Dec 15-
We’ve finally arrived at the Fantasy Football playoffs! This is what you’ve been building your team towards all season, it’s now do or die time. If you were lucky enough to secure a bye, that’s great you can have a stress free week. If not, hopefully you’ve at least made the playoffs and need to know who to start this week. So here’s 3 running backs you need in your week 15 lineup.
Devonta Freeman ($5,200) – Freeman has slowly taken over a bigger and bigger share of this backfield as the year has progressed. His snap share percentage has been steadily rising over the past 10 weeks, as the percentages have gone: 8 / 27 / 30 / 40 / 58 / 58 / 49 / 69 / 66. He’s now in the top 15 or so among along running backs in snaps, on an offense that has typically been very running back friendly.
Another great sign that we haven’t seen from other Baltimore running backs in the past is that Freeman is being used quite heavily in the receiving game. He’s got 17 receptions on 20 targets over his past 4 games and can be used as an every down back. Despite all this, Devonta has been going fairly unnoticed and his OwnersBox price reflects that as well. Running backs with this type of usage are hard to come by these days, so make sure you take advantage and put Freeman in your lineup.
Rhamondre Stevenson ($4,700) – In week 13, Damien Harris injured his hamstring, and despite having the bye last week, he’s still questionable to play this weekend. The Patriots do play on Saturday, and although it’s only 1 day, that definitely doesn’t help his odds of playing. For this reason, Rhamondre has potential to be a fantasy stud this week. Him and Harris have been a dominant duo this season, however because they’ve been splitting carries it’s limited the upside of both guys. We saw what happened back in week 10 when Harris was out, Stevenson had 20 carries for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns, while also recording 4 receptions for 14 yards. So we know the Patriots are comfortable giving him a workhorse role if needed, making him an immediate back end RB1 should Harris sit out.
Michael Carter ($5,500) – We’re likely going to see a Michael Carter return in week 15 after spending 3 weeks on IR. We still need to see him practice this week, but if he’s back, he should immediately get his role back on this offense. Carter was starting to get hot before getting injured. In his 4 games after the bye, Carter was averaging 19.5 touches for 105 scrimmage yards and 0.5 touchdowns, equating to 19 PPR points per game.
He was the clear lead back with an increasingly expanding role. The Dolphins have allowed the 8th most points to running backs this season, and Carter was averaging a whopping 7 yards per carry the last time these two teams met before he went down with injury. Pay attention to the practice reports, if it sounds like Carter will be back and healthy, make sure he’s in your lineup.
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