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Fantasy Football: 5 RBs to put away ahead of the playoffs with a win in the league

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Fantasy Football: 5 RBs to put away ahead of the playoffs with a win in the league

With the fantasy football playoffs approaching, analyst Sal Vetri offers five RBs with upside worth keeping on the bench.

Corum is making his best use of the season. In Week 13, Corum played a season-high 33% of the Rams snaps, leading to eight rush attempts for 42 yards – by far the most usage he has taken from Kyren Williams this year. Corum made 35% of the RB carries in this game.

Corum has been one of the best running backs in college football over the past three years. He was a popular fantasy sleeper this summer due to his landing spot on Sean McVay and Kyren Williams’ injury history. Williams has dealt with three ankle/foot injuries in his three-year NFL career.

Corum was an efficient runner in college, and we saw that clearly in Week 13 when he averaged over five yards per touch. Corum is the perfect stock because if Williams were to go down, Corum would likely earn most of the shots and touches in the backfield. Over the last nine games, no other RB has seen a single goal for the Rams other than Williams and Corum. The Rams have strong RB matchups against the Bills, 49ers, Jets and Cardinals to end the fantasy season. If Williams were to miss time, Corum would immediately become a potential league winner.

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Vidal is moving in the right direction as the fantasy playoffs approach. The Chargers recently placed starting RB JK Dobbins on IR, meaning he will miss at least four games and won’t be eligible to return until Week 17. This opens a window for Vidal to earn more opportunities, and we started to see this in week. 13.

In his first game without Dobbins, Vidal played 27% of the Chargers snaps on the season. This led to four carries for 20 yards. Vidal had the best run of the game for the Chargers, getting his second carry out of the shotgun formation for a 16-yard gain. Vidal gives the Chargers a more dynamic playmaker compared to veteran Gus Edwards, especially as a receiver out of the backfield.

Vidal has the rare combination of size, speed and strength. His 213-pound frame gives him the ability to produce in the red zone. Last season at Troy, Vidal totaled nearly 1,900 yards, and his 1,661 rushing yards led college football. But perhaps the most important part of his game is his ability to protect. This is a rare skill for a late-round rookie, and it’s a crucial trait for him to get on the field more often. Jim Harbaugh won’t play RB if he would pose a risk in pass protection for Justin Herbert.

Vidal is a potential three-down back who has a path to more touches starting in Week 14. The Chargers face the Chiefs this week. We should pass on more uses of Vidal. If he can find success, we could see a bigger role in the fantasy postseason. Stash Vidal before this match.

Charbonnet is one of the best stocks in fantasy football. He is a proven back and has three downs if something were to happen to Kenneth Walker II. We saw this earlier this season when Walker went down with an abdominal injury. Walker would miss two weeks and during this time Charbonnet excelled.

Charbonnet handled 90% of the Seahawks snaps and averaged 20.5 opportunities per game with Walker sitting out earlier this season, finishing as a top-10 RB in both games with performances of 15.4 and 24.2 fantasy points. He is a true three-down back with elite pass-catching qualities. He has earned at least two receptions in nine of his 12 games this season and in the two games Walker missed, Charbonnet earned a 12% target share and totaled eight catches.

Charbonnet is a great stock because of its competitive advantage if Walker were to miss time, but also because of its standalone value. This means Charbonnet is a useful fantasy option even if Walker is active. Charbonnet has earned more than 10 fantasy points four times while Walker has been active this season. Charbonnet is perhaps the best stock in all of fantasy. He has a solid schedule for the remainder of the season, including games against the weaker defensive lines of the Cardinals and Bears. Add Charbonnet and put it away if you can.

The Bills’ fourth-round rookie is worth stocking up on as the fantasy playoffs approach. Davis is coming off a strong Week 13 performance against the 49ers on Sunday night. He only played 20% of the Bills snaps, but he made the most of it, converting 12 touches into 67 yards and a touchdown. Davis is similar to Charbonnet in that he has standalone value, but his real competitive edge would be unlocked if James Cook were to miss time.

We saw an example of this in week 6 on Monday Night Football. Davis started in place of an injured James Cook and earned no fewer than 23 touches. He parlayed this big role into 152 yards and a top-15 fantasy finish. Since this outing, Davis has played in six games with Cook active and has earned at least 11 points in 50% of those games.

Davis has solid size and speed and is a reliable back. He is known for his ball security and his ability to catch passes. Last season as a Kentucky, Davis totaled nearly 1,400 yards, caught 29 balls, had just one fumble on 215 touches and averaged more than six yards per touch. This per-touch efficiency has carried over into the NFL, as Davis currently ranks eighth among all backs with an average of 5.4 yards per touch. Save the Bills rookie fourth-round pick while you still can.

The Cardinals’ third-round rookie is also worth picking up and stashing. He served as the team’s RB3 in terms of snaps and usage behind James Conner and Emari Demercado this season. However, Benson appears to be Conner’s direct replacement; Demarcado has mostly worked in key situations such as the two-minute foul and on clear passing downs.

Benson has the impressive combination of size and speed. He weighs 216 pounds and ran a time of 4.39 on the combined 40 times. According to Player Profiler, this means Benson is in the top 2% in speed rating of all RBs to ever attend the NFL combine. Benson is known as a power back, and in his freshman year at Florida State he set the record for broken tackles in college football previously held by guys like David Montgomery and Kenneth Walker II. This success with broken tackles has continued in the NFL, where he has earned a broken tackle rate of 26%, putting him ahead of guys like Jonathan Taylor and Breece Hall.

Benson is clearly behind Conner on the depth chart, but Conner has missed time in three different games this season due to injury. Conner is 29 years old and has missed 3.9 games per season in his eight-year career. If Conner were to go down, Benson would become a potential league winner with a great playoff schedule.

The Cardinals will face the Panthers, Patriots and Rams in the fantasy postseason. The Panthers are currently allowing the most rushing yards per game, the Patriots rank last 10th in run defense according to PFF, and the Rams allowed 124 yards to Conner and the Cardinals in Week 2. Stash Benson before week 14 starts.

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