In Week 3, the injury finally hit the running back position, with De'Von Achane, Breece Hall, and Travis Etienne being knocked out of commission. In the waiver wire section, I will rank their replacements, but the truth is that I am not that excited about any of them but Braelon Allen, and he may not have more than a two-week run as a starter. That does not mean that Fantasy managers don't have options.
There are a handful of running backs emerging as what looks like must-start options. Jeremiyah Love was drafted as a starter and finally broke out of his committee in Week 3. Chuba Hubbard was someone we hit on last week as a must-start option for the foreseeable future.
But, for Week 3 at least, Jaylen Warren and Aaron Jones could be better than both of them. Warren turned 20 touches into 176 yards in Week 3 and should have at least one more week without Rico Dowdle. The Browns provide a difficult matchup, but short weeks often favor running backs.
The best part about Warren is that he is game-script-dependent. He'll be the lead back if the Steelers jump out to an early lead and he'll eat in the passing game if the Steelers play from behind. I project another 100-yard game from Warren and a very good chance that he gets into the end zone at least once.
Jones had a good game last week, but Week 4 against the Dolphins should be much better. Jones had 84% of the team's rush attempts and a 24% target share in Week and now faces a Dolphins defense that has given up the second-most Fantasy points to opposing running backs. In early Week 4 projections, he joins Warren in my top 10.
The reason I highlighted these guys is that on a lot of teams, they were the third running back drafted. In other words, the managers who drafted these guys may have a running back to trade. If I lost Achane for the season, the first place I would look is to make a trade with a team that has a running back surplus, hoping they have a weakness somewhere that I can address.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
