Week 4 Fantasy Football Market Share Report: Corey Davis Is Breaking Out
Running Back Market Shares
1. Can Sony Michel Be an RB1?
The Sony Michel awakening of sorts finally came a week after Rex Burkhead was placed on IR and one week before the return of Julian Edelman from suspension.
Couple that with Josh Gordon seeing his first action as a member of the New England Patriots, and you have a very uncertain atmosphere.
Translation -- tread somewhat lightly with Michel, although he's trending upwards.
It’s always hard to pindown Pats coach Bill Belichick's player usage, even in a perfect world. But with all of the moving parts in New England, Michel is just the latest player to pop and draw the interest of fantasy players.
It is possible that Michel’s abbreviated training camp and injury to his knee were to blame for the first-round pick coming out of the gates slowly. In Week 4, he got going, operating as the Pats' "big back."
Michel saw 70 percent of the running back carries, which is great, but he drew zero targets. James White had 26 percent of the targets and only 22 percent of running back carries.
One positive for Michel is his competition continues dropping like flies, and despite White being firmly entrenched as the Patriots' pass-game back, White's most rushing touches in a game thus far has been eight.
Michel has a grip on the early-down work in New England -- and that's a very valuable role -- but monitor the run-pass splits and how Michel and White are used in Week 5 before going all in to acquire Michel at an RB1 (top-12) price.
2. Seattle's Backfield Just Got Even More Weird
Chris Carson goes down, and it’s Mike Davis, not Rashaad Penny, who draws a big workload in Week 4.
Davis rushed 21 times for 101 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Arizona Cardinals. He rumbled off a 20-yard gain and showed the Seattle Seahawks' coaching staff he can carry the load. He also added 4 receptions for 23 yards.
Penny had 9 carries for 49 yards, and he also scampered for a 15-yard rush.
But proceeding with caution might be the best course of action in Seattle’s running game. Prior to Sunday’s outburst, Davis had three total carries for three yards and two receptions on two targets. When Carson comes back, this could be full-blown committee, and given that Seattle's offense is far from a high-octane unit, a committee would make it hard to start any of their backs on a weekly basis.
3. David Johnson Is Still Scary
The Cardinals and offensive coordinator Mike McCoy finally showed a concerted effort to get David Johnson rolling on Sunday. The problem is he never really did get rolling.
Johnson's effort of 22 carries, 71 yards and 1 touchdown on the ground was a step in the right direction, and the 3-catch outing was a significant improvement. But Johnson’s best carry went for 21 yards, so he gained just 50 yards on his other 21 attempts.
Despite promises by McCoy to get more creative with Johnson, a majority of his carries were via the conventional, up-the-gut approach.
But if Johnson continues to see 25 touches per game, like he did on Sunday, he's going to have a better shot to come close to living up to his high draft cost. However, if Josh Rosen isn't able to spark this offense, now may be a good time to deal Johnson, selling your leaguemates on his big Week 4 usage.
