J.K. DODGING
Don’t rush to play Ravens runner
REGINA George is gonna be so mad. Rachel McAdams’ protagonist in the 2004 film “Mean Girls” did not take kindly to efforts by Plastics pal Gretchen trying to start a trend and get her slang use of “fetch” to become hip, because that would be “so fetch.”
Gretchen kept trying and trying, but, as Regina finally scolded, “Stop trying to make fetch happen!”
Fantasy football has its own forms of “fetch.” For multiple seasons, pundits have touted players who keep failing to live up to the hype. Maybe Curtis Samuel will finally stay healthy and become a hybrid fantasy stud. That would be fetch. Over and over, Miles Sanders has tempted then disappointed fantasy managers. J.K. Dobbins also falls into that category.
There was a thought he could have big upside and perhaps take over the Ravens’ backfield as a rookie in 2020. He had a modest 134 carries and an impressive 805 yards on those carries, but Gus Edwards and QB Lamar Jackson had more carries.
Surely Year 2 would be better. Only there was no Year 2. He tore his ACL in the preseason and never got on the field.
This week, there is hope. Dobbins practiced fully this week for the first time, increasing the chances he will make his season debut. Could he finally be arriving? Is fetch finally going to happen?
Not so fast, whippersnapper. First, it was still unclear if Dobbins will play this week. And whenever he does debut, don’t be in a rush.
With Jackson in the backfield, hogging so many carries and being such a threat to vulture touchdowns from RBs, the value of anyone in the Baltimore backfield will be undermined, even a true feature back.
Also, Kenyan Drake got the lion’s share of the work last week. It is unlikely he will disappear immediately upon Dobbins’ return. Expect it to take a least a couple-few weeks for Dobbins to get into the flow. And when he does, we still don’t know if he is the type of must-start some believe him to be.
It’s not a matchup issues — the Dolphins defense doesn’t move the needle. The issue is the usage and the potential. And both need time to grow.
For now, leave Dobbins on your bench. And when he does play, don’t rush him into your lineup.
Make him prove he’s worth it first.
In other words:
Stop trying to make fetch happen.