There have been a ton of running back injuries so far, causing substantially shuffling of the fantasy landscape. With that in mind, which running back will be the next to go down?

Certainly chance plays a big role. Injuries tend to occur when a player is hit just in just the wrong way. But heavily used backs have more opportunities to get hurt, and one back is handling the ball a lot more than anyone else right now – Lamar Miller.

Bill O’Brien likes feeding the ball to his starting tailback – over and over and over. And after three games, Lamar Miller is on pace to finish the season with 448 touches. In the last 10 years, only two backs have handled the ball that many times in a season.

Since 2000, only 17 running backs have gone over 400 touches in a season.

RUNNING BACKS WITH 400 TOUCHES
YearPlayerRecRunTotal
2006Larry Johnson, K.C.41416457
2000Eddie George, Tenn.50403453
2002LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D.79372451
2000Edgerrin James, Ind.63387450
2014DeMarco Murray, Dall.57392449
2016Lamar Miller, Hou. (proj.)53395448
2003Ricky Williams, Mia.50392442
2006Steven Jackson, St.L.90346436
2002Ricky Williams, Mia.47383430
2003Deuce McAllister, N.O.69351420
2003Jamal Lewis, Balt.26387413
2003LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D.100313413
2004Curtis Martin, NYJ41371412
2005Tiki Barber, NYG54357411
2009Chris Johnson, Tenn.50358408
2003Ahman Green, G.B.50355405
2006LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D.56348404
2005Edgerrin James, Ind.44360404

So I would say it’s more likely than not that Miller will miss some games before the season is through. When that occurs, fantasy teams who are carrying Alfred Blue will have themselves a really solid back.

Houston has a couple of other running backs – Tyler Ervin and Jonathan Grimes – but hasn’t shown any interest in using those guys as anything more than third-down type guys.

Blue looks like the Miller handcuff, and he’s been productive in the past. He had a pair of 100-yard games last year, including a win against Tampa Bay where he carried 31 times for 139. The previous year, Blue carried 36 times for 156 yards in a game at Cleveland.

—Ian Allan