J.D. McKissic (RB, DET) - Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: It looks like the Lions will ride with Bo Scarbrough as their leading rusher for the rest of the year after signing him a few weeks ago, but it is also true that J.D. McKissic profiles as the pass-catching tailback go-to guy in that offense. This past Thursday McKissic was targeted three times and he caught the three passes to rack up 15 yards. The numbers won’t tell you, but he was very close to score his first touchdown of the year to put the Lions ahead, showing how Detroit might keep relying on him going forward.

McKissic’s value for fantasy clearly comes from his pass-catching prowess. He never was a factor in the Lions running game and with Scarbrough in the lineup that will remain the same. McKissic has been very efficient as a do-it-all tailback, though, as he can easily break tackles and he’s averaging 3.2 yards after contact this season. On top of that, and as I was saying, he thrives at catching the ball. He has been targeted 20 times in the last five games and he has caught 17 of those passes for 131 yards (more than 26 per game) and a touchdown through the air. He has yet to drop a pass and he’s averaging a good 7.7 yards after the catch.

Though he’s on a three-game streak in which he has reached 10 fantasy points, he had a couple of games in weeks 9 and 10 in which he finished with 72 and 57 yards from scrimmage good for 16.2 and 11.5 fantasy points. That to me is his actual range of outcomes, around 10-to-15 fantasy weekly points. McKissic brings more value to PPR than standard leagues, and if you need options for a second Flex spot in a deep league he should offer some points to you and the upside of a 10-plus FP performance if he happens to score on the day.