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Tyrion Davis-Price, 49ers
Tyrion Davis-Price has already seen some work with the first-team in 49ers training camp. That’s exciting. Compared to the incumbent Elijah Mitchell, Davis-Price is bigger, stronger, and has greater size-adjusted speed, with a three-round advantage in draft capital. If Kyle Shanahan determines that Davis-Price is more cut out for the starting job, then he presents the same league-winning upside we saw over stretches of the season from Mitchell last year.
This is a run-oriented offense. The Niners fifth in neutral game script rushing rate over the last two years (PlayerProfiler.com). Not only that, but they are all-in on quarterback Trey Lance who’s game is built around the rush attack. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not predicting TDP to step in and take over this backfield from Week 1. But at some point, whether it’s because of an injury to Mitchell, or Shanahan just wants a change, Davis-Price is likely to get his shot atop the depth chart. When that happens, you’re going to be very happy you have TDP waiting in the wings.
Chris Evans, Bengals
Chris Evans was underutilized at Michigan before coming out as a sixth round pick to the Bengals in 2021. He’s incredibly explosive and agile with enough size to handle any amount of work put on his plate. As a rookie, he flashed receiving prowess, handling 15 of his 17 targets for 151 yards and two scores in limited playing time. Joe Mixon has been far from the epitome of health over his career and if anything were to happen to him, just Samaje Perine stands between Evans and a significant role in one of the league’s top offenses. Head coach Zac Taylor has already acknowledged that Evans and Perine are fighting it out in training camp for the RB2 job. He has an all-purpose skill set and would become one of the more valuable handcuff running backs in fantasy football if he’s named the No.2.
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Kenny Gainwell, Eagles
Kenny Gainwell actually got off to a hot start to his rookie season. But after finishing as a top-24 RB twice in the first four weeks, the Eagles seemed to scale back his role in favor of crusty veterans like Boston Scott and Jordan Howard. Still, Gainwell proved he can hang with the big dogs when given an opportunity. He was incredibly efficient as a receiver out of the backfield, averaging 1.73 yards per route and 7.7 yards per reception, which ranked sixth and 12th among all running backs, respectively (PlayerProfiler.com). That was on an 11.3-percent target share. Gainwell is nearly a lock to seize a significant role in the Eagles backfield in 2022 as the primary passing downs back. That’s a Philly offense that everyone and their mother expects to pass the ball more this season.
On top of that, there may be an opportunity to earn some more carries as well considering the team doesn’t exactly seem committed to giving Miles Sanders a full workhorse role. Already, we’ve seen Gainwell working with the first-team in training camp practice. Even head coach Nick Sirianni showed up to a recent post-practice press conference wearing a Kenny Gainwell t-shirt. If that doesn’t indicate the team’s love for their second-year back out of Memphis, then I don’t know what does.
Isaiah Spiller, Chargers
The Chargers have been looking for a bigger back to pair with Austin Ekeler for a few years now. Even Ekeler himself has been asking for some help in that backfield. Josh Kelley and Larry Rountree haven’t been the answer, and the team never brought back Justin Jackson. Instead, they opted to draft Isaiah Spiller out of Texas A&M who fell to them in the fourth round. Spiller is your traditional north/south power back who wins with size and lower-body strength. While breaking off long runs will likely be rare for him at the NFL level, he has the patience and vision to take full advantage of what is blocked for him.
Whether you were a fan of Spiller coming out of college or not, there’s no denying he has a great opportunity in Los Angeles. We already know the team wants someone to step up into that change-of-pace job. That’s a valuable role in a high-powered offense like the Chargers’. Spiller would easily have some stand-alone value if he truly seizes the opportunity. And in the case of an Ekeler injury, Spiller would prove to be one of the most valuable handcuff running backs in the league as an instant RB2 with RB1 upside.
Isiah Pacheco, Chiefs
Here’s a quote From my post-draft analysis on Isiah Pacheco in the Yards Per Fantasy rookie draft guide: “Isiah Pacheco has a real chance to earn an opportunity in the Chiefs offense. With the other backs on the team being Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Ronald Jones, and Derrick Gore, it’s not hard to envision an athletic back like Pacheco coming in, impressing the coaches, and creating a role for himself.” And it’s happening! We’ve all heard the training camp buzz around Pacheco. And at first, it was just that—buzz. But we’re now two weeks into camp and it seems like every day we’re hearing more and more positive reports about Pacheco. It’s gone from, “he’s going to be a kick returner,” to “he’s running with the ones.” I’m not saying he’s going to be the Week 1 starter by any means, but the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle.
After all, he is a seventh rounder, but we’ve seen guys like Elijah Mitchell and James Robinson come out of those late rounds and have a major impact as rookies. So it’s not impossible. If you haven’t watched any Pacheco, he has a unique running style with his feet moving a mile-a-minute and a high sense of urgency to get to the next level. He’s a big back at 5-10, 216-pounds, but the dude can fly. He’s got 4.37 speed with a 98th-percentile Speed Score (PlayerProfiler.com). Pacheco was a three-year starter at Rutgers. His totals weren’t exactly eye-popping, but they were actually impressive considering how bad that Rutgers offense was, and in particular, the offensive line.
Now he has a shot to earn himself a role in the Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid led offense. All that stands in his way is Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Ronald Jones, Jerrick McKinnon, and Derrick Gore. Not exactly a group of hall of famers.
Zamir White, Raiders
We need to start talking about Zamir White. The rumblings about a possible Josh Jacobs trade are getting louder and louder by the day. I mean, who features their “starting running back” in the hall of fame game? The second a deal happens, the door opens for White to be the early-downs back in the Raiders offense. White is a former five-star recruit out of Georgia. At 6-0, 215-pounds with 4.40 speed and impressive burst, White will be a chunk play machine at the NFL level. While Kenyan Drake and Brandon Bolden would take the majority of the passing downs work, White would get a significant percentage of the carries and goal line opportunities. If you think about it, he really fits the mold of some of the more successful running backs from Josh McDaniels’ time with the Patriots. With Jacobs on the last year of his rookie deal and the team opting to to pick up his fifth-year option, a trade would make perfect sense.
In what is expected to be one of the better offenses in the league in a division that houses four offensive powerhouses, the RB1 job in Vegas—whoever has it—will be quite valuable to us fantasy gamers.
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