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 continue with the running backs. Today, we take a look at Devin Singletary, who burst onto the scene in the second half of the 2021 season as the Bills moved away from their two-back system with Singletary and Zack Moss. But now they seem to have a two-back system with Singletary and rookie James Cook. What can we hope to expect from Devin Singletary for our 2022 fantasy football leagues?
Devin Singletary ADP and AAV:
Average Draft Position: RB29, 83 overall
Average Auction Value: $10.3
Devin Singletary Statistics:
| Year | G | GS | Rush | Ru Yds | Ru TD | Tgt | Rec | Yards | TD | Touches | Opp | Total Yards |
| 2021 | 17 | 16 | 188 | 870 | 7 | 50 | 40 | 228 | 1 | 228 | 238 | 1098 |
| 2020 | 16 | 16 | 156 | 687 | 2 | 50 | 38 | 269 | 0 | 194 | 206 | 956 |
| 2019 | 12 | 8 | 151 | 775 | 2 | 41 | 29 | 194 | 2 | 180 | 192 | 969 |
| Year | YPC | Rush/G | Ru Yd/G | Tgt/G | Rec/G | Catch% | Yds/Tgt | Yds/Rec | Touches/G | Opp/G | Yds/G |
| 2021 | 4.63 | 11.1 | 51.2 | 2.94 | 2.35 | 80.0% | 4.56 | 5.70 | 13.41 | 14.00 | 64.6 |
| 2020 | 4.40 | 9.8 | 42.9 | 3.13 | 2.38 | 76.0% | 5.38 | 7.08 | 12.13 | 12.88 | 59.75 |
| 2019 | 5.13 | 12.6 | 64.6 | 3.42 | 2.42 | 70.7% | 4.73 | 6.69 | 15.00 | 16.00 | 80.75 |
| Year | Std Pts | HPPR Pts | PPR Pts | Pts/G | HPPR Pts/G | PPR Pts/G | Pts/Tch | HPPR Pts/Tch | PPR Pts/Tch |
| 2021 | 157.8 | 177.8 | 197.8 | 9.28 | 10.46 | 11.6 | 0.69 | 0.78 | 0.87 |
| 2020 | 105.6 | 124.6 | 143.6 | 6.60 | 7.79 | 9.0 | 0.54 | 0.64 | 0.74 |
| 2019 | 118.9 | 133.4 | 147.9 | 9.91 | 11.12 | 12.33 | 0.66 | 0.74 | 0.82 |
2022 Devin Singletary Fantasy Football Overview:
Devin Singletary’s 2021 is a tale of two seasons. In the first ten games of the season, he topped 45% of snaps just three times, and in the second half, he topped 45% of snaps in every single game. This coincided with the Bills marginalizing Zack Moss, who topped 45% of snaps in six games in the first ten weeks (and dropped below 68% of snaps once). After that point, he never topped 33% of snaps. So, you can see a clear delineation between a split backfield and when it became Devin Singletary’s backfield.
So, Devin Singletary’s year-end stats literally don’t tell the story. But, in the last seven games of the season, when the Bills turned it over to Singletary, he averaged 15 carries and 2.6 targets per game, which he turned into 81 yards and 2 receptions while scoring six touchdowns in seven games. Indeed, in the back half of the season, he was an RB1, averaging the twelfth-most PPR points per game (15.4 per game). To put that in context, he would have been between Nick Chubb (15.5 PPR points per game) and Aaron Jones (15.3 PPR points per game).
So, that’s what Devin Singletary did last year (throw Zack Moss to the curb), but what is he likely to do in 2022? That’s what I fear, and what a lot of people who are trepidatious about Singletary fear: he had 50 targets last year and the Buffalo Bills went out of their way to get a pass-catching running back onto their roster. They whiffed on J.D. McKissic so they went out and spent a day-two pick on James Cook, instead (more on him later). So, that seems to me, that the game plan is to limit Devin Singletary’s touches as much as possible to let James Cook help carry the load. I fear that will limit Singletary’s upside, but it could also turn Devin Singletary into what he was before the Bills banished Zack Moss to the shadow realm.
2022 Devin Singletary Fantasy Football Draft Strategy:
Devin Singletary Salary Cap Value: $7
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet! (coming in early July)
In the first ten games of 2021, Devin Singletary, part-time running back, was RB30 overall. That is the floor here for Devin Singletary, and something we need to establish before we talk about his ADP. In snake leagues, he’s going at RB30, which honestly feels like his floor. You can snag Singletary if you want because he’s a shoo-in to beat his ADP. Unfortunately, his pick 82 ADP is ahead of wide receivers we all should want more than Singletary: Darnell Mooney, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Gabriel Davis. That’s where the real rub lies with Singletary; he goes at an area where there are other, better options at a different position that would be better served on your fantasy football team.
In salary cap drafts, I also fear that his upside is fully already inside of his purchase price. He’s $10 by Yahoo! average auction values, which is the same as Travis Etienne and A.J. Dillon, and as much as Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Melvin Gordon, and Chase Edmonds combined. Spend your $30-40 on those five running backs instead of Devin Singletary and Cam Akers, for example. Singletary goes as one of the last running backs before situations get relatively wobbly, so he sees a price bump. Let someone else deal with that price bump.
Best Case Scenario:
Devin Singletary casts aside James Cook and ascends to top-15 RB status.
Worst Case Scenario:
Zack Moss, Duke Johnson, and James Cook all unionize, vowing to “never become T.J. Yeldon” of course referencing the running back that was on the Bills for two years while getting just 42 snaps and 24 game-day inactives. Their only request: Devin Singletary must jump through a burning folding table. He does this, injures his back while sustaining second-degree burns, and misses the rest of the season.
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[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com, airyards.com, and ftnfantasy.com]
[Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Devin_Singletary.jpg, cropped, under CC BY SA 2.0]
