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The “Running Back Dead Zone” is a term that fantasy football players know all too well. For those who aren’t familiar, the running back dead zone describes a section in the middle rounds of drafts featuring a group of running backs who, every year, seemingly never live up to their ADPs.
In this article, I’ll be taking a closer look at where the RB dead zone exactly lies this year to help you navigate your running back draft strategy.
Qualities of a dead-zone running back
Let’s first define some common patterns and trends among dead-zone running backs to get a better sense of what to look out for this year.
Quality #1: Bad offense
The single most telling sign that a middle-round running back could be a bust is if they are on a bad offense. Volume gives you a floor in fantasy football, but it’s touchdowns that raise your ceiling, and dead-zone running backs often will see high carry numbers but low efficiency and end-zone production.
These players are in what I like to call “running back purgatory” — you will feel compelled to start your bad-offense running backs every week under the guise of high volume, but at the end of the day, a 26 carry, 78-yard performance is worth just 7.8 fantasy points.
Some examples of dead-zone running backs who fit this bill last year include Alexander Mattison (drafted as the RB21) and Javonte Williams (RB25), who finished as the RB38 and RB30, respectively.
Quality #2: Depth chart competition
Historically, a surprisingly high amount of dead-zone running backs were unproductive because they simply got replaced as the starter. This goes for guys like Dameon Pierce (RB15, replaced by Devin Singletary), Miles Sanders (RB20, replaced by Chuba Hubbard) and Cam Akers (RB22, replaced by Kyren Williams) last year. It’s obviously difficult to predict beforehand whether a player will get supplanted midseason, but we should at least consider the potential competitors in the backfield when deciding on whether to draft dead-zone running…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy-football-rb-dead-zone-2024-134759640.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-08-07 13:47:59
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