Fantasy Football Week 14 Running Back Start/Sit: Isaac Guerendo, Tony Pollard, Rachaad White and More

Start

Isaac Guerendo, San Francisco 49ers

Welp, you either paid up or burned your waiver priority to get him so you might as well start him. As most of us know by now, both Christian McCaffrey and Jordan Mason landed on injured reserve this week. This thrusts the rookie into a very important RB1 role.

The 49ers' RBs have been great under this regime, even though they are a bit down this year. Guerendo is a noticeable downgrade from both CMC and Mason, but does have high-end speed that can lead to big-play ability, even more so than both those backs. The only real concern we have is Deebo Samuel Sr. having a much bigger role in the rushing attack than we are projecting, however, they seem to have taken that out of his arsenal since very early this season.  

Tony Pollard, Tennessee Titans

Pollard burned us last week, but we're going to run it back with him again this week. Tyjae Spears has become a complete non-factor regardless of health and Pollard is dominating both running back carries and targets by a wide margin. The reason that we are so quick to jump back on his bandwagon after last week's debacle is because of how great his matchup is on Sunday.

He will face off with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have allowed the second-most fantasy points to running backs this season. They are particularly bad against pass-catching backs, so he should take full advantage in PPR leagues especially. 

Cam Akers, Minnesota Vikings

With such a disastrous bye week on such an important fantasy week, there will be tons of desperation starts that fantasy owners have to rely on to save their season or jockey for position in the standings. We listed Akers not because he's a great start, but because if you are in dire need of a RB to plug in, he could be better than expected.

Aaron Jones cannot stop fumbling and has been significantly less efficient than Akers on the ground the past few weeks. Because of Jones' woes, Akers only handled one less carry than Jones in Week 13. Coming off another inefficient game in which he fumbled twice, there are plenty of reasons to believe that Jones could continue to lose carries in favor of Akers.

Sit

Chuba Hubbard, Carolina Panthers

We'd be lying if we said what we saw in Carolina last week didn't scare us. Not only did Hubbard not play well, but rookie Jonathon Brooks started to see more touches. His six carries were one thing, however, it looks like he's in the process of fully taking over the passing down work as well.

He's doing just enough to not be startable while simultaneously damaging Hubbard's value. With all that said, we are not just throwing in the towel on him. That game does make it much easier to bench him this week though against the Philadelphia Eagles, who are a brutal matchup and allowing the fifth-fewest fantasy points to the position this season.  

Kareem Hunt, Kansas City Chiefs

Hunt, on the other hand, we are done with, barring a setback to Isiah Pacheco. The starting running back returned from his broken leg last week and not only saw a lot more work than we expected, but looked much better than Hunt. The pendulum is only going to swing more and more to Pacheco's side as he gets fully healthy. It was an incredible comeback season, however, Hunt is now little more than a handcuff. 

Rachaad White, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Because of the matchup against Vegas, White isn't a must bench but this has become Bucky Irving's backfield. Irving out carried White 25 to 11 last week, which we could live with. It was the passing volume that made White such a strong fantasy asset and he's losing that too.

The combination of Irving taking over as well as the return of Mike Evans has killed White's PPR value. He saw just one target in Week 13 that he took for two yards compared to Irving's three targets that he turned into 33 yards. His value has tanked since the bye week.  

Gus Edwards, Los Angeles Chargers

This simply isn't going to be a thing. Neither the usage nor the explosion is there for Edwards anymore. Not only should you bench him but if you insist on rostering someone from this backfield, then take a flyer on rookie Kimani Vidal and stash him. Don't be surprised if Edwards isn't even viewed as the RB1 on this team after Week 14.