Who Should I Start?: Zach Evans vs Jeff Wilson vs Latavius Murray vs AJ Dillon vs Jaleel McLaughlin

The Los Angeles Rams lost both Kyren Williams and Ronnie Rivers in Week 6. This leaves Zach Evans as the presumed starter in LA. This has made Evans a very polarizing option on our FantasySp "Who Do I Start?" tool. These are the players you should and shouldn't start Evans over. 

Who Should I Start?

Zach Evans vs Jeff Wilson Jr.

The concern we have with Evans is that we really have no idea what his workload is going to look like. No one should be shocked if Evans, Royce Freeman, Darrell Henderson, or Myles Gaskin leads this backfield. However, Kyren Williams was one of the most volume-heavy productive running backs in fantasy football prior to injury, so the leader of this backfield also possesses a ton of upside. Rivers is assumed to be the starter because he is their most dynamic option and he was the only one of these guys who were on the active roster along with Williams and Rivers. There is a lot to weigh here when considering the risks and rewards of playing Evans.  

Wilson will make his season debut this week for the Miami Dolphins. The assumption is he is 100% healthy after missing the first four weeks and he was reportedly ready to return last week if needed. Now that Miami is without rookies De'Von Achane and Chris Brooks, Wilson is needed. As much as we talked about the risks and rewards with Evans, Wilson has an even higher upside in this Dolphins' offense. We've seen what these running backs have produced this year with Achane and Raheem Mostert putting up historic numbers. Wilson will be splitting touches with Mostert, but we expect Evans and Wilson to both handle similar workloads. Despite Evans having a much better matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers compared to Wilson against the Philadelphia Eagles, we are still going with Wilson here. If you are starting Evans, you are taking a risk for the upside. Because of this, you can't start him over another equally risky back with even more upside. 

Start: Wilson
 

Zack Evans vs Latavius Murray

Murray's name is coming up due to the absence of Damien Harris who has landed on the Buffalo Bills' IR with a neck injury. Now, Murray has half of the backfield role in Buffalo instead of splitting half of a role in half again with Harris. The issue is we have still seen the workload in Buffalo become very limited at times for the backs. They also take on the Patriots who are still a tough defense despite their offensive struggles. What this comes down to is that the Rams backfield as a whole has a lot more upside than Buffalo's. Evans also has a shot at having a much bigger role than Murray and has the better matchup. If you are looking for a flex option this week, Evans has all the advantages despite being a bit more risky. 

Start: Evans 

Zack Evans vs AJ Dillon

It sounds like Aaron Jones is going to play for the Green Bay Packers this week and if Jones is back we want nothing to do with Dillon. Dillon was once a promising up-and-coming power back, but he has been beyond disappointed since the start of 2022, especially when splitting touches with Jones. Even with an incredible matchup against the Denver Broncos, we want nothing to do with Dillon if Jones is back. However, if Jones were to miss this game it would change our decision, but we are projecting Jones to play in this one. If he does, leave Dillon on your bench. 

Start: Evans
  

Zack Evans vs Jaleel McLaughlin

This is probably the toughest decision we've had to make so far. McLaughlin is in a split-backfield with Javonte Williams who is the RB1 for the Denver Broncos. However, McLaughlin has looked every bit as good as Williams. Last week Williams and McLaughlin split touches 10-9 with McLaughlin seeing two receptions and Williams not catching a pass. McLaughlin has a better matchup this week against the Packers who are allowing the fourth-most fantasy points to running backs while Evans and the Rams face Pittsburgh who are allowing the 12-most fantasy points to RBs, but have the 4th-worst rushing defense in the league which is slightly worse than Green Bay. The matchup is the tiebreaker for us here. We will role with McLaughlin because we trust his established role and have been impressed by how he has played as a pass-catcher and in the red zone. This is a coin flip, but we are going with the Denver back. 

Start: McLaughlin