With the fantasy football playoffs approaching, analyst Sal Vetri offers five RBs with league-winning upside worth stashing on your bench.
Blake Corum, Los Angeles Rams (15% rostered)
Corum is coming off his best usage of the season. In Week 13, Corum played a season-high 33% of the Rams snaps, and this led to eight rush attempts for 42 yards — by far the most usage he’s taken away from Kyren Williams this year. Corum earned 35% of the RB carries in this game.
Corum was one of the best running backs in college football the past three years. He was a popular fantasy sleeper this summer due to his landing spot with Sean McVay and Kyren Williams’s injury history. Williams has dealt with three ankle/foot injuries in his three-year NFL career.
Corum was an efficient runner in college, and we saw that come through in Week 13 as he averaged over five yards per touch. Corum is the perfect stash because if Williams were to go down Corum would likely earn most of the backfield snaps and touches. Over the last nine games, no other RB has seen a single snap for the Rams besides Williams and Corum. The Rams have strong RB matchups against the Bills, 49ers, Jets and Cardinals to end the fantasy season. If Williams were to miss time, Corum would instantly become a potential league-winner.
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Kimani Vidal, Los Angeles Chargers (13%)
Vidal is trending in the right direction as the fantasy playoffs approach. The Chargers recently put starting RB J.K. Dobbins on IR, meaning he’ll miss at least four games and isn’t eligible to return until Week 17. This opens a window for Vidal to earn more opportunities, and we began to see this in Week 13.
In his first game without Dobbins, Vidal played a season-high 27% of the Chargers snaps. This led to four carries for 20 yards. Vidal had the best run of the game for the Chargers, taking his second carry out of shotgun formation for a 16-yard gain. Vidal gives the Chargers a more dynamic playmaker compared to veteran Gus Edwards, especially as a receiver out of the backfield.
Vidal has the rare combination of size, speed and power. His 213 pounds frame gives him the ability to produce in the red zone. Last season at Troy, Vidal totaled nearly 1,900 yards, and his 1,661 rushing yards led college football. But perhaps the most important part of his game is his ability to pass protect. This is a rare skill for a late round rookie to have, and it’s a crucial trait for him to get on the field more. Jim Harbaugh will not play an RB if they would be a risk in pass protection for Justin Herbert.
Vidal is a potential three-down back who has a path to more touches as soon as Week 14. The Chargers face the Chiefs this week. We should see more passing down usage for Vidal. If he’s able to find success we could see a larger role moving forward into the fantasy postseason. Stash Vidal before this matchup.
Zach Charbonnet, Seattle Seahawks (41%)
Charbonnet is one of the best stashes in fantasy football. He’s a proven back who has three-down upside should anything happen to Kenneth Walker II. We saw this earlier this season when Walker went down with an abdominal injury. Walker would go on to miss two weeks and during this time Charbonnet excelled.
Charbonnet handled 90% of the Seahawks snaps and averaged 20.5 opportunities per game with Walker out earlier this season, finishing as a top-10 RB in both games with performances of 15.4 and 24.2 fantasy points. He is a true three-down back with elite pass catching traits. He’s earned at least two receptions in nine of his 12 games this season and in the two games that Walker missed, Charbonnet earned a 12% target share and totaled eight catches.
Charbonnet is a great stash because of league winning upside if Walker was to miss time but also because of his stand-alone value. This means Charbonnet is a useful fantasy option even with Walker active. Charbonnet has earned 10+ fantasy points four different times with Walker active this season. Charbonnet is arguably the best stash in all of fantasy. He has a solid rest of season schedule that includes matchups against the Cardinals and Bears weaker run defenses. Add and stash Charbonnet if you can.
Ray Davis, Buffalo Bills (20%)
The Bills’ fourth-round rookie is worth a stash as the fantasy playoffs approach. Davis is coming off a strong Week 13 performance against the 49ers on Sunday night. He only played 20% of the Bills snaps but he made the most of this usage by turning 12 touches into 67 yards and a touchdown. Davis is like Charbonnet in that he has stand-alone value, but his true league winning upside gets unlocked if James Cook was to miss time.
We saw a sample of this back in Week 6 on Monday Night Football. Davis started in place of an injured James Cook and earned a massive 23 touches. He turned this large role into 152 total yards and a top-15 fantasy finish. Since this performance, Davis has played in six games with Cook active and has earned at least 11 points in 50% of these contests.
Davis has solid size and speed and is a trustworthy back. He’s known for ball security and being able to catch passes. Last season as Kentucky, Davis totaled nearly 1,400 yards, caught 29 balls, had just one fumble on 215 touches and averaged over six yards per touch. This per touch efficiency has carried over into the NFL, as Davis currently ranks eighth among all backs averaging 5.4 yards per touch. Stash the Bills fourth round rookie while you still can.
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Trey Benson, Arizona Cardinals (21%)
The Cardinals third-round rookie is also worth picking up and stashing. He’s operated as the teams RB3 in terms of snaps and usage this season behind James Conner and Emari Demercado. However, Benson appears to be the direct replacement for Conner; Demarcado has primarily worked in key situations like the two-minute offense and on obvious passing downs.
Benson has the impressive combination of size and speed. He’s a 216-pound back who ran a 4.39 40-time at the combine. According to Player Profiler, this means Benson ranks in the top 2% in speed score among all RBs to ever attend the NFL combine. Benson is known as a power back, and in his first year at Florida State, he set the college football broken tackle record which was previously held by guys like David Montgomery and Kenneth Walker II. This broken tackle success has carried over into the NFL where he’s earned a 26% broken tackle rate, ranking ahead of guys like Jonathan Taylor and Breece Hall.
Benson is clearly behind Conner on the depth chart, but Conner has missed time in three different games this season due to injury. Conner is 29 years old and has missed 3.9 games per season in his eight-year career. If Conner was to go down, Benson would become a potential league winner with a great playoff schedule.
The Cardinals face the Panthers, Patriots and Rams in the fantasy postseason. The Panthers currently allow the most rushing yards per game, the Patriots rank bottom 10 in run defense according to PFF, and the Rams allowed 124 yards to Conner and the Cardinals back in Week 2. Stash Benson before Week 14 begins.
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