RB flameouts come down to coaching
NOT a single week has gone by in this fantasy football season when we haven’t been reminded of the disaster that is the running back position.
Le’Veon Bell continues to hold out, and those who drafted Leonard Fournette and Dalvin Cook are still reeling. We’ve seen glimpses of life from Jordan Howard and Kenyan Drake, but not enough to warrant their draft positions in the preseason.
You’d like to think, now that we’ve reached the midpoint of the NFL season, some sort of an “it gets better” video is coming our way, but with so many coaches being sucked into this vortex of a pass-happy league, it isn’t. The running back position is not a mess because of a lack of talent. It is a mess because of poor coaching.
Not every NFL team is struggling on the ground. The Saints have pivoted to a run-first scheme, and it has worked wonders for them. The Steelers are perennial favorites to go to the AFC Championship because they have an offensive scheme that is designed around the ground game. Even Seattle coach Pete Carroll, who lost his way after l osi ng Super B o wl XLIX, has re-established a formidable ground attack, and the Seahawks are 4-1 over their past five games. Unfortunately, these are the rare exceptions.
If you drafted Kerryon Johnson, you had high hopes of owning a top-flight running back capable of every-down work. The season started slowly, but after a pair of 100-yard efforts that helped lead the Lions to victory, you thought you were finally getting what you needed. However, in the five-game span that housed those two performances, Johnson saw 12 or fewer carries in three of them and the Lions lost two. Johnson was a non-factor in fantasy and won’t be consistently relevant until his coaches understand what to do.
Mike McCarthy is doing the same thing to Aaron Jones with his refusal to stick with a rushing attack. The Packers looked strong Sunday until they abandoned the run and ultimately lost. Alex Collins isn’t developing in Baltimore because John Harbaugh is doing the same thing. And if you think Matt Nagy and Adam Gase are going to continue so Howard and Drake develop, you’re sorely mistaken.
Fantasy football owners are going to struggle to find reliable running backs this year so long as coaches continue to follow trends rather than proven game plans. Maybe scoring is more exciting, but is it more fun than watching some of these kids develop into on-field juggernauts? The fantasy world has plenty of Julio Joneses. What we need are more LaDainian Tomlinsons.
Howard Bender is the VP of operations and head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on Twitter @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 4-6 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm. com for all your fantasy sports advice, NFL player rankings.