It’s that time of year once again! Football Absurdity will bring you a breakdown of every notable fantasy football-relevant player throughout June, July, and August. We finished our quarterbacks already; that means it’s time to get to the most frustrating position! That’s right, we’re on to the running backs. Today, we explore a polarizing running back, who some think will be a top-ten running back, and who others think will be merely top-fifteen. Never has so much ink been spilled over such narrow interpretive differences since The Reformation. Let’s take a look at the 2021 Joe Mixon player profile!
Joe Mixon ADP & AAV:
Average Draft Position (HPPR): RB14, Pick 20
Average Auction Value: $38.1 (RB13)
Joe Mixon Statistics:
| Year | G | GS | Rush | Ru Yds | Ru TD | Tgt | Rec | Yards | TD | Touches | Opp | Total Yards |
| 2020 | 6 | 6 | 119 | 428 | 3 | 26 | 21 | 138 | 1 | 140 | 145 | 566 |
| 2019 | 16 | 15 | 278 | 1137 | 5 | 45 | 35 | 287 | 3 | 313 | 323 | 1424 |
| 2018 | 14 | 13 | 237 | 1168 | 8 | 55 | 43 | 296 | 1 | 280 | 292 | 1464 |
| Year | YPC | Rush/G | Ru Yd/G | Tgt/G | Rec/G | Catch% | Yds/Tgt | Yds/Rec | Touches/G | Opp/G | Yds/G |
| 2020 | 3.60 | 19.8 | 71.3 | 4.33 | 3.50 | 80.8% | 5.31 | 6.57 | 23.33 | 24.17 | 94.33 |
| 2019 | 4.09 | 17.4 | 71.1 | 2.81 | 2.19 | 77.8% | 6.38 | 8.20 | 19.56 | 20.19 | 89.00 |
| 2018 | 4.93 | 16.9 | 83.4 | 3.93 | 3.07 | 78.2% | 5.38 | 6.88 | 20.00 | 20.86 | 104.57 |
| Year | Std Pts | HPPR Pts | PPR Pts | Pts/G | HPPR Pts/G | PPR Pts/G | Pts/Tch | HPPR Pts/Tch | PPR Pts/Tch |
| 2020 | 78.6 | 89.1 | 99.6 | 13.10 | 14.85 | 16.6 | 0.56 | 0.64 | 0.71 |
| 2019 | 190.4 | 207.9 | 225.4 | 11.90 | 12.99 | 14.09 | 0.61 | 0.66 | 0.72 |
| 2018 | 200.4 | 221.9 | 243.4 | 14.31 | 15.85 | 17.39 | 0.72 | 0.79 | 0.87 |
2021 Joe Mixon Fantasy Football Overview:
Joe Mixon is a polarizing figure in fantasy football circles because he was pretty good in 2018 and 2019, averaging almost 97 yards per game while scoring 17 touchdowns in his 30 contests across those two seasons. He was fine, but you hear people talk about Joe Mixon like he’s the second coming of all great fantasy football running backs through time.
Earlier this offseason, I did a study to find out who the most average running back has been in the past few years. I took league average yards per carry, league average catch rate, and league average yards per reception. This felt like it would give me the most average back in the league. The result was a shortlist that included Joe Mixon. I scrapped the idea because I didn’t feel like getting yelled at by fantasy football Twitter, but here we are. Joe Mixon is fine, he’s slightly above-average compared to the rest of the league. That puts him in the RB13-RB15 range. But, if you say such things, you’re suddenly a Joe Mixon Hater.
I don’t hate Joe Mixon, I just don’t like him as much as most of fantasy football Twitter. 2020 Joe Mixon had one good game, and it was so good (against the worst running back defense in the league) that it boosted everyone’s bad ideas surrounding Mixon.
Outside of his game against the team that literally drafted first overall, Mixon averaged 77 yards per game, pacing out to 301 carries for 886 yards. That’s… insanely bad (2.95 yards per carry). But, he had volume (21.8 touches per game). So, if you want to chase a basically league-average player getting lots of volume, then go for Mixon.
2021 Joe Mixon Fantasy Football Draft Strategy:
Joe Mixon Auction Value: $34
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet!
I don’t particularly care for Joe Mixon, overall. I think the hype on him has gone way too far, with people pushing him into their top ten without much to support it other than him being ineffective with volume and scoring a bunch of touchdowns a couple of years ago. His main argument is volume, and if you want him as your RB2, since he does have RB1 upside, have at it. I’m just not particularly interested in him if he goes inside the top-20 picks.
That, fortunately, or unfortunately, means that I’m out on Joe Mixon. Right now, he’s picked twentieth. I would rather have five-or-six guys who are going behind him rather than Mixon. That means that barring an unforeseen circumstance, I am out on Mixon. But, if you’re in the mid to late second round and you need a running back, you could do worse than Mixon. He’s guaranteed rushing volume, so I can understand leaning into him than an actually good and electric back like D’Andre Swift, but I am going to lean into the upside with Swift.
Best Case Scenario:
Joe Mixon is a pure volume based RB1.
Worst Case Scenario:
Joe Mixon gets 20 touches per game and continues to fart around, doing nothing. Maybe in 2022…
Check out all our 2021 player profiles, here.
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[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com, airyards.com, and ftnfantasy.com]
[Image Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Joe_Mixon_vs_Browns_2019.jpg, cropped under CC BY SA 2.0]
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