After defeating the Buffalo Bills in Week 1, the New York Jets came back to earth last week, falling 30-10 to the Dallas Cowboys. With Zach Wilson back at quarterback, the offense sputtered. One area where they struggled was running the ball, generating 64 yards on 16 attempts.
Neither Breece Hall (four carries for nine yards) nor Dalvin Cook (four carries for seven yards) could get into any kind of rhythm. For the Jets, the recipe has to be to run the ball and trust your defense to make plays. With that in mind, which running back should be in your fantasy football lineup?
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Breece Hall’s Fantasy Outlook This Week
The Jets’ plans for Hall all along have been to bring him back slowly as he recovers from his torn ACL last season.
In the opener against the Bills, he had 10 carries for 127 yards. He showed the explosiveness is back, as he took a run for 83 yards. The number against the Bills was the most he has ever run for in his short NFL career.
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However, despite that performance, he received the ball only four times against the Cowboys for nine yards. After the game, he went to social media to voice his displeasure with the number of times he saw the ball.
It was weird with Wilson at quarterback to see the Jets throw the ball substantially more than run the ball, as 27 of their 43 plays were passes. While the Jets have a great defense, they were asking a lot of that unit. The Cowboys had the ball for 82 plays and had the ball for 42:15.
For the Jets to win games, moving forward, the recipe has to be to run the ball, not turn the ball over, and trust their defense to make plays.
Dalvin Cook’s Fantasy Outlook This Week
Like Hall, Cook got the ball much more in the opener, as he ran the ball 13 times for 33 yards. He also had three catches in the opener but had only five combined touches in the game against the Cowboys.
Through two games, Cook has been on the field for 44 snaps, compared to 33 for Hall. If you like Cook, that is a good thing right now.
However, in Week 1, it was 27-17 in total snaps for Cook, and then last week, just 17-16 for Cook.
With the plan always continuing to ramp up Hall’s playing time, this could be bad news for fantasy managers that like Cook.
Which of the Jets RBs Should You Start?
In the PFN fantasy consensus rankings, Hall is RB23, while Cook is RB33. Even without looking at the rankings, Hall should be your Jets running back moving forward.
With the big-time struggles of the Jets offensive line, the running back is going to have to be able to make people miss. Hall has shown more of that ability, as the explosiveness and speed he showed last year appear to be back.
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Hall has familiarity and experience playing alongside Wilson. In Hall’s final four games last year, Wilson was the starter and was 4-0 in that stretch.
The Patriots gave up 121 yards and two touchdowns to Raheem Mostert Sunday, but they were focused more on the Dolphins passing game.
New England is going to load the box in this game, and the big-play ability of Hall is the main reason why he needs to be in your lineup.