Fantasy Football: 5 Things We Learned in Week 5

The Falcons' Backfield Is Losing Appeal

For years, the Atlanta Falcons have had a backfield to target in fantasy football. Devonta Freeman has been a steady RB1 dating back to 2015, and Tevin Coleman has performed like an RB2 since 2016 and filled in perfectly any time Freeman missed time. But there's a new guy in town, and he's pushing for playing time. That guy is Ito Smith.

Smith's box score won't jump off the page -- 3 carries for 5 yards and a touchdown -- but his presence throws a wrench into the perfect running back ecosystem we've enjoyed over the years. The fact is that the Falcons, as a real football team and not as a vessel for fantasy production, have no reason not to use their fourth-round rookie pick.

Smith got his opportunity when Freeman re-injured his knee in Week 1. He filled in neatly as the team's backup runner in the weeks Freeman missed. Smith leads all Falcons running backs in Success Rate, a numberFire metric that describes how often a running back adds positive value to his team's expected points with each carry. When the Falcons reported that they were going to use a three-back committee this week, they made it clear that Smith was officially part of their game plan.

It showed up in the box score this week. Freeman, Coleman and Smith had eight, seven and three carries respectively, and two, two and one targets in the Week 5 loss. Smith handled the lone goal-line carry and notched his second touchdown in as many weeks.

Of course, this was Freeman's first game back from injury, so maybe he'll return to his typical usage in future weeks. But going forward, the emergence of Smith means that the Falcons backfield is going to lose at least some value and predictability for fantasy football.