Dwayne Washington

Washington signed a one-year deal with the Saints this offseason, and he'll enter his fifth season with the team in 2022. The veteran running back played just 14 offensive snaps in 2021, totaling four carries for 16 yards. As the No. 4 running back on the depth chart, it's not likely Washington will see the field much as a rusher. Instead, the 28-year-old is likely to reprise his role as a standout special-teams player.

After popping four runs of 20-plus yards over the 35 carries he got in his first two seasons with the Saints, Washington managed just 15 yards on the eight totes he got in 2020. As long as Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray stay healthy, the 2016 seventh-round draft pick may not see much work from the #3 spot on the depth chart. However, Murray (31) is now on the wrong side of 30 years old while Washington (27) is in his prime and has shown flashes of explosiveness in recent years. It's not impossible that Washington could be useful in fantasy leagues at some point down the road.

Washington will return for his third season with New Orleans where he's expected to serve as a special teams contributor and a depth option at running back. In 2019, he totaled 66 yards on nine offensive touches, though his role out of the backfield is likely to shrink or go away altogether with the offseason signing of Ty Montgomery. Washington's fantasy value is completely dependent on the health of Montgomery, Latavius Murray and Alvin Kamara, who all sit ahead of him on the depth chart.

Washington packs a good amount of speed into his 6-foot-1, 223-pound frame, but it hasn't translated to particularly noteworthy production at the NFL level. The 25-year-old owns a meager 3.4 yards-per-carry average over three seasons, though he found more open real estate in his limited running opportunities behind a standout Saints offensive line in 2018. He toted 27 times for 154 yards last season, with the brunt of his damage coming against the Panthers in Week 17, when Alvin Kamara rested and Mark Ingram played only 19 snaps. Ingram is now out of the picture, but Washington still checks in no higher than third on the depth chart after the Saints gave ex-Viking Latavius Murray $7.2 million guaranteed this offseason to serve as Kamara's top complement. Washington could gain some mainstream fantasy appeal if Kamara or Murray were to miss time due to injury, but he'll first need to ensure he makes the team out of training camp. Washington will have to prove his worth as both a depth back and special-teams contributor to stave off competition for the No. 3 job.

Washington was once an intriguing prospect coming out of the University of Washington as a 6-foot-2, 226-pound strider who boasted a 4.44-second 40 time. However, the plus-size running back strangely lacks the kind of power you'd expect from someone of his stature and hasn't been able to stay healthy at the professional level. On top of that, the Lions are entering the 2018 season with more talent at running back than they've had in years, making Washington no lock to stick around for another season on the 53-man roster.

Washington is a large tailback with good receiving skills that the Lions drafted in the seventh round last year. When starting running back Ameer Abdullah went down with a season-ending foot injury in Week 2, he was given the first crack at taking over early-down carries. However, the spotlight ultimately proved much too bright for Washington, whose erratic play and inability to stay healthy caused him to ultimately fall out of the coaching staff's favor by season's end. Now Washington likely enters the 2017 campaign as the No. 4 option behind Abdullah, Theo Riddick and Zach Zenner, needing at least an injury or two to get back in the fantasy picture.

Before landing in Detroit as a seventh-round draft pick, Dwayne Washington was a star high school wideout with size who proceeded to make a name for himself as a home-run threat out of the backfield at, fittingly, the University of Washington. He put the ball on the turf 10 times across 227 career carries as a Huskie, however, but displayed an elite athletic profile at his Pro Day. Washington will likely need to beat out Zach Zenner and George Winn for what will likely be one roster spot, but even in the event he cracks the final 53-man roster, playing time may be hard to come by for Detroit’s new plus-size toy.