Don't have an account? Join the Best Live Fantasy Chat Community!

Already have an account? Log In

There's no "best" way to win in fantasy football, but there are some good ways, and one of those good ways is to draft good players in the late rounds. Sounds easy, right?

Not really! How many times have you spent a 14th-round pick on a player and then dropped him after Week 2 because he was doing absolutely nothing? Every year, right?

I can't guarantee that the four running backs below will be good this year. If you're taking a risk on someone that late in a draft, there's a good reason why they're going so late. But I am going to suggest four running backs with late-round ADPs that I'm most interested in. (ADP data is from FantasyPros for half-PPR leagues and all players are being drafted outside of the top-50 running backs.)

Cordarrelle Patterson is set to start at running back for the Falcons. Patterson was pretty good last year, but there's just one small issue: he's not a running back.

Yeah, yeah, sports are becoming positionless and all that. But Patterson spent most of his NFL career as a wide receiver/returner, then transitioned into a running back in 2020 with the Bears before becoming the lead back in Atlanta last year.

Patterson is a huge weapon when he's on the field, but you have to think that the Falcons will want to give some snaps at running back to a natural running back, right?

That's where Tyler Allgeier comes into play. There's been plenty of chatter about Allgeier's role this upcoming season being larger than originally anticipated:

"I am preemptively bumping up Tyler Allgeier to the RB2 slot. I believe the rookie takes over the majority of the early down carries, leaving the high-leverage and passing-down work to Cordarrelle Patterson." https://t.co/FRN5RzJCht

And also some of this:

Tyler Allgeier is a real sleeper 😴 pic.twitter.com/F3oUC1kdkO

Getting a potential starting RB past RB50 is a great value, even if there are definite concerns about the ceiling that Allgeier will have since he's a running back on a bad offense and will give away passing-down work to Patterson. He should still end up with enough volume to be a fantasy RB3/4 once he gets that early down work.

If you're looking for a running back sleeper, why not grab one from a team that we know will run the football?

Last season, the 49ers finished sixth in the NFL in rushing attempts with 499 of them. 207 went to starting running back Elijah Mitchell, while 79 went to Jeff Wilson Jr., though he played just nine games.

The team added rookie Tyrion Davis-Price to the mix this year. How much usage will he get? We'll have to see. But the 49ers'w backfield under Kyle Shanahan has been pretty wide open in the past.

Last year, Mitchell took over the backfield, finishing with over twice the carries of the No. 2 player. But in 2020, Wilson and Raheem Mostert both had over 100 carries and Jerick McKinnon had 81. In 2019, Tevin Coleman and Raheem Mostert shared the team lead in carries with 137 each, while Matt Breida saw 123. In 2018, it was Breida leading the team with 153, followed by Alfred Morris at 111. In 2017, Carlos Hyde led the team with 240 carries.

So, every year with Shanahan as the head coach, a different running back has led the team in carries, and just twice has a player gone over 200 carries.

History suggests that this backfield is not as settled as you might think. TDP has a great chance to see 100-plus touches.

This is less about Kenyan Drake and more about how I want the backup running back on the Raiders, whoever it winds up being. That might be Drake. It might be fourth-round rookie Zamir White. It probably won't be Brandon Bolden, but I guess that's an option.

Josh Jacobs has just been used so much in his first three NFL seasons, with 732 carries and 107 receptions. That's a lot of usage for Jacobs.

But last year suggested that the team realizes that, as Jacobs dropped from 273 carries to 217 carries in the same number of games, which also contributed to him going from 71.0 rushing yards per game to 58.1.

Now, a new coaching staff should continue that trend.

Josh McDaniels has spent a lot of time in New England, where his offense really compartmentalized the running back position, usually having one guy in there to run and another back to receive. Last year, Jacobs saw more targets than Drake, but with McDaniels controlling things, I wouldn't be surprised to see more clear roles, with Jacobs getting early down run work and Drake (or someone else) playing more on passing downs.

The last time McDaniels was a head coach was in 2010, so things have definitely changed in the NFL since then. But even that season with a young Knowshon Moreno, McDaniels used a 32-year-old Correll Buckhalter more than you'd expect, with Buckhalter seeing just nine fewer targets in the passing game than Moreno.

Josh Jacobs is still the lead back, but the Josh McDaniels offense should offer more opportunities for a second back than the previous Raiders offense did. Grab the Raiders backups at their ADP and see which one ends up working out for you.

Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy football app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, rankings, starts/sits & more. All free! Win Big With RotoBaller Be sure to also check out all of our other daily fantasy football articles and analysis to help you set those winning lineups, including this new RotoBaller YouTube video:

More Fantasy Football Analysis WR/CB Matchups to Target and Downgrade - Week 2 Week 2 PPR Rankings for Fantasy Football: Austin Ekeler, Alvin Kamara, Aaron Jones, Cam Akers, Tee Higgins, Mike Williams, Kyle Pitts Sneaky Starts, Pivot Plays and Post-Waiver Pickups for Week 2 Fantasy Football Week 2 Busts? Players Who May Disappoint: Dameon Pierce, Brandin Cooks, James Robinson, Pat Freiermuth Break The Slate: Week 2 DraftKings NFL DFS Lineup Picks (2022) Fantasy Football Start Em, Sit Em - Week 2 Matchups Analysis Booms and Busts - Fantasy Football Starts and Sits for Week 2 Lineups Week 2 IDP Fantasy Football Rankings Quarterback Starts/Sits for Week 2 - QB vs. Pass Rush Matchups for Lineup Decisions Rest of Season Half-PPR Rankings: Fantasy Football Top 200 for Week 2

Welcome back RotoBallers! Big week in fantasy leagues as we approach the end of the season and playoffs! As always, we are here with our starting pitcher starts and sits series to help you set those winning lineups for the week ahead! For those who are not familiar, RotoBaller puts out a weekly grid of... Read More

Happy Friday, RotoBallers, we're back for another weekend of MLB betting picks! Make sure you're following my Twitter, as I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to get the added plays written here in the article, but I will typically add whatever else I'm playing throughout the day. The entire RotoBaller team has been... Read More

Fridays are big MLB DFS days and offer a nice respite from the NFL, who command our attention on Thursdays, Sundays, and Mondays. This slate, like most Friday slates, is a big one as all MLB teams are in action today and 28 of those teams are on tonight's 14-game DFS slate. This was a... Read More

There are only two weeks left of fantasy baseball! It's going to be very sad when the season comes to an end, but the impending end of the season means that these are the most important, and therefore most fun weeks of the year – for those of you still competing, at least. I have... Read More

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 MLB season is heading towards the home stretch and we here at RotoBaller have you covered with some terrific plays from our friends over at PrizePicks. PrizePicks is a great DFS fantasy picks site where you can choose to select plays in terms of fantasy points or single stats.... Read More

Another mostly quiet bullpen week as we wind down to the end of the season. After a wild season that routinely saw bullpens all over the league lose their collective metaphorical minds multiple times a week, we're now two weeks into a very quiet period. It's either the calm before the storm or finally a... Read More

Happy Thursday RotoBallers! This is John Brubaker dropping some of my favorite plays for today's slate. After a small slate last week, we have a bit of a bigger slate tonight, with a five-game DraftKings slate and a six-game FanDuel slate. It is nicer to have a bit of a larger player pool tonight than... Read More

Making the right trades can be crucial to championship success in fantasy baseball, almost as much as the draft, if not more. While most trades can have a significant impact on your fantasy team, it’s the deals where you acquire undervalued players and then see their production improve that can really tip the scales in... Read More

Hey there, RotoBallers, it's Thunder Dan and I am back with some of my favorite MLB bets for Thursday, September 15th, 2022. It's a small slate of games with only eight on the schedule and I won't lie, I had one heck of a time finding a few spots I liked. But I haven't missed... Read More

RotoBaller has assembled a list of daily MLB injury updates to help you prepare both your seasonal and daily fantasy baseball (DFS) lineups, every day of the MLB season. Below is our updated list of injured MLB players for September 15th, 2022. Only players on teams that are scheduled to play today will appear below... Read More

Welcome back to another edition of the FREE DraftKings and FanDuel MLB DFS picks. As customary, we have an all-day ledger on tap Wednesday, and although DraftKings does not have a full-day slate, FanDuel does. Consequently, today's article will feature picks on both sites for games throughout the day, as even on DK, the suggestions... Read More

Happy Wednesday, RotoBallers, we're back for another day of MLB betting picks! Make sure you're following my Twitter, as I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to get the added plays written here in the article, but I will typically add whatever else I'm playing throughout the day. The entire RotoBaller team has been... Read More

RotoBaller has assembled a list of daily MLB injury updates to help you prepare both your seasonal and daily fantasy baseball (DFS) lineups, every day of the MLB season. Below is our updated list of injured MLB players for September 14th, 2022. Only players on teams that are scheduled to play today will appear below... Read More