it wasn't a product of the blowout. Montgomery actually played a larger share of snaps after halftime (73%) than he had in the first half (64%).
    • Granted, it is nitpicking, as Monty still dominated the touches and scored two TDs (22-64-2).

Chiefs (31) at Bengals (34) 

• Williams got 80% of snaps and 17 of the e 21 RB looks (81%) with Clyde Edwards-Helaire (knee) inactive.
  • Williams had a pair of short rushing TDs, finishing with 14-88-2 and 3-19-0 on three targets.
• Williams has now made six starts this season, and while Sunday's snap share was his largest of the year, he's been at 54% or higher every time.
  • He's played 66% of snaps between the six games, averaging 15.5 carries for 55.3 yards and 0.66 TDs, with 4.5 catches for 40.8 yards and 0.16 TDs.
    • That's five TDs in six games, with an average of 95.8 yards. CEH drafters have to be envious (unless they just won a title with Williams).

• Mixon took 87% of snaps on first down, 83% on second down and only 15% on third down. That's been  the norm throughout the second half of the year, which allows his snap share to go as high as 80% in games where the Bengals dominate (like Week 16 vs. BAL).
  • In other words, Mixon's target volume the past two weeks isn't indicative of a role change. He's maybe playing a few more snaps down the stretch here, but Perine still gets the playing time in obvious passing situations more often than not.
• Mixon finished with 12-46-0 and 7-40-0 on eight targets. The Bengals won, but they trailed for most of the afternoon until the second half.

Jaguars (10) at Patriots (50) 

• Ogunbowale took 65% of snaps on first down, 67% on second down and 67% on third down, putting up 9-36-0 and 2-32-1 with a garbage-time TD.
• Armstead had 6-28-0 rushing and 1-6-0 on two targets. Maybe he'll get a few more looks Week 17. Maybe not.
• James Robinson (Achilles) and Carlos Hyde (IR/concussion) are both out for the year, ICYMI.

• Harris was listed as questionable with a hamstring injury, and left Sunday's game after aggravating it. He didn't play any snaps in the second half.
  • Harris played 12 of New England's 16 snaps in the first quarter (75%), and logged four more in the second. He didn't play after that.
  • He was deemed questionable to return in the third quarter, and never came back into the game (New England was up big)
• After the first quarter, Stevenson played 68% of snaps and took 18 carries for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
  • Bolden played 27%, with one carry and three targets.
• Harris said "I'm good" when reporters asked him about his hamstring after the game.

Broncos (13) at Chargers (34) 

• Same story with a 50/50 split, and it didn't work for anyone with Drew Lock playing QB and the Broncos hit by a COVID outbreak.

• Ekeler handled his normal role after missing the previous game on the COVID list.
  • Ek played 67% of snaps through three quarters, with 16 carries to Jackson's six (though both had three targets, and Jackson did poach one of the three goal-line looks).

Texans (7) at 49ers (23) 

• David Johnson (reserve/COVID-19) was out again, and Burkhead played 60-some percent of snaps for a third straight week.
• Burkhead finished with 16-47-0 and 6-32-0 on six targets. That's a reasonable expectation for him in this role, rather than the total lack of production pre-Week 16 followed by a one-game outburst (22-149-2 in last week's win over the Chargers).
  • Very few fantasy players ended up benefitting from Burkhead's late-season uptick in workload. What a shame.

• Mitchell returned from a knee injury, and while the snap share was his second-smallest of the year, the rookie got all 21 of San Francisco's RB carries.
  • He figures to dominate the workload again Week 18 at the Rams with so much to play for.
• Mitchell took 69% of snaps on first down and 58% on second down. He got just 23% on third down, but he did see two targets, including his first receiving TD in the NFL.

Panthers (10) at Saints (18) 

• Hubbard was involved again with the Panthers keeping a game (relatively) close. He finished with 17-55-1 and 3-13-0 on four targets.
  • Hubbard is averaging 10.3 carries for 34.3 yard and 0.5 TDs in four games since McCaffrey went down for the year. With just four catches for 14 yards on six targets.
• Abdullah played about the same number of snaps and had 6-21-0 and 4-31-0.

• Jones was the seldom-used No. 2 back behind a heavily-used Kamara with Mark Ingram (knee) inactive Sunday.
• The snap share was Kamara's largest since Week 7, and the 5-68-1 receiving line was his best work yet in the passing game with Taysom Hill at QB.
  • Expect Kamara to be busy again Week 18 at Atlanta with the Saints in the mix for a wild-card spot (they need a win plus a Rams win over the 49ers).

Cardinals (25) at Cowboys (22) 

• James Conner (heel) missed a second straight game, leaving Edmonds in a three-down role again.
  • Edmonds was limited to 18-53-0 and 5-29-0, with Kyler Murray throwing 38 passes (including two TDs) and taking nine carries for 44 yards.
• The Cardinals still have something to play for Week 18 against Seattle. A loss will leave them in the No. 5 seed, while a win combined with a Rams loss would move Arizona up to No. 2 or 3 (likely No. 3, given that Tampa has a home game against Carolina).

• Elliott finished with 9-16-0 and 1-14-0 on two targets, despite playing 45 snaps (70%).
• Pollard had a 31-yard reception downfield, but didn't do much otherwise, finishing with 3-9-0 and 3-49-0 on five targets.

Lions (29) at Seahawks (51) 

• Swift returned from a four-week absence, but apart from the game where he suffered the shoulder injury, the four carries were a season low.
  • Swift did play 57% of snaps, however, so there is some hope for Week 18 against Green Bay, especially with the Packers locked in as the NFC's 1 seed.
• The Lions had four carries from Seattle's 1-yard line in the second half, across two drives. The first went to Swift, who didn't convert. The next three went to Williams, who converted only the third (and last) one.
  • For the year, Swift has seven goal-line looks to Williams' five, with a 7-3 advantage in total TDs as well.

• Penny went for 25-170-2 and 2-15-0 on three targets, giving him five total TDs and a trio of 100-yard games over the past four weeks.
  • He's averaging 5.8 yards per carry for the year... 96-559-5.
• Homer took 10 of the 12 third-down snaps (83%).
  • Dallas also gets some passing-down work, but he suffered a thigh injury in this one and missed the second half.
• Homer took the final three carries of the game on the final drive.
  • Prior to the final drive, Penny took 25 of the 29 RB carries.

Vikings (10) at Packers (37) 

• Cook played 69% of snaps in the first half, with his share dropping after halftime as the Vikings quickly switched from catch-up mode to disguised give-up mode.

• Jones played 62% of snaps in the first half, with 6-69-0 on the ground and 5-30-0 on six targets.
  • Dillon played 51% in the first half, with 6-19-0 rushing and no targets.
• In the third quarter, Dillon played 67% of snaps to Jones' 47%.
  • Dillon took five carries for 25 yards and a TD, while Jones took two for seven yards.
• In the fourth quarter, Jones played just one snap. He had only two touches after halftime.
  • No injury; just the Packers being careful with his workload, per usual.