2 Fantasy RB’s You Must Trade For After Week 2
Dameon Pierce
From draft board climber to underperforming absurd expectations, Dameon Pierce, running back of the Houston Texans, is a polarizing player for many fantasy owners.
From the jump, Pierce’s fantasy outcome was bound for failure. The rookie was drafted to a rebuilding team, where he was supposed to be the third running back on the depth chart. That said, throughout OTAs and the pre-season, Pierce scaled fantasy draft boards from the tenth round to as low as the fourth.
Like Pierce, Clyde Edwards-Helaire had a similar draft trajectory. Edwards-Helaire went from being drafted in the third/fourth round to being a first-round selection. Fantasy owners placed unrealistic expectations upon the first-year Kansas City Chiefs running back, making his season seem like a failure.
In Week I, Pierce recorded 11 carries for 33 yards and was on the field for less than 30% of the offensive snaps, with the Texans allocating 70% to veteran Rex Burkhead.
Pierce ran for 69 yards in Week II on 15 carries (4.9 avg). That said, the initial competition for the position is slowly fading. Pierce was the only running back to run the ball.
I hope this doesn’t come as a shocker, but the Texans aren’t going to win the Superbowl. They are currently in a rebuild, and if they want to ensure a bright future, they need to give their young players like Pierce more opportunities. Fantasy players may be impatient with Pierce’s progression and want to salvage draft capital from the rookie running back, allowing you to trade for the future workhorse of the Texans.
Josh Jacobs
Josh has admittedly gotten off to a slow fantasy start during his 2022 campaign, making him a perfect buy low candidate this year.
The volume has absolutely been there already with Jacobs carrying the ball 29 times compared to last years 23 carries through 2 games. On Sunday, the Raiders opted for two short passes around the goal line instead of feeding Jacobs, something that will have to change once opposing teams start guessing pass in those situations.
If Jacobs scored in those situations, Jacobs would be averaging 14.2 points a game and his current outlook would be wildly different than it is right now.
Jacobs has looked explosive in his carries this year, breaking tackles, displaying great field vision and has even caught passes of 10+ yards in both games he’s played in this year.
The only players with more carries than Josh Jacobs this year are James Robinson, Nick Chubb, Derrick Henry, David Montgomery, Leonard Fournette Jonathan Taylor, Saquon Barkley and Joe Mixon. These guys all have more trade value than Jacobs at this current moment because they’ve scored touchdowns. Also, none of these running backs play in an offense with as much explosive potential as Jacobs and the Raiders, providing an opportunity for garbage time points when they play against weaker competition in the future.
Jacobs, on the last year of his current contract, will be a workhorse this season and once the TD production comes you’ll be glad to have traded for him.
