Backfield Breakdown: RB Usage Report & Week 4 Waivers Preview

Production shifted more toward passing games Week 3 after an RB-dominated first two weeks of the season, but we still got some big fantasy scores from the position, led by familiar standouts Kyren Williams, Aaron Jones, Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor and Saquon Barkley. There were also some promising workloads for fill-in starters, namely Zach Charbonnet, Cam Akers and Carson Steele.

Charbonnet was one of seven RBs to top 80 percent snap share in Week 3, with eight others above 70 percent and seven in the 60s. There weren't many reported injuries of fantasy significance, so the upcoming week could be tricky for those in need of waiver help at RB. You'll find the full breakdown below, starting with our Week 3 injury report.

Injury Report 🚑

New Injuries

Najee Harris (arm / day-to-day)

Jaylen Warren (knee / uncertain)

Austin Ekeler (concussion / day-to-day)

Steelers RB Najee Harris was spotted in a sling after Sunday's win over the Chargers, but coach Mike Tomlin said Harris "will be ready to rock and roll" Week 4 at Indianapolis. Teammate Jaylen Warren may not be so lucky, as he had an MRI on his knee Monday and was acknowledged by Tomlin to be uncertain for Week 4.

Commanders RB Austin Ekeler had a big first half Monday night and played 50% of offensive snaps, getting a lot of playing time in two-RB sets with Brian Robinson (75% snap share pre-halftime). Unfortunately, Ekeler was concussed early in the third quarter, making him less than 50/50 to play this coming Sunday with the Commanders on a short week. Robinson may be headed for a massive workload against the Cardinals, with Jeremy McNichols on deck to take some of Ekeler's passing-down snaps.

Missed Week 3

Kenneth Walker (oblique / day-to-day) 

Joe Mixon (ankle / day-to-day)

Dameon Pierce (hamstring / week-to-week)

Raheem Mostert (chest / no IR expected)

Isiah Pacheco (fibula / out at least 6-8 weeks)

Pierre Strong (hamstring / week-to-week)

Christian McCaffrey (IR - Achilles / eligible for Week 6 return)

Audric Estime (IR - ankle / eligible Week 6)

MarShawn Lloyd (IR - ankle / eligible Week 6)

Nick Chubb (PUP - knee / eligible Week 5)

Jonathon Brooks (NFI - knee / eligible Week 5)

Clyde Edwards-Helaire (NFI - illness / eligible Week 5)

Kendre Miller (PUP - hamstring / eligible Week 5)

Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker returned to practice Friday as a limited participant and now has an extra day to get ready with the Seahawks playing Monday. Zach Charbonnet had his best fill-in start yet Sunday against the Dolphins, but Walker is a more explosive runner and figures to resume in his lead role if he's cleared in time for the game.

Houston's backfield is the other big one to watch , after Joe Mixon (ankle) and Dameon Pierce (hamstring) both failed to practice last week. Cam Akers took 64% of snaps before the fourth quarter in Sunday's blowout loss at Minnesota, getting nine of the 11 RB carries and three of the four targets, including an eight-yard TD reception. Akers took 85% of the early down snaps before the fourth quarter, while Dare Ogunbowale got all 11 of the third-down snaps.

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 📈

Alvin Kamara - 87% snaps / 29 of 33 RB opps. (88%)

Aaron Jones - 25 of 32 RB opps. (78%) / 148 total yards + TD

J.K. Dobbins - 64% snaps / 18 of 21 RB opps. (86%)

Chuba Hubbard - 65% snaps pre-Q4 / 26 of 35 RB opps. (74%) / 169 total yards + TD

Carson Steele - 64% snaps / 19 of 29 RB opps. (66%)

Cam Akers - 64% snaps pre-Q4 / 12 of 14 RB opps. pre-Q4 (86%)

Bucky Irving - 32% snaps / 12 of 25 RB opps. (48%)

Jerome Ford - 83% snaps / 14 of 16 RB opps. (88%)

Emanuel Wilson - 42% snaps / 14 of 32 RB opps. (44%) / 85 total yards + TD

Roschon Johnson - 38% snaps / 13 of 34 RB opps. (38%) / 62 total yards

Irving, Wilson and Johnson are backups that gained playing time and/or touches this past week and did something good with the added opportunities. Johnson's role was especially interesting/surprising, because it was his season debut after a couple of healthy scratches and he not only replaced Travis Homer (IR - finger) but also took a chunk out of D'Andre Swift's Week 1-2 workload (while Khalil Herbert remained strictly the goal-line/short-yardage back).

Jones, Ford and Dobbins are lead backs that consolidated the backfield workloads Week 3, although in Ford's case there's still vulnerability to gameplan-specific drop offs, which we saw the week before with D'Onta Foreman leading the Cleveland rushing attack (before all but disappearing this past Sunday). Jones' increased touch count/share relative to prior weeks may not be a long-term thing, but I won't be surprised if it repeats in a revenge game / crucial divisional matchup with Green Bay this week. He's simply a lot better than backup Ty Chandler, which means tough opponents or close games could push the workload split more toward Jones.

Dobbins was the biggest gainer of the week in terms of touch share, potentially setting up a buy-low opportunity if opponents in your league are more focused on the results than the process. His injury risk is still high, but Dobbins offers genuine RB1 fantasy upside if Gus Edwards being a non-factor wasn't just a one-week anamoly.

Trending Down 📉

Josh Jacobs - 51% snaps / 15 of 32 RB opps. (47%)

Rachaad White - 73% snaps but only 12 of 25 RB opps. (48%)

D'Andre Swift - 52% snaps / 17 of 34 RB opps. (50%) / 42 total yards

Ezekiel Elliott - 20% snaps / 5 of 22 RB opps. (23%)

D'Onta Foreman - 14% snaps / 2 of 16 RB opps. (12%)

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. Backfield 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. Las Vegas Raiders
2. Dallas Cowboys
3. Cleveland Browns
4. Chicago Bears

Raiders RB Zamir White got game-scripted out of relevance for a second time in three weeks, and this time Ameer Abdullah got a lot of the passing-down work instead of Alexander Mattison, who scored TDs in Weeks 1 and 2 but has only 12 carries and nine targets through three games. There's not much chance of this becoming anything other than a low-production committee in the immediate future, unless they eventually give rookie Dylan Laube a chance and he proves to be better than anyone (including myself) expects. Right now, it's one of the worst backfields in the league and is dealing with some of the worst run blocking.

Things aren't much better in Dallas, where Rico Dowdle out-snapped and out-touched Ezekiel Elliott for a second straight week but also ceded some work to Deuce Vaughn. None of them has been effective on a per-touch basis, and none has recorded more than 12 touches in a game (although Dowdle had 11 both of the past two weeks). It's hard to see any real upside scenarios for fantasy, as Dowdle's gains on Elliott probably don't apply to goal-line work.

Cleveland is less hopeless, with Jerome Ford handling dominant shares in Weeks 1 and 3, sandwiched around a 50/50 type split with D'Onta Foreman in Week 2. There's not much cumulative production to be had given the overall struggles of the offense, but a matchup with the Raiders this Sunday at least improves the odds of Ford putting up a nice fantasy score. No word yet on Nick Chubb's chances of returning from the PUP list when first eligible Week 5.

The Bears continued with a three-man split this past week, only with Roschon Johnson replacing Travis Homer (IR - finger) and taking on a bunch more work than Homer had been getting. D'Andre Swift's snap and touch shares dipped correspondingly, and the goal-line stuff was especially brutal with Khalil Herbert failing on three straight carries before Swift lost 12 yards on a fourth-down toss play. I have no idea how this will play out moving forward but expect it to be some kind of committee, and likely with three guys involved rather than two. Blocking has been more of a problem than Swift, and it's not like Johnson or Herbert have the talent to overcome poor blocking/scheming any better than Swift. 

On the Brink

1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 
2. Kansas City Chiefs
3. Denver Broncos
4. Carolina Panthers

Bucky Irving continues making his case to be Tampa's lead runner over Rachaad White, who may nonetheless keep the job thanks to his superior receiving skills and blocking. That's one to watch closely, as the touches have creeped close to 50/50 the past couple weeks even with White still holding a 70/30 type advantage in terms of snaps.

Kansas City's first game without Isiah Pacheco (fibula) went about as expected, with Carson Steele getting most of the carries while Samaje Perine subbed in a decent amount and also handled most of the obvious passing situations. It's the slowest backfield in the league, by far, but Steele's role may be large enough for RB2 value if he keeps it. The rookie didn't have any carries longer than nine yards Sunday night, and while Perine is no better in terms of speed/explosiveness, it won't be surprising if things shift more toward the veteran at some point. This is another backfield to watch closely, especially if/when Clyde Edwards-Helaire returns (he's eligible Week 5).

The Broncos are getting nothing on the ground from Javonte Williams and Jaleel McLaughlin, but they may stick with the same plan, as depth backs Tyler Badie and Blake Watson both are smaller, quicker guys that profile as replacements for McLaughlin rather than Williams. And while Badie took nine carries for 70 yards in Sunday's win at Tampa Bay, he got seven of those totes in garbage time (and was barely involved beforehand). Sean Payton seems to be adjusting to the lack of talent and poor run blocking, with his offense sending a larger share of the targets/touches to WRs and fewer to RBs (compared to basically every other Payton team ever). Granted, their WRs kind of stink too.

The Panthers just got a huge outing from Chuba Hubbard, who capitalized on having competent QB play for the first time since... uh, it's been a while. Hubbard solidified himself ahead of Miles Sanders the past couple games after some hints of Sanders having a significant role Week 1, but now Jonathon Brooks' debut may be right around the corner as a threat to Hubbard's workload. I do think Hubbard will keep the lead role, but Brooks is faster and a better pass catcher. The rookie second-round pick is eligible to play Week 5, at which point he'll be 11 months removed from the ACL tear he suffered at Texas last year.

Waivers Look-Ahead ±

If you're looking for a more comprehensive waivers article, RW's Kevin Payne has you covered. 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. Chuba Hubbard - 52%
2. Cam Akers - 46%
3. Rico Dowdle - 42% 
4. Cordarrelle Patterson - 1%
5. Samaje Perine - 36%
6. Justice Hill - 13%
7. Emanuel Wilson - 3%
8. Jeremy McNichols - 0%

Wilson figures to be a popular addition in medium/deep leagues, although he's unlikely to take nearly half of the workload from Josh Jacobs again. We're otherwise mostly looking at guys only available in shallower leagues (Hubbard/Akers/Dowdle/Perine) or passing-down subs, with Patterson being the dark horse for real value (if it turns out Mike Tomlin wasn't being honest about Najee Harris' arm injury being no big deal). Jaylen Warren hasn't looked good this season and sounds less than 50/50 to play Week 4, so C-Patt should get at least a handful of touches (and maybe up to a dozen) even if Harris is good to go.

Bench Stashes

1. Bucky Irving - 35%
2. Braelon Allen - 36%
3. Tyler Allgeier - 24%
4. Trey Benson - 39%
5. Isaac Guerendo - 3% 
6. Antonio Gibson - 18% 
7. Jaylen Wright - 14%
8. Ray Davis - 12% 
9. Kimani Vidal - 3% 
10. Tyrone Tracy - 3%
11. Trey Sermon - 1%
12. Tank Bigsby - 16%
13. Blake Corum - 34%
14. Jamaal Williams - 6%
15. Roschon Johnson - 2%
16. Ronnie Rivers - 0%
17. Audric Estime (IR / ankle) - 1%
18. Dylan Laube - 0%

Irving should be a popular addition this week, and he's maybe the only guy on this list with a real chance to take over a lead role anytime soon without an injury to the player in front of him. I like Rachaad White more than most, but the Bucs may eventually grow tired of his mediocre running and sacrifice something in the pass game to give Irving more playing time and touches. There are also some decent emergency lineup options on this list, with guys like Irving, Allen and Gibson projection for at least a handful of carries and a couple of targets even when the starter ahead of them is healthy.

Drop Candidates

1. Gus Edwards (shallow leagues)
2. Jaylen Warren (shallow leagues)
3. Blake Corum (shallow leagues)
4. Ezekiel Elliott (shallow leagues)
5. Jaleel McLaughlin
6. Miles Sanders
7. Jeff Wilson
8. Kareem Hunt
9. D'Onta Foreman