Fantasy Football Running Backs Start/Sit Week 6: Sit Breece Hall and Brian Robinson?
Week 6 will be kicking off soon and it's time to figure out who to start and who to sit. Here, I will be focusing on the running backs that may be just on the edge of your lineup.
Start
Isiah Pacheco, Kansas City Chiefs
After entering the season at less than 100%, Pacheco has gotten stronger and stronger as the season has gone on. He now has a stranglehold on the Chiefs' backfield and an unbelievable matchup this week. The Denver Broncos are as bad against running backs as any defense we can remember. They are allowing more than 35 fantasy points per game to the position, and are allowing 11 more fantasy points per game than any other team. Not only are the Broncos incapable of stopping anybody, but they are also always losing so that their opponents rarely have to throw the ball in the second half of games. Pacheco should give you RB1 numbers this week.
James Cook, Buffalo Bills
Cook is coming off a horrific performance when he carried the ball five times for negative four yards. That was his second bad game in a row after a hot start to the season. We are here to tell you not to give up on him quite yet. We expect him to turn around this week against the lowly New York Giants who are allowing the third-most rushing yards per game this season and are allowing the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing running backs. Coming off a loss, the Bills will look to get back on track this week by running the ball and blowing out the Giants. This one should be done early and Cook should bounce back in a major way.
Rhamondre Stevenson, New England Patriots
Here is another guy that we aren't giving up on yet. The Patriots' offense has been going nowhere, failing to score a TD on 34 straight drives. Stevenson is the only playmaker on the team and at some point, the team has to figure that out. He has been playing through a leg injury and the team has been getting blown out which has led to a near 50/50 split with Ezekiel Elliott as of late. That will be corrected this week as Rhamondre gets on track against a bad Raiders' rush defense. Las Vegas has allowed the 10th-most rushing yards this season and that's how the Pats are going to have to attack them because their quarterback is terrible. We expect Stevenson to get double-digit carries, at least four targets, and score a TD this week.
Emari Demercado, Arizona Cardinals
There has been a lot of fantasy value to be found in the Cardinals' backfield this season and it looks like Demercado is the last man left standing. James Conner reportedly suffered a multi-week knee injury last week and Keontay Ingram is dealing with a neck injury of his own. Last week, he carried the ball 10 times for 45 yards and scored a TD while adding one reception. This week he draws the Los Angeles Rams who have been below average when it comes to slowing down the run, ranking 20th in the league against the run. Surely, Demercado is going to come up in a ton of start/sit questions this week and we are here to tell you to start him.
Sit
Breece Hall, New York Jets
This is a tough one because Hall is so dynamic and more than capable of making us look like fools on just one carry. Nevertheless, we are at a point where we don't want to start any running backs against the Philadelphia Eagles. They are allowing just 61.2 rushing yards per game and only six fantasy points per game to opposing running backs. They've allowed just one TD all season to a running back and we don't expect the Jets to be able to move the ball at all. So essentially, if you're starting Hall this week, you are banking on a long TD run because they won't be getting many red zone chances. Hall is a special player, but he has a bad matchup and is stuck on a terrible team. He's a very risky option this week.
Rachaad White, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
White is a mediocre back whose fantasy value is based on volume and matchup, and this matchup is awful. The Detroit Lions are allowing the third-fewest rushing yards in the league at just 68.4 yards per game and the second-fewest fantasy points per game to running backs at just eight points per game. If you started White, you would be completely dependent on the hope that he falls into the end zone. However, he has scored just one TD all season and the Lions have allowed just two TDs to running backs this year so even that's a long shot.
Brian Robinson, Washington Commanders
Both Robinson and the Commanders started off the season strong the first two weeks before beginning a downward spiral. He has now seen his rushing yards decline in each of the past three weeks, and after scoring three TDs in the first two weeks, he's only scored one since. Last week, against a bad Bears' rush defense he only managed to muster up 10 rushing yards on 1.7 yards per carry. This week, the Commanders face the Atlanta Falcons who are allowing the third-fewest fantasy points to running backs this season with just 8.6 points allowed per game. Atlanta also hasn't allowed a single rushing TD this year to a running back. With both Robinson and Washington falling apart at the seams, we are leaving him on our bench this week.
