Ridley, Johnson, or Miller?
In one of my big leagues, I’ve got a decision to make about my second running back for the week.
My best options are Stevan Ridley, Chris Johnson, and Lamar Miller.
Ridley is coming off of a 100-yard performance against the Raiders in which he also scored a touchdown. However, the Patriots’ running back situation is highly unpredictable week to week. In Week 1, Shane Vereen got most of the touches, only to return to a small role in Week 2 while Ridley saw a major uptick in use after barely seeing the field on Opening day.
Chris Johnson is in a similar situation to Ridley. He’s splitting reps with Chris Ivory, and Ivory seems to slowly be winning the majority of the work. However, Johnson has a very favorable matchup at home against a poor run defense in the Chicago Bears.
Lamar Miller should receive the bulk of the workload in Miami with Knowshown Moreno sidelined for the next eight weeks. The Chiefs have also been hit pretty hard on the ground through the first two games.
Of these three guys, I feel that Ridley has the highest upside, but Miller may be the safest play.
Here’s my roster.
QB1 Aaron Rodgers
QB2 Matt Stafford
RB1 LeVeon Bell
RB2 Chris Johnson
WR1 Andre Johnson
WR2 Larry Fitzgerald
TE Vernon Davis
FLEX1 Steve Smith
FLEX2 Keenan Allen
D/ST Seattle
K Robbie Gould
Bench: QB Carson Palmer, RB Stevan Ridley, RB Lamar Miller, WR Anquan Boldin, WR Brandin Cooks, RB Matt Asiata, TE Larry Donnel, RB Doug Martin
The other thing I’m giving serious consideration to this week is benching Larry Fitzgerald, who is going to be stuck with Drew Stanton for another week against the tough 49er defense.
Pick Two: Vereen, Ellington, Steve Smith.
In my other big league, I’ve got to decide on my second running back as well as my flex for the week.
Shane Vereen has the better matchup against the Raiders, and because this is also my PPR league, he’s got a chance to make a heck of an impact every week.
Ellington has a rough matchup against the 49ers, who did a good job bottling up Matt Forte a week ago. However, Ellington should be in line for his biggest workload yet since Carson Palmer has yet to return and now the Cardinals lost top backup Jonathan Dwyer to a domestic disturbance.
Steve Smith has been very good for the Ravens through two weeks, and has a decent matchup against the Browns. Joe Flacco has targeted him quite a bit through two weeks.
QB1 Phillip Rivers
QB2 Russell Wilson
RB1 Eddie Lacy
RB2 Shane Vereen
WR1 A.J. Green
WR2 Vincent Jackson
TE Jason Witten
FLEX Andre Ellington
K Shayne Graham
DEF/ST Cincinnati
Bench: QB Kirk Cousins, QB Alex Smith,RB Danny Woodhead, WR Wes Welker, WR Anquan Boldin, TE Larry Donnel, WR Steve Smith
Sound off on your take of what I should do for both leagues below, and post any scenarios of your own.
