Carolina Panthers - Fantasy News

Top 5 NFL Running Back Busts In 2017

by Adam Markowitz

8/11/17

NFL

Carolina Panthers

The running back position is a terrible one to try to handicap in the NFL on a week in, week out basis. For every back that is someone you must consider on a weekly basis like Ezekiel Elliott or Le'Veon Bell, there are a dozen backs who you'd think are going to be studs, only to watch them fall into timeshare traps or have their touchdowns pilfered by fresher runners.

The busts in 2017? There are guaranteed to be plenty.

1: LeGarrette Blount
2016 Dober Fantasy Points Per Game: 14.59 (No. 10 RB)

There are players all the time who walk into the locker room at 1 Patriot Place, and you just know that head coach Bill Belichick is going to get the most out of them. Rare is the player who takes a flight out of Boston and arrives at a new destination a better player than when he left.

Enter: LeGarrette Blount.

He rushed for 1,161 yards and 18 touchdowns a year ago in New England. We just can't see him posting numbers that big in the City of Brotherly Love. The Eagles averaged 2.75 fewer rushing attempts per game than New England last year, and as a team, Philadelphia had fewer rushing touchdowns (16) than Blount. Major regression is in order.

2: Latavius Murray
2016 Dober Fantasy Points Per Game: 13.84 (No. 13 RB)

Murray is another player changing homes from 2016. He started to fall out of favor in Oakland, and that prompted him to head to Minnesota in free agency. That said, the Vikings have a wreck of an offensive line that opened holes to the tune of just 3.2 yards per carry in 2016—dead last in the NFL. Sure, quarterback Sam Bradford loves to check the ball down to his running backs in the passing game, but Murray isn't an elite route-runner or pass-catcher. Last year, he averaged a touchdown every 16.3 carries. Good luck replicating that in 2017.

3: Jeremy Hill
2016 Dober Fantasy Points Per Game: 11.19 (No. 24 RB)

Hill's place in the Cincinnati offense is certainly under siege. Joe Mixon figures to be the next big thing in the Queen City if he can stay out of trouble, and Hill was already splitting time with Giovani Bernard before the Mixon selection in the 2017 NFL Draft. Throwing a third back into the mix, as well as bringing back a healthy A.J. Green, will only make it harder and harder for Hill to find any fantasy relevance. We wouldn't be shocked to see him finish outside of the top 50 running backs this year.

4: Christian McCaffrey
2016 Dober Fantasy Points Per Game: N/A

McCaffrey is going to have some lofty expectations in Carolina after everything he did at Stanford. But he will have some problems in the NFL that he didn't face in college, namely the fact that he isn't the only tailback in this offense. Fellow rookie Curtis Samuel is going to get some reps in the backfield for sure, while veteran Jonathan Stewart is still going to have a role as well. Stewart and dual-threat quarterback Cam Newton are both touchdown thieves in the making. Even if McCaffrey does finish with 1,000 rushing yards, there's no guarantee he scores enough touchdowns to be anything more than a high-floor, low-ceiling prospect.

5: Jay Ajayi
2016 Dober Fantasy Points Per Game: 13.92 (No. 12 RB)

Ajayi scored a total of 208.6 DFPs last season; 88.7 of those came in just three games. The Boise State product didn't even dress in Week 1 of the season, and though he had that big stretch of back-to-back 200-plus yard games against the Steelers and Bills in the middle of the season, he averaged fewer than 3.0 yards per carry in three of his final six contests and scored just two touchdowns in his last eight games. Ajayi doesn't have any competition in the backfield with the Fins, so his floor is still relatively high. But for a man who is going to start this year with top 10 expectations, we think a somewhat disjointed offensive line and a passing game that is inconsistent will end up yielding some questionable results for Ajayi.