{"id":19696,"date":"2020-04-28T13:08:30","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T17:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/?p=19696"},"modified":"2020-05-29T05:39:33","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T09:39:33","slug":"2020-nfl-draft-fantasy-football-winners-running-backs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/fantasy\/2020-nfl-draft-fantasy-football-winners-running-backs\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 NFL Draft Fantasy Football Winners: Running Backs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that the first wave of free agency has passed and the NFL Draft has officially been put in the books, we have a near full layout of what NFL rosters are going to look like for the upcoming season. With that, we have a host of rookie content and freshly updated ranks for season-long and dynasty formats already up in our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/fantasy\/fantasy-football-rankings-2020-draft-strategy\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2020 fantasy football content hub<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the draft, a number of veteran players had their 2020 fantasy dynamics impacted for better or worse. Throughout the week, we are going to highlight some of the biggest winners and losers from the draft from each position.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Miles Sanders, Philadelphia Eagles<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sanders set a franchise rookie record with 1,327 yards from scrimmage in 2019, but did not play 50% of the team snaps in a game until Week 11. He averaged 18.5 touches for 95.4 yards per game over the final eight games of the season while playing 72% of the snaps. That includes two games against the Giants in which he dealt with dehydration (57% of the snaps) and left early due to injury (31%). The Eagles had a plethora of injuries to close the 2019 season, so it was unclear just how much the team was willing to go in on Sanders without tangible competition for lead opportunities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The only rookie RBs in the last 30 years with:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 at least 1500 all purpose yards<br \/>\n\u2022 at least 4.5 YPC<br \/>\n\u2022 at least 7.5 YPA<br \/>\n\u2022 at least 200 return yards<\/p>\n<p>Miles Sanders (2019)<br \/>\nAlvin Kamara (2017)<br \/>\nAdrian Peterson (2007) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Z8vmsKT181\">https:\/\/t.co\/Z8vmsKT181<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SharpFootball\/status\/1250823275493588993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 16, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Boston Scott, Philadelphia Eagles<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By not selecting a running back \u2014 the team did sign two undrafted free agents in <\/span><b>Michael Warren<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>Adrian Killins<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 that also gives Boston Scott an inline to maintain the role he had to close the season playing next to Sanders. Scott totaled 61 touches for 350 yards and four touchdowns over the final four games of the regular season. His best moments came in the two games that Sanders was limited or exited early, but Scott has lower-end FLEX appeal playing an ancillary role in the offense while serving as the potential handcuff to Sanders.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Kenyan Drake, Arizona Cardinals<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With only a one-year commitment from Arizona in his pocket entering the draft, the Cardinals could have been a player in the early running back market. They did grab <\/span><b>Eno Benjamin<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but it was not until the seventh round at pick No. 222, insuring depth, but not the kind of capital that has led to any projectable involvement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All we have ever wanted is for a team to actually commit to Drake for a full season. We\u2019ve yet to see it happen, but we are one step closer at least for 2020. In the 34 career games in which Drake has played 50% of his team snaps, he has averaged 14.5 PPR points per game. That mark would have been a sturdy RB18 a year ago. In the 30 career games in which he has reached double-digit touches, he has averaged 16.1 points per game, a mark that would have been RB11 a year ago. Drake averaged 18.9 touches for 101.8 yards per game over his eight games after joining Arizona while playing 79.3% of the offensive snaps.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Todd Gurley, Atlanta Falcons<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/fantasy\/fantasy-football-fallout-todd-gurleys-impact-on-the-falcons-rams\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gurley inked just a one-year deal with the Falcons<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> after his release from the Rams, Atlanta still appeared poised to add a running back highly in this draft as insurance for Gurley. Instead, they bypassed the position altogether, even taking a punter with one of their draft picks. Behind Gurley, Atlanta still only has <\/span><b>Brian Hill<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>Qadree Ollison<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><b>Ito Smith<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gurley had just 49 passing game targets in 2019 after 81 and 87 over the two years prior. He averaged just 3.3 targets per game after 5.8 per game in each of the 2018 and Atlanta gave their running backs 113 targets in the passing game a year ago, with Devonta Freeman accounting for 70 total and 5.0 per game. There is still a question on Gurley\u2019s arthritic knee and if he can regain the form he had, but the Atlanta with the current state of the Atlanta depth chart behind him, we should absolutely find out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Matt Breida, Miami Dolphins<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No team got less production from their backfield in 2019 than the Dolphins. Miami backs collectively ranked dead last in touches (22.9) and yards from scrimmage (89.4) per game while averaging 3.9 yards per touch and scoring five total touchdowns.\u00a0 Sending a fifth round pick the 49ers in exchange for Breida, they have a 1-2 punch with <\/span><b>Jordan Howard<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as a power back and Breida as the roadrunner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An explosive player, Breida has averaged 5.5 yards per touch over his first three years in the league. His biggest hang-up has been getting a full-allotment of touches. Last season he got completely lost in the shuffle after a mid-season injury. Over his opening nine games, Breida averaged 24.8 snaps, 13.8 touches and 72.4 yards from scrimmage per game. Once he returned to the lineup in Week 14, <\/span><b>Raheem Mostert<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> had exploded and Breida barely got any burn, playing just 32 offensive snaps total over the final four regular season games and playing just 13 snaps in the three playoff games for San Francisco.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0At 5\u201910\u201d and 190 pounds, Breida has been given limited scoring opportunities over his early career. He has just six rushing touchdowns, with four of those coming from 30-yards out or further. He likely still will have a problem getting those scoring touches playing alongside Howard, but in leaving San Francisco for Miami, Breida goes from a Hail Mary play at the position to at least a FLEX option.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny, Seattle Seahawks<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With Carson entering the final season of his rookie contract and suffering his third significant injury in as many seasons, he appeared to be on thin ice heading into the draft. Tack on that Penny suffered a torn ACL in Week 14 last season and Seattle looked be in prime position to potentially invest in one of the top running backs in this class.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They did select a running back (taking <\/span><b>Deejay Dallas<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the fourth round at No. 144 overall) but after they had already taken four other players in the draft. Dallas also could not leapfrog <\/span><b>Travis Homer<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> while at Miami, a player who rounded out the Seattle backfield a year ago. Both Carson and Penny still carry injury concerns, but with both expected to be on track to return for the start of the season, Seattle went with a depth selection at the position than a true rival.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Now that the first wave of free agency has passed  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":15141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Fantasy football winners following the 2020 NFL Draft, including Miles Sanders and Kenyan 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