Fantasy Football Running Back Week 9 Trade Options | Should You Target James Cook, Isiah Pacheco, Aaron Jones, Alexander Mattison or Jonathan Taylor?

The fantasy football regular season is winding down. If you are perusing the web for fantasy stories, I’m guessing you are still in the playoff hunt. With that in mind, let’s dive into FantasySP’s Fantasy Assistant tool and see what fantasy owners are thinking about.

Waiver wire moves can only take you so far. It’s trades that can swing the fantasy odds in your favor, so let’s look at the predictive trades tab of the Fantasy Assistant. 

Let’s try and locate you a running back. The top five slots in the predictive trade tab are all running backs - Buffalo Bills’ James Cook, Kansas City Chiefs’ Isiah Pacheco, Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Jones, Minnesota Vikings’ Alexander Mattison and Indianapolis Colts’ Jonathan Taylor. Which back of that group should you be prioritizing? Let’s discuss.

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including predictive waiver analytics to help prioritize waiver pickups, projections, auction values, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant. Use our fantasy football trade analyzer to break down trade scenarios.

James Cook Fantasy Outlook

I assume that Cook is a popular trade target this week after the news that Leonard Fournette signed to the Bills’ practice squad. I wrote about the Fournette signing in detail earlier this week, so let’s now solely focus on Cook.

Cook has been Buffalo’s clear No. 1 running back this season. He has 70 more touches than any other back currently on the roster and has played 136 more snaps.

Cook has been efficient on his 102 rushing attempts, averaging 4.8 yards to tally 486 total rushing yards. The biggest problem has been finding the end zone, something he’s accomplished just once so far.

The young back is a solid pass catcher, making 18 grabs on 22 targets. He’s turned his catches into 192 yards and a touchdown.

His 678 scrimmage yards is actually 10th in the NFL so far. It’s really the lack of touchdowns that is keeping him out of the star fantasy running back conversations.

Touchdowns would be great, and I think his scoring pace will increase in the second half of the season, but his scrimmage yards alone per game should be enough to safely start him every week.

Since we are trying to locate the top running back for a potential run in the fantasy playoffs, we must at least glance at the upcoming schedules for each guy. Most fantasy leagues start postseason matchups in week 14, but in case your league starts them in week 13, we’ll take a look at weeks 13-18.

Cook has his bye week in week 13. He’s then got tough matchups against the Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys before pretty average matchups against the Los Angeles Chargers, New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins.

Isaiah Pacheco Fantasy Outlook

Pacheco has dominated the touches in the Kansas City backfield. He’s up to 132 touches for the year, while Clyde Edwards-Helaire has 39 and Jerick McKinnon is at just 26. Pacheco has played 292 snaps, which is 119 more than McKinnon and 211 more than Edwards-Helaire.

Pacheco has attempted 108 runs, averaging 4.3 yards to tally 459 rushing yards. He’s scored three times and gotten 20 of the team’s 25 red zone carries. The young back is also a solid pass catcher, hauling in 24 of his 27 targets for 160 yards and an additional score. 

He’s really at no threat to lose many carries, and on an offense led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Pacheco is always capable of monster games. He’s struggled a bit over the past four games, with only one showing over 65 scrimmage yards, so his trade value should be a touch down. 

Pacheco’s late-season schedule starts with a favorable week 13 matchup against the Packers. He’ll then face the tough Bills’ defense before the average Patriots’ defense. He’ll then have a poor Las Vegas Raiders’ defense in week 16, an average Cincinnati Bengals’ defense in week 17 and then another average matchup against the Chargers in week 18.

Aaron Jones Fantasy Outlook

Jones has had a rough go of things this season. He opened with a monster showing against the Chicago Bears, but was hurt in that game and has really not looked like his old self since.

Across four games played, Jones has rushed 29 times for 123 yards and a touchdown. He’s caught 10 of the 16 passes thrown his way for 121 yards and another score. Jones had 127 of his 244 scrimmage yards against Chicago.

Jones is now back and getting closer to full health, but he returns to a Green Bay offense that’s been abysmal of late. The team struggles in the first half and is left throwing a lot in the final half to try to catch up. It’s not a great recipe for a back like Jones. 

If the Packers continue to lose games, it’s possible that the team continues to split the backfield workload between Jones and AJ Dillon, and on a struggling offense, that makes Jones’ fantasy stock even worse.

Jones will be going up against the Chiefs’ above-average run defense in week 13 before taking on the below-average run defense of the New York Giants. Another tough matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers follows, but then the porous Carolina Panthers’ defense awaits. Jones ends the year against a good Vikings’ defense before a clash with the subpar Bears.

Alexander Mattison Fantasy Outlook

The Vikings’ season has been a wild one, already including a terrible start and injury to Justin Jefferson before a big-time turnaround and now an injury to Kirk Cousins. Mattison opened the year as the team’s No. 1 option, but has started to lose snaps and touches to Cam Akers. Mattison did finish with seven more touches than Akers last week, and has produced similar averages, so I don’t think the lead back role will shift dramatically in the near future.

For the season, Mattison has rushed 106 times for 390 yards, but hasn’t scored a touchdown. He’s added 21 receptions on 32 targets, going for 109 yards and two scores.

He’s played 353 snaps, a far higher number than Akers’ 88. Mattison has nearly 100 more touches, but has just five more touches in the past two weeks combined.

I’d expect Minnesota to continue splitting the workload pretty evenly between Mattison and Akers, with the hot hand each week getting the edge in snaps and touches. That’s not what you want to hear, but the offense should become much more run oriented now that Cousins is out for the year.

Mattison will have his bye week in week 13 before a weak matchup against the Raiders in week 14. A matchup with the average Bengals’ defense follows. Minnesota takes on the elite Lions’ run defense in weeks 16 and 18, with a favorable matchup against the Packers in between.

Jonathan Taylor Fantasy Outlook

Taylor has performed well in his four games so far this season, but the problem is that Zach Moss continues to also excel, which hinders the overall snaps and touches Taylor plays on a weekly basis.

Taylor tallied 97 scrimmage yards last week after 120 the previous week. He’s gone over 65 scrimmage yards in the three games he’s played a decent amount of snaps in.

He should continue to steal a few snaps and touches away from Moss each week, but I’m not sure the Colts will ever use Taylor as a true workhorse this season. Moss is simply playing too well, and it helps extend the longevity of Taylor’s career.

Many fantasy owners were hoping a team would trade for Moss at the NFL trade deadline, but that never happened. So, the two backs will keep splitting the workload for the time being.

In week 13, Taylor will take on the above-average run defense of the Tennessee Titans before an average matchup with the Bengals. An easier matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers follows before a tough game against the Atlanta Falcons. Two pretty favorable matchups end the year, with the porous Raiders’ defense in week 17 and the slightly below-average Houston Texans in week 18.

Which Back Should You Target?

These five running backs are all hot names in trade talks this week, some due to poor performances so far and others because they are stuck in committees. 

If you are looking to boost your depth at the position with one of these guys, I’d target Taylor first. The committee doesn’t scare me all that much because Taylor is still producing big numbers.

I’d go after Pacheco next. I’d take him first if he was a more consistent part of the offense, but that won’t happen with Mahomes running the show.

Give me Cook next. Yes, I’d like him to score more touchdowns too, but the yardage alone is good enough for me.

Mattison and Jones are pretty even. I’d trust history and lean toward Jones, but I think both could be decent flex options, with the upside to be fantasy starters down the stretch.

Check out our trade value charts and see what kind of deals you can come up with for these backs.