Rising
Alfred Blue/Chris Polk
Someone is going to emerge from the running back heap in Houston. With Arian Foster out with injury, the Texans may employ a committee approach. However, if one player emerges, he could be a solid number three option for fantasy football owners.
It appears that Alfred Blue and Chris Polk have thrust themselves into the top spot. Blue did see some action last year in Foster’s absence and started three games. He even rushed for more than 100 yards against Cleveland.
For Philadelphia, Polk didn’t see many carries, but he made the most of them. He scored four rushing touchdowns last season on only 46 carries.
Neither of them are in Foster’s class. That doesn’t matter when drafting in the later rounds of the fantasy football drafts, though. If either one of these players is available toward the later rounds of a draft, they may be worth a look, based on the Texans likelihood to focus on the run.
Sinking
Andre Williams
New York Giants running back Andre Williams was a popular person on the waiver wire early in the season last year. Starting running back Brandon Jennings suffered an injury, putting Williams into the starting role. Although it was only his rookie season, fantasy football owners likely expected a little more out of Williams during those outings.
However, Williams didn’t reach 60 yards in the four games that Jennings sat out. Then, later in the season, Williams did break through, going for more than 100 yards in two games. That was supposed to be the bright spot the Giants’ coaching staff were eyeing when looking toward the future.
Entering this season, though, Williams has actually slid down the depth chart, behind Jennings and former New England running back Shane Vereen. That means even less carries for Williams, in what is supposed to be a year where he should be contending for more carries.
With this step back, it appears Williams won’t make much of an impact this season or likely beyond.
