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 a running back who went from being the RB2 on the Chiefs to the RB2 on the Cardinals. He’s insanely disrespected because he’s not a big name, but turned in a good season. Are we overlooking Darrel Williams in our 2022 redraft leagues? Is he worth a shot?
Darrel Williams ADP and AAV:
Average Draft Position: RB57, 117 overall
Average Auction Value: $1.0
Darrel Williams Statistics:
| Year | G | GS | Rush | Ru Yds | Ru TD | Tgt | Rec | Yards | TD | Touches | Opp | Total Yards |
| 2021 | 17 | 7 | 144 | 558 | 6 | 57 | 47 | 452 | 2 | 191 | 201 | 1010 |
| 2020 | 16 | 0 | 39 | 169 | 1 | 26 | 18 | 116 | 0 | 57 | 65 | 285 |
| 2019 | 12 | 0 | 41 | 141 | 3 | 19 | 15 | 167 | 1 | 56 | 60 | 308 |
| Year | YPC | Rush/G | Ru Yd/G | Tgt/G | Rec/G | Catch% | Yds/Tgt | Yds/Rec | Touches/G | Opp/G | Yds/G |
| 2021 | 3.88 | 8.5 | 32.8 | 3.35 | 2.76 | 82.5% | 7.93 | 9.62 | 11.24 | 11.82 | 59.4 |
| 2020 | 4.33 | 2.4 | 10.6 | 1.63 | 1.13 | 69.2% | 4.46 | 6.44 | 3.56 | 4.06 | 17.81 |
| 2019 | 3.44 | 3.4 | 11.8 | 1.58 | 1.25 | 78.9% | 8.79 | 11.13 | 4.67 | 5.00 | 25.67 |
| Year | Std Pts | HPPR Pts | PPR Pts | Pts/G | HPPR Pts/G | PPR Pts/G | Pts/Tch | HPPR Pts/Tch | PPR Pts/Tch |
| 2021 | 149 | 172.5 | 196.0 | 8.76 | 10.15 | 11.5 | 0.78 | 0.90 | 1.03 |
| 2020 | 36.5 | 45.5 | 54.5 | 2.28 | 2.84 | 3.4 | 0.64 | 0.80 | 0.96 |
| 2019 | 52.8 | 60.3 | 67.8 | 4.40 | 5.03 | 5.65 | 0.94 | 1.08 | 1.21 |
2022 Darrel Williams Fantasy Football Overview:
On a per-game basis, where would you guess Darrel Williams finished in 2021? Higher. I can already tell you he finished higher than you think. Nope, higher than that. He was RB26 per game in PPR last season, thanks to finishing with the fifth-most running back receiving yards, the ninth-most receptions, and the twelfth-most targets. Eight total touchdowns certainly didn’t hurt matters, either. He did this on a sub-50% snap share, which is big, because he moves from the Chiefs to the Cardinals, and he goes from contending with Clyde Edwards-Helaire to contending with James Conner.
Much like last season where I asked, “what if we are overthinking James Conner, and he’s there to be Kenyan Drake?” I am again asking, what if we are overthinking Darrel Williams, and he’s there to be Chase Edmonds?” Except, here’s the thing: Darrel Williams has been a better Chase Edmonds than even Chase Edmonds. If you think about Edmonds, he’s primarily a pass-catching back with some rushing to help his upside. Well, for his career, Darrel Williams averages an extra 1.7 yards per target compared to Chase Edmonds, on fewer targets, mind you, but enough to matter. Darrel Williams averaged just one fewer target per game than Edmonds last season, but still averaged more receiving yards per game compared to Edmonds.
So, what if Darrel Williams just steps into the Chase Edmonds role? He’s going at an insane value in fantasy drafts and is someone I want to get onto my fantasy football roster.
2022 Darrel Williams Fantasy Football Draft Strategy:
Darrel Williams Salary Cap Value: $0
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet! (coming in early July)
As of writing this, Darrel Williams is essentially free. He’s drafted in 5% of fantasy leagues, and in the salary cap drafts where he’s drafted, he costs $1. No rounding there, if you are in the 5% of leagues where he’s drafted, and you throw him out for a buck, you get him for that. In snake drafts, he’s RB53, pick 167 overall. He’s not going in your standard-sized snake draft, either.
You can fix this, and draft him with your last pick, or $1 in a salary cap draft. It’s a wildly minimal investment and one that is unlikely to go up soon. Recent reports are that Eno Benjamin is James Conner’s primary backup. Well, people are taking this to mean that Darrel Williams is the third fiddle. It just means that Darrel Williams has his role (the Chase Edmonds Role) and if James Conner were to get hurt, then Eno would ascend to the James Conner Role. It doesn’t mean that Darrel Williams is third on the depth chart, but people seem to think that it is, so you can likely still get Williams dirt cheap at your draft due to this misunderstanding.
Best Case Scenario:
Darrel Williams seamlessly steps into the Chase Edmonds Role, and finishes inside the top-25 in running back fantasy points per game, just like Chase Edmonds did last year.
Worst Case Scenario:
You waste a dollar, which can’t even buy you a candy bar these days! We used to be a proper country! Thanks, Joe Brandon! Sorry to get political, I just want my treats.
Check out all our 2022 player profiles, here.
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[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com, airyards.com, and ftnfantasy.com]
