Looking for early RB sleepers for 2019? We’ve got ’em, here
Week 16 RB Sleepers
It’s the fantasy football finals, which means you have more cajones than anyone on earth to be checking out RB sleepers. Nevertheless, we are here to help. These RB sleepers are available in at least 50% of Yahoo! leagues, with a deep league guy available in at least 90% of leagues for you real daredevils out there.
Elijah McGuire versus Green Bay (50% owned)
It’s been two games since Isaiah Crowell respectfully exited the New York Jets’ 2018 plans via injury. In those last two games, Elijah McGuire has 35 carries and 102 rushing yards. He’s also chipped in six receptions for 52 yards. The kicker is that he’s been the only game in town at running back, and the Jets have no other red zone weapons, so he has two touchdowns in two games. This increased workload can’t work forever, but luckily for you, it only has to work for one more game. This week, that game comes against a Packers team that is slowly circling the drain. They allowed over 25 points last week to Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen, and eight backs have double-digit days in their last eight games (since their bye). His ownership would be much higher if this was week 6 instead of week 16, but he barely makes the cut for the RB sleepers list in the season finale.
Kalen Ballage versus Jacksonville (26% owned)
For whatever reason, the Miami coaching staff absolutely hates Kenyan Drake. He was healthy last weekend, Frank Gore died, and Ballage still out-touched him by a massive margin. Probably because he managed to turn his twelve carries into 123 yards and a touchdown against an extremely strong Minnesota run defense. Now, Ballage had eight career carries, before last weekend, so don’t feel bad if you have literally no idea who he is. The rookie running back out of Arizona State was one of the harder nuts for me to crack in the preseason. His numbers and his yards per carry were outstanding, but his tape was disgusting. He can catch a ball and is extremely good at running in a straight line, but that’s it. Traffic is befuddling to him, and he has trouble with field vision. At 6’2″, 237 lbs, that worked extremely well against future insurance salesmen. In the NFL, I’m not so convinced it will work (prior to Sunday’s game, he had eleven yards on eight carries). There’s another back that he reminds me of, one who torched these Jaguars two weeks ago, leaving them in his dust while they made business decisions. I’m referring to Derrick Henry, who is still running away from the Jags defense. Of course, Ballage won’t get four touchdowns, but as far as RB sleepers go, you could do worse than a guy who profiles very close to someone who already torched his opponent a couple of weeks ago.
Zach Zenner versus Minnesota (2% owned)
If you’re this deep looking for RB sleepers, then man, you’ve already lost. Zenner has double-digit carries in the last two games (averaging over 4 YPC in both games), and has scored in both of them. The Vikings are a bad matchup on paper (eleventh-fewest fantasy points to RBs on the season), but they’ve yielded at least one big game to running backs in each of their last four games (yes, technically James Develin is a running back). If you’re scouring this to find a guy to start in your fantasy championships… woo. “Good luck” doesn’t feel like enough.
Need more sleepers advice like this? Check out our other week sixteen articles below!
Just Get Josh Allen Already, Sheesh (QB Sleepers)
Rockin’ Robby (WR Sleepers)
The Reassuring Warmth of Accepting Futility (TE Sleepers)
