It’s time for the 2020 fantasy football playoffs. Hopefully, you have all the guys you need on your roster already. If you don’t, we have a running back sleeper list here for you to help you win this week. To qualify as a running back sleeper, a player needs a roster percentage under 50% (checked on Yahoo!). For deep leaguers, we have a running back sleeper available in at least 90% of Yahoo! leagues.
Running Back Sleeper #1:
Ty Johnson (34% rostered) at Seattle
This one could easily be Frank Gore, but Gore is dealing with a concussion that he suffered at the beginning of last week’s game. This pushed Ty Johnson into relevance, as he carried the ball 22 times for 104 yards and a score, kicking in an additional 13 yards on the ground on two targets. This was the first time in Johnson’s career that he topped 10 carries, so it’s hard to measure what this means for long-term gain. But, it does tell us that the Jets were willing to give Johnson enough to work with in a good matchup.
If the Raiders were a good matchup, I don’t know what to call Seattle. Early in the year, they were a bad matchup but a string of ineffectiveness against opposing running backs has vaulted them into the pantheon of good matchups. They now sit as a top-ten matchup against running backs this season.
Running Back Sleeper #2:
Tony Pollard at Cincinnati (20% rostered)
There are rumors that Ezekiel Elliott might not make a go of it this weekend, and even if he does, he will be limited. Enter Tony Pollard in a juicy matchup against the Bengals. The Bengals are middle-of-the-road against opposing running backs, but they generally give up at least 13 (HPPR) fantasy points to one guy on a team. This has been true every week going back to week six except against the Steelers in week ten. Pollard hasn’t had a lot of carries this year (just 64 attempts), but he has a pretty good 4.69 yards per attempt and has looked better than Zeke in recent carries. It’s a devious move, but one you should make just to stop the Zeke Elliott owner from having Pollard.
Deep League Running Back Sleeper:
Jeff Wilson Jr. versus Washington (10% rostered)
I called JWJ a sleeper last week, and I was so, so, so close to declaring myself the smartest man alive. He had three cracks at the end zone within the five on the 49ers’ first drive. He failed to convert any of them but still ended the game with 59 yards on nine touches. The 49ers love to mix-and-match their backfield, so he took a bit from Raheem Mostert in this one. It’s likely he gets continued work over Tevin Coleman, who had -11 yards on two carries on Monday Night Football.
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