Week 9 Sunday Drive

A potential breakout star?

This week’s Sunday Drive discusses:

• The Ravens unleash a new weapon

• Y’all thought he was finished? Jonathan Taylor commands the backfield

• Zach Charbonnet pushing Ken Walker

• Pouring one out for Roschon Johnson

• A sneaky waiver stash

Ok we’re back to our typical format this week, with the Sunday Drive here for you on Tuesday AM!

If you missed last week, I had two fairly ever-green articles: one on dynasty trading, and another on a lot of stuff on my mind related to RBs, but specifically some thoughts on teams not using their best players (Bijan Robinson, Jonathan Taylor) - one of which was rectified this week. I also talked about interpreting advanced RB stats and gave some thoughts on Pollard’s disappointing start (all of which would be the same after his game against the Eagles; tough break on a TD that was called off the board erroneously)

Let’s dive in!

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NOTE: utilization data is from Nathan Jahnke of PFF. All qualitative data is from the FantasyPoints Data Suite unless otherwise sourced with exception of the following: Rush Yards over Expected (RYOE) and Percentage of Rushes over Expectation (ROE%) are sourced from NFL Next Gen Stats. PFF Grades and Yards per Route Run are from PFF. BAE Rating and Relative Success Rate (RSR) are from Noah Hills. Juke Rate is from PlayerProfiler.

SEE: “Metrics Legend” at the bottom for an explanation of each stat and its acronym

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1. INJURIES AND FALL OUT

Vikings

This one is quite sad. I’ll start out by quickly adding that we should expect the Vikings RB rotation to look mostly like it did early in the year making Mattison a mid-range RB2. But I want to focus on Akers.

Cam Akers tore his achilles for a second time, just as he seemed to be resuscitating his career in the last year of his rookie contract. We’ve written a lot about Akers in the two years of HHG columns and most of it was frankly unflattering. But I just want to stress how sad this news really was on a human level.

Back this summer in my Rams article I shared a story of writing a piece devoted to the Cam Akers breakout I was expecting in 2021 on the night before his injury, waking up to that devastating news. I can’t possibly imagine what he’s going through currently.

Akers was one of the most talented high school football players of the 21st century.

Not hyperbole.

The Jackson, Mississippi native played four years at Clifton High School amassing an incredible 8,140 passing yards, 5,103 rushing yards, and 149 total touchdowns as a dual-threat QB before being recruited to Florida State as the top prospect in the state, and the consensus number 1 RB recruit in a class that included Jonathan Taylor, Travis Etienne, D’Andre Swift, Najee Harris, and JK Dobbins.

When Cam Akers was 11 years old, his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. He watched her beat it, and his father discussed the experience as showing him that “if his mom can go through that type of something, there is nothing that can stop him from getting what he wants.”

Going into his senior season, Akers declared his desire to be he greatest player to come through Mississippi. But more than that, Akers said, “I want to be remembered as a leader figure on and off the field and someone who always does the right thing and makes the right choices.”

His body did not cooperate in the NFL, destroying a potentially promising career before it ever got started, and blighting any chance at a come back. But for a man who has discussed the resilience he saw in his family, it’s hard to say he didn’t show that in the NFL. His fortitude in returning from a torn achilles to play in the NFL playoffs is one of the more incredible feats in modern NFL history, and one of the best stories to root for since I started covering fantasy football.

Cam is a super bowl champion, a Mississippi legend, and hopefully takes advantage of the rest of his life whether in professional football or otherwise to leave the legacy of leadership he desired. We’re certainly rooting for him.

Texans

Dameon Pierce missed this game which left Devin Singletary as the total workhorse. It matters not. The Texans run-game is completely broken and they have a transcendent superstar QB, a combination which renders every hand off a wasted opportunity. You’re allowed to simply never start a Texans RB until further notice.

Cardinals

Rondale Moore started at tail-back this week with the Line of Demar-cado out. He shared with Keaontay Ingram until the game got out of hand and Tony Jones took over. James Conner is scheduled to return of I.R. this week rendering the Week 9 version of this backfield pointless to discuss.

Clearly no RB took advantage of Conner’s absence to the degree necessary to dampen his projected workload upon return. With Kyler Murray coming back you can fire up the veteran as a fringe-RB1.