Los Angeles Rams - Fantasy News

Top 5 Fantasy Running Back Sleepers for Week 17

by Adam Markowitz

12/27/17

NFL

Los Angeles Rams

Malcolm Brown

Week 17 brings a sadness to more than half the teams in the NFL. This will represent the last game of the season for 20 of the 32 teams in the league, and some of those squads are going to watch their playoff hopes extinguished in the 11th hour.

With the end of the season comes plenty of opportunities, particularly for running backs who might not have been used much over the course of the regular season. There will be more men with ridiculously low Projected Fantasy Points totals who crushed their numbers this week than any other, and we have five picked out who could produce easy wins on Dober Play Cards.

Brian Hill (1.38 Dober Fantasy Points Per Game)
Projected Fantasy Points vs. Ravens: 1.0

Joe Mixon is hurt, and Giovani Bernard can't handle the Cincinnati backfield all by himself. Even with Bernard blowing up for 27.3 Dober Fantasy Points last week, Brian Hill still had a nice game with 17 rushing yards and 34 receiving yards on five touches.

Hill only needs to get to 10 yards to beat his Projected Fantasy Points total, and we suspect he'll blow past that in this game. He's a deep sleeper who could have a monster regular season finale for the Bengals.

Stevan Ridley (2.80 Dober Fantasy Points Per Game)
Projected Fantasy Points vs. Browns: 1.5

The Steelers are technically still playing for the No. 1 seed in the AFC, but with the Patriots merely needing a win against the Jets, the likelihood this game against Cleveland means anything is slim.

Le'Veon Bell was limited just a bit against the Texans last week. After 405 touches in the first 15 games of the year, Bell deserves a bit of a break, and Ridley is the next man in line for carries. He had nine totes for 28 yards last week against Houston. Those numbers weren't massive, but when you're up against a Projected Fantasy Points total of just 1.5, you don't need much to produce a winning play.

Akeem Hunt (0.29 Dober Fantasy Points Per Game)
Projected Fantasy Points vs. Broncos: 2.0

The Chiefs have absolutely nothing to play for in Week 17. Patrick Mahomes was named the team's starting quarterback, and we have to imagine that means that Kareem Hunt is in for a slow day at the office as well.

Charcandrick West would be next in line for carries, but the fact that the team is making a big deal out of Akeem Hunt being a full-go in practice this week tells us that he is going to shoulder at least some of the load in the running game.

Hunt hasn't done a lot in his career, but we know he's a good receiver out of the backfield. Even if he's only used on third downs and in obvious passing situations, we can't see him not getting to 2.0 Dober Fantasy Points.

Malcolm Brown (3.23 Dober Fantasy Points Per Game)
Projected Fantasy Points vs. 49ers: 6.0

With Todd Gurley sitting this week out, Malcolm Brown is set to serve as the lead back for the Rams. Though the Los Angeles offense is probably going to slow down just a bit with Jared Goff and Gurley on the bench, there are still yards to be had against a San Francisco defense that surely is beatable.

Brown figures to be the beneficiary as the lead back. He only needs to muster 60 total yards of offense or a touchdown to post a win on Dober Play Cards. This is far too low of a Projected Fantasy Points total for any major primary runner.

Devante Mays (-0.3 Dober Fantasy Points Per Game)
Projected Fantasy Points vs. Lions: 0.5

Devante Mays actually has negative fantasy points this year, but this is a good spot for him to ultimately pick up a few carries with Aaron Jones out of the lineup.

Mike McCarthy has said that Mays is going to be a part of the backfield mix. It isn't going to take much to get him past his Projected Fantasy Points total. Any given carry could be the one that pushes him past the five yards needed to post a win on Dober Play Cards.