We all know the NFL is a "next man up" league, especially at the Runningback position. You need no further proof of this than Tim Hightower last year who in the absence of Mark Ingram lead owners to fantasy championships.
If you've done your homework, you obviously know that Matt Jones the projected starting Runningback for the Washington Redskins went down with a shoulder injury. In his absence, Rob Kelley is taking his place and being given a chance to shine.
If Kelley is available in any format, you need to roster him right now:
Fantasy is a game of volume. The least talented player in the NFL can produce for your team if he gets touches. If Matt Jones misses Week 1, Rob Kelley is in store for plenty of touches. He is currently the #1 on the depth chart with Matt Jones out.
How many touches are available? Alfred Morris ran the ball 202 times last year and those carries inherently need to go to somebody else. Even assuming Matt Jones is healthy and we bump him up to 200 rushes this year, there are still 146 touches up for grab that could easily go to Kelley.
Kelley is an excellent fit in the Redskins offense primarily because he excelled in a spread offense in Tulane. The Redskins are stacked at WR and when they run 2WR with Jordan Reed at TE it is essential a 3WR spread set. In college, Kelley was used similar to Matt Forte (obviously, Tulane connection) and Bilal Powell on New York. He was extremely effective running out of shotgun, running draws, and catching the ball out of the backfield.
Furthermore, in the preseason Kelley has proven to be an excellent pass blocker even earning the praise of starting Quarterback Kirk Cousins both on his pass blocking and rushing ability:
“I thought he did a really good job running the football and also in pass protection, which is a very difficult part of playing the running back position. Just continue to compliment him, I think when you’re a rookie and undrafted and you’re in that position, what you need is belief. You need people around you who believe in you and have confidence in you because he does have the talent and he can run the football well. You just have to continue encouraging him and I think he showed a lot of confidence when he got going and he’s a talented football player.”
It's no secret that the Redskins will be a pass-heavy team this season and if a Runningback wants to see significant carries he needs to be able to pass block. The fact that Kelley played out of the spread in Tulane is justification that he be an asset in 3rd down, hurry up, and garbage time situations.
As far as running the ball from under center goes, there isn't much tape of Kelley doing it in college however in the most recent preseason game against the Bills Kelley excelled at it. He started with the first string offense, frequently found the hole, hit it with great acceleration, split defenders, and fought for extra yards Don't believe me? See for yourself.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t7qmCnxDmxo
Don't get me wrong, this isn't some type of athletic freak, his combine numbers are very weak but he is an excellent fit in this Redskins system. But what about Matt Jones? He just hurt his shoulder (AC joint), he didn't tear his ACL. Personally, I'm not extremely impressed with Matt Jones, why?
The first red flag is his paltry 3.4 yards per carry. As a young Runningback, you want to be somewhere around 4 yards per carry to have job security. You can't blame the offensive line because on 60 more carries, Alfred Morris averaged 3.7 yards per carry. Even more troubling is that Matt Jones only eclipsed 4 yards per carry in 3 of 14 games last year.
The next red flag are fumbles. On 163 touches, he fumbled the ball 4 times. Every 40 times he touched the ball, he coughed it up. Fumbles are the kiss of death for a running back.
The last red flag are injury concerns. He hurt his hip which caused him to miss weeks 16, 17, and the playoff game against the Packers. He had surgery on his groin in the offseason. Now he's sitting on the bench with a shoulder injury while Rob Kelley is shining with the starting offense. It was just preseason but when running with #1s against Buffalo, Kelley rushed 12 times for 51 yards (4.3ypc) in just one half of play.
You're officially put on notice, this guy is your first waiver acquisition of the season! The best part is? He can be had for free!
Thanks for reading, if you like content like this I will be writing much more like this and it will be available on my website.
Rob Kelley Tulane highlights:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XrndMLIop3s
If you've done your homework, you obviously know that Matt Jones the projected starting Runningback for the Washington Redskins went down with a shoulder injury. In his absence, Rob Kelley is taking his place and being given a chance to shine.
If Kelley is available in any format, you need to roster him right now:
Fantasy is a game of volume. The least talented player in the NFL can produce for your team if he gets touches. If Matt Jones misses Week 1, Rob Kelley is in store for plenty of touches. He is currently the #1 on the depth chart with Matt Jones out.
How many touches are available? Alfred Morris ran the ball 202 times last year and those carries inherently need to go to somebody else. Even assuming Matt Jones is healthy and we bump him up to 200 rushes this year, there are still 146 touches up for grab that could easily go to Kelley.
Kelley is an excellent fit in the Redskins offense primarily because he excelled in a spread offense in Tulane. The Redskins are stacked at WR and when they run 2WR with Jordan Reed at TE it is essential a 3WR spread set. In college, Kelley was used similar to Matt Forte (obviously, Tulane connection) and Bilal Powell on New York. He was extremely effective running out of shotgun, running draws, and catching the ball out of the backfield.
Furthermore, in the preseason Kelley has proven to be an excellent pass blocker even earning the praise of starting Quarterback Kirk Cousins both on his pass blocking and rushing ability:
“I thought he did a really good job running the football and also in pass protection, which is a very difficult part of playing the running back position. Just continue to compliment him, I think when you’re a rookie and undrafted and you’re in that position, what you need is belief. You need people around you who believe in you and have confidence in you because he does have the talent and he can run the football well. You just have to continue encouraging him and I think he showed a lot of confidence when he got going and he’s a talented football player.”
It's no secret that the Redskins will be a pass-heavy team this season and if a Runningback wants to see significant carries he needs to be able to pass block. The fact that Kelley played out of the spread in Tulane is justification that he be an asset in 3rd down, hurry up, and garbage time situations.
As far as running the ball from under center goes, there isn't much tape of Kelley doing it in college however in the most recent preseason game against the Bills Kelley excelled at it. He started with the first string offense, frequently found the hole, hit it with great acceleration, split defenders, and fought for extra yards Don't believe me? See for yourself.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t7qmCnxDmxo
Don't get me wrong, this isn't some type of athletic freak, his combine numbers are very weak but he is an excellent fit in this Redskins system. But what about Matt Jones? He just hurt his shoulder (AC joint), he didn't tear his ACL. Personally, I'm not extremely impressed with Matt Jones, why?
The first red flag is his paltry 3.4 yards per carry. As a young Runningback, you want to be somewhere around 4 yards per carry to have job security. You can't blame the offensive line because on 60 more carries, Alfred Morris averaged 3.7 yards per carry. Even more troubling is that Matt Jones only eclipsed 4 yards per carry in 3 of 14 games last year.
The next red flag are fumbles. On 163 touches, he fumbled the ball 4 times. Every 40 times he touched the ball, he coughed it up. Fumbles are the kiss of death for a running back.
The last red flag are injury concerns. He hurt his hip which caused him to miss weeks 16, 17, and the playoff game against the Packers. He had surgery on his groin in the offseason. Now he's sitting on the bench with a shoulder injury while Rob Kelley is shining with the starting offense. It was just preseason but when running with #1s against Buffalo, Kelley rushed 12 times for 51 yards (4.3ypc) in just one half of play.
You're officially put on notice, this guy is your first waiver acquisition of the season! The best part is? He can be had for free!
Thanks for reading, if you like content like this I will be writing much more like this and it will be available on my website.
Rob Kelley Tulane highlights:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XrndMLIop3s
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