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The traditional backup running back appears to be an endangered species in today’s NFL. As teams are placing a smaller and smaller importance on the value of running backs, we are seeing more committees and timeshares than ever before. This means that it is all the more important for fantasy football managers to identify the few remaining true backup RBs who exist, as they often hold the most potential upside compared to their draft spot — with just one injury, your 13th-round pick could vault into a weekly top-20 option to close out the season.
With that being said, there are quite a lot of running backs going in the later rounds. In fact, according to Yahoo ADP, 17 different running backs have an ADP between 120 and 140, indicating that people are pretty much just blindly taking shots in that range.
In this article, I’ll try to sift through some of that clutter, trying to avoid guys like Jaleel McLaughlin or Khalil Herbert — who would simply enter committees if their team’s starter got hurt — and emphasizing guys who would be their team’s clear next-man-up.
Ty Chandler, Minnesota Vikings
From Matt Asiata to Alexander Mattison to Chandler, Minnesota has been the backup RB capital of the USA for over a decade. Chandler will enter the season as the No. 2 back behind Aaron Jones for the Vikings, with very little competition for touches beyond that — the only other running backs listed on the Vikings depth chart are return specialist Kene Nwangwu and Myles Gaskin. Chandler was effective in the same “pinch-hitter” role for the Vikings last year, averaging 12.2 fantasy points per game after becoming the starter in Week 15.
Jones will be entering his age-30 season this year and missed six games last year due to injury. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Vikings err on the side of caution with Jones and avoid giving him too large of a workload. This means that Chandler could potentially be relevant even with Jones healthy, and would obviously become…
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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy-football-most-valuable-backup-running-backs-in-2024-155005946.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-08-21 15:50:05
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