If we are being completely honest, I didn’t think that we would make it to this point… and we almost didn’t. COVID-19 ravaged the league last week, with dozens of players hitting COVID-IR including an entire QB room. It was the Broncos’ QB room, though. So, we lost nothing of value. It’s time for us to gear up for the final week of the fantasy football regular season with some running back sleeper picks. To qualify as a running back sleeper, a player must be unrostered in at least 50% of Yahoo! leagues. For deep league folks, I include one running back sleeper available in at least 90% of Yahoo! leagues.
Running Back Sleeper Option #1:
Cam Akers at Arizona (40% rostered)
Earlier this week, I wrote that maybe we were getting too far over our skis with Cam Akers. Still, I think Cam Akers shouldn’t have a roster percentage this low. He’s a potential league-winner if he wrests the Rams’ RB touches away from Darrell Henderson to close out the year. He gets a Cardinals squad this week that gave up 14+ HPPR fantasy points to a running back in each of the last two weeks. This comes on the heels of turning a 61-yard run and a touchdown into fantasy football relevance against a much stingier defense in the San Francisco 49ers. Things might not work out for Akers this week, but if they do, his roster percentage will double next week. Get ahead of the crowds.
Running Back Sleeper Option #2:
Devontae Booker at N.Y. Jets (29%)
If this was week three, Devontae Booker’s roster percentage would probably be 92%, not 29%. It’s looking unlikely that Josh Jacobs will play on Sunday against the Jets, and that means that it’s Booker time. He has three games this year with over six touches, and in those games, he had 67 yards (8 touches), 68 yards (8 touches), and 83 yards (with two touchdowns). He produces with the Raiders but hasn’t gotten the volume to do anything consistently in Josh Jacobs’ shadow. And he gets the Jets. It’s the Jets! There’s no fantasy statistic here to tell you to start Booker against the Jets if Jacobs doesn’t play. They’re 0-11 and quickly running out of reasons to care.
Deep League Running Back Sleeper Option:
Jeff Wilson Jr. versus Buffalo (4% rostered)
Remember Jeff Wilson Jr? He had three touchdowns against the Patriots then fell into a black hole? He’s back off of IR and had 12 carries last week. He didn’t do much with it, but he has a much better matchup this week. The 49ers will utilize him and Raheem Mostert in a two-back deployment (as is their wont). The Bills are top-ten in fantasy points allowed to running backs on the season and gave up 27.9 fantasy points last week to Austin Ekeler and Joshua Kelley.
If this has you hankerin’ for some fantasy sports, try out Fan Duel! That link lets them know we sent you! It also gets you $5 bonus cash to play with if you make a deposit.
Then, follow Football Absurdity on Twitter!
After that, get free fantasy football advice by joining our Discord!
Finally, if you like what you read here, check out our podcast and our Patreon
[Image Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Cam_Akers_2020.jpg, cropped under CC BY SA 2.0]
