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 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | Rec | Run | Total |
2006 | Larry Johnson, K.C. | 41 | 416 | 457 |
2000 | Eddie George, Tenn. | 50 | 403 | 453 |
2002 | LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D. | 79 | 372 | 451 |
2000 | Edgerrin James, Ind. | 63 | 387 | 450 |
2014 | DeMarco Murray, Dall. | 57 | 392 | 449 |
2016 | Lamar Miller, Hou. (proj.) | 53 | 395 | 448 |
2003 | Ricky Williams, Mia. | 50 | 392 | 442 |
2006 | Steven Jackson, St.L. | 90 | 346 | 436 |
2002 | Ricky Williams, Mia. | 47 | 383 | 430 |
2003 | Deuce McAllister, N.O. | 69 | 351 | 420 |
2003 | Jamal Lewis, Balt. | 26 | 387 | 413 |
2003 | LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D. | 100 | 313 | 413 |
2004 | Curtis Martin, NYJ | 41 | 371 | 412 |
2005 | Tiki Barber, NYG | 54 | 357 | 411 |
2009 | Chris Johnson, Tenn. | 50 | 358 | 408 |
2003 | Ahman Green, G.B. | 50 | 355 | 405 |
2006 | LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D. | 56 | 348 | 404 |
2005 | Edgerrin James, Ind. | 44 | 360 | 404 |
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