Week 17 Fantasy Football Running Back Waiver Adds: Trey Benson vs. Michael Carter, Kendre Miller, Alexander Mattison, Antonio Gibson

Welcome to FantasySP’s Week 17 breakdown of the top waiver-wire running backs to help your fantasy football team. Because Week 17 is the fantasy football championship in the vast majority of leagues, this week’s article is essentially a streamer article — I will only be recommending players who might legitimately be worth starting in Week 17. Without further ado, let’s get right into it!

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Week 17 Fantasy Football Running Back Waiver Adds

Trey Benson (19.8% Rostered) vs. Michael Carter (0.1% Rostered), Arizona Cardinals 

James Conner exited the Cardinals’ Week 16 loss early with a knee injury. Given that that loss also knocked Arizona out of the playoff hunt, they will likely be cautious with their franchise back. A week ago, that would have made Benson, the third-round rookie, an obvious must-add. However, he missed Week 16 with an ankle injury of his own.

With Conner and Benson owned, former Jet Michael Carter stepped in as the Cardinals’ RB1, finishing with five carries and five targets. If Benson and Conner are both out for Week 17, he will be the beneficiary of a decent matchup with the Rams. If just Conner is out, Benson should see a lead role and is a must-add. Whoever the Cardinals’ lead RB is, they will be at least a playable flex option, so both of these players are worth chasing on waivers.

Alexander Mattison, Las Vegas Raiders (47.4% Rostered)

With Sincere McCormick and Zamir White done for the season, Mattison and Ameer Abdullah are the last players left standing in the Raiders’ backfield. Both were heavily involved on Sunday, but Mattison had the slight edge across the board. He finished with 13.6 Half-PPR points on 12 carries and seven targets against. 

Given that the Raiders have another good matchup in Week 17 against the Saints, Mattison is someone you could play in a pinch. With that said, you’d have to be pretty desperate to play him, given how inefficient both he and the Raiders’ offense as a whole have been all season. 

Kendre Miller, New Orleans Saints (35.8% Rostered)

I am writing this just four minutes before the Saints play on Monday Night Football against the Packers, so you reading this probably have much more information on Miller than I do. But I expect the sophomore, who has posted excellent efficiency metrics in his limited playing time so far this season, to serve as the Saints’ lead back with Alvin Kamara sidelined. 

Assuming that is the case, Miller is worth adding heading into a great matchup with the aforementioned woeful Raiders. Kamara, who is 29 years old and signed an extension with the Saints in October, did not practice at all in the lead-up to Week 16 — I expect him to miss Week 17 as well. Assuming all goes well for Miller tonight, he might actually be the best option on this entire list to have in your championship lineups.

Tank Bigbsy, Jacksonville Jaguars (39.8% Rostered)

Bigsby played just 30% of the Jaguars’ offensive snaps on Sunday, but he still led their backfield in rushes, with 12 to Travis Etienne’s nine. He is clearly the team’s preferred early-down rusher, which is not a bad role to have heading into a matchup with the Titans. Tennessee is a bad matchup in the sense that they have a solid run defense, but a good matchup because they are one of the few teams this Jacksonville squad can beat. Given how explosive Bigsby has been all season (he ranks third among qualified backs in yards after contact per attempt), he’s in play as a flex option in a hopefully positive game script for Week 17.

Antonio Gibson, New England Patriots (17.7% Rostered)

Rhamondre Stevenson lost a fumble and bobbled a screen pass that became a defensive touchdown on Sunday. The second of those instances was his final touch of the game, with Gibson taking over as the Patriots’ lead back the rest of the way. After the game, Patriots’ Head Coach Jerod Mayo said it was a “possibility” that Gibson will start over Stevenson for New England’s Week 17 matchup with the Chargers.

With all that said, Gibson is still a very risky option. We’ve seen Stevenson be “benched” once already for his fumbling issues this season, and he missed just one drive before having what was actually one of his best games of the season. Unless we get something concrete indicating Gibson will see the majority of the work, he’s just a desperation play … and even then, it’s tough to back him behind an atrocious O-line against an elite defense. 

Patrick Taylor Jr., San Francisco 49ers (39.5% Rostered)

Despite the presence of Ke’Shawn Vaughn and fantasy football Twitter’s collective delusions about Israel Abanikanda, Taylor was the 49ers’ clear RB1 on Sunday. Abaikanda wasn’t even activated from the practice squad, while Vaughn didn’t play an offensive snap. Taylor did lose work to Kyle Juszczyk (one carry, three targets) and Deebo Samuel (five carries, 10 backfield snaps), but he still saw a very respectable 79% snap share to go with eight rushes and five targets.

On the downside, Taylor was very ineffective with those opportunities, averaging just 3.0 yards per carry and recording only one reception (two drops) for one yard through the air. Especially given that Kyle Shanahan indicated that Isaac Guerendo will return soon, Taylor Jr. is only worth adding in very deep formats. With that said, we know Shanahan is two things: a genius at turning ordinary RBs into fantasy studs, and a liar. With those things in mind, I wouldn’t give up on Taylor Jr. just yet.

Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasySP. Find him on Twitter @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.