RADIO
The running back by committee is the most dreaded situation in all of fantasy football. Having too many cooks in the kitchen, the nail in the coffin, the kiss of death, the ol' "stick a fork in it," whatever cliche you prefer. A RBBC can make a very talented running back irrelevant for fantasy purposes.
Fortunately, most of these situations show their faces relatively early on in the season. It's best to focus on some of the obvious ones that have already given owners serious headaches.
A few disclaimers before we get started here. First, a timeshare backfield tends to render individual talent moot. So when you read a name like Joe Mixon, it's not a knock on the player himself so much as it is the team he plays for. All too often owners will focus on who is the most talented player on the depth chart, rather than the depth chart usage itself. Second, you know your team better than I do. There are bound to be owners out there who will have no choice but to roll with one of the Cincinnati backs due to roster construction. Such is life. I'll help you with that too, though. On to these fantasy kerfuffles.
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Running Back Committees To Avoid
Cincinnati Bengals: Joe Mixon, Jeremy Hill, Giovani Bernard
The Bengals have been a source of fantasy frustration for years now. Outside of A.J. Green, every other position has been a roller coaster of emotions. When the team drafted Joe Mixon back in April, the common perception was that he would step right into a featured role, breaking away from the timeshare approach we've seen in recent seasons. Yet here we are trying to sort through what is now a three-headed Cerberus at running back. Yes, Marvin Lewis cares nothing about your fantasy team.
The total number of touches per back reinforce what we feared would be the case. Joe Mixon leads with 21, Giovani Bernard is second with 15, and Jeremy Hill is a close third at 14. Yes, Mixon is technically getting the most work, but 21 touches over two games is not going to get it done for fantasy. Jeremy Hill is still the "starter," Bernard is still the preferred pass-catcher, and Mixon is, well, a rookie. It's obvious the Bengals would rather ease Mixon into the rotation than hand him a full workload right out of the gate. Not only that, but now it's blindingly clear that Cincinnati is straight up bad. I suppose a change in offensive coordinator could help matters but there's little hope for what is now a very bad offense.
A committee is bad enough, a trio is the worst of all. Based purely on upside, Mixon is the only one that needs to be owned in all formats. Beyond that, Hill and Bernard depend on league depth and how desperate you are. If you're already down David Johnson, you might need to hang on to Hill in standard or Gio in PPR. Barring an injury or an unlikely shift in philosophy, you can't start any of these guys in a 10 or 12-team league regardless of your scoring system.
New York Jets: Matt Forte, Bilal Powell
After months of hyperbole surrounding Bilal Powell's 2017 outlook, the New York Jets are still using him and Matt Forte equally. Forte has the edge in touches, rushing yards, and receiving. Even if Powell were getting the bulk of the work, he's simply not talented enough to have a breakout season on a bottom-three NFL team. Forte, on the other hand, at least has a track record of producing in a scarce offense.
You can logically justify rostering both Bilal Powell and Matt Forte and you can very much logically justify dropping them outright. The Jets are bad enough to where the old adage of "a starting running back in the NFL has fantasy value" doesn't necessarily apply. The team still needs to be able to move the ball on the ground consistently for that to be a thing. That doesn't look to be happening anytime soon. As far as the red zone, don't even get me started.
Arizona Cardinals: Kerwynn Williams, Chris Johnson, Andre Ellington
Here we have ourselves a situation that could end up with more clarity sooner rather than later. When speaking about who would start for Arizona's upcoming primetime outing against Dallas, head coach Bruce Arians was noncommittal on Kerwynn Williams and Chris Johnson. Johnson has had success within this offense before, while Williams has youth on his side. It's hard to look at either guy's numbers for some guidance since their respective stat lines don't provide enough context. Instead, it's best to focus solely on situation.
The most likely scenario is that Kerwynn Williams gets at least one more shot at taking control of the starting gig. He's the initial backup to David Johnson, has younger legs, and was already on the team to start the year. Johnson, however, might have more upside out of the two. Both should be owned, but not started. Plus, the presence of pass-catching specialist Andre Ellington puts a damper on the PPR value of all three backs. This is one to avoid for now with a tiny sliver of hope. Keep in mind that you're only getting a rental until David Johnson returns. No sense in forcing yourself to hold on to an unknown committee player who will be moot once the team's superstar rusher comes back.
New Orleans Saints: Mark Ingram, Alvin Kamara, Adrian Peterson
The New Orleans Saints have a non-traditional committee in that you have three well-known commodities sharing the load in Mark Ingram, Alvin Kamara, and Adrian Peterson, yet one of them is still usable. Mark Ingram can be used as a low-end RB2/flex play in most leagues. No longer the stellar offense they used to be, Ingram does take a hit thanks to the presence of the other two rushers. Even with that in mind, Ingram is a focal point of the offense who can contribute albeit in a low-ceiling role. He's done most of his damage via the pass with 78 yards through the air versus 69 on the ground. He gets a bump up in PPR formats.
Alvin Kamara is an interesting name that's worth a stash on anyone's bench. He's the clear No. 2 to Ingram, and we know that the Saints are capable of producing more than one usable running back. As it currently stands, however, Kamara is an upside guy with a higher floor than we thought.
That leaves Adrian Peterson who notoriously played just nine snaps in week one. He's already droppable. He's done less with less, a double negative no one enjoys seeing. So for as much as this situation looks like one to avoid, it's only 66% true right now. Ingram is usable provided you adjust expectations. Peterson can safely be sent to the waiver wire, and Kamara is a little ways away from relevance beyond a bench flier.
