Raheem Mostert continues to be a major contributor for fantasy managers every week. With a rookie breathing down his neck each week in De’Von Achane, which player should you consider starting in your fantasy lineup?
Let’s check out the fantasy football outlook for each player heading into Week 16.
Should You Start Raheem Mostert in Fantasy This Week?
Mostert has been held under 50 rushing yards in two of his last three games. And yet, he’s scoring touchdowns at such a ridiculous rate that fantasy football managers can overlook his rushing performances.
With seven rushing touchdowns over his last four games, Mostert has pulled away with the NFL lead for rushing touchdowns this season with 18. The next closest running back — Christian McCaffrey — has 13 TDs on the ground.
With two more scores, Mostert could become only the 10th different player in NFL history to score 20 or more rushing touchdowns.
The only downfall with Mostert of late has been his up-and-down rushing yards results. Over his last four games, Mostert’s rushing yards have gone from 94 to 43 to 96 to 42.
If you believe in following trends, I suppose fantasy managers will be expecting a big game on the ground this week against the Dallas Cowboys.
Should You Start De’Von Achane in Fantasy This Week?
The December version of Achane has looked nothing like the early version of the rookie. After averaging 151.7 rush yards per game with seven total touchdowns per game from Weeks 3 through 5, Achane has averaged just 50.7 rush yards per game with two touchdowns over the last three weeks.
Achane was only on the field for 24 offensive snaps last week and has only had 16 rush attempts combined over the last two weeks.
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Last week was arguably his worst performance of the season, as Achane finished with just 32 rushing yards on nine carries with three receptions for 30 receiving yards. It was the first time this season that Achane was on the field for at least 20 snaps and finished with fewer than 70 scrimmage yards.
The good news for both Mostert and Achane is they will be facing a Cowboys defense that just allowed 266 rushing yards to the Buffalo Bills last week. It was the sixth time in their last seven games the Cowboys allowed 100 or more rushing yards.
Using the Pro Football Network Start/Sit Optimizer, our Consensus Rankings say that Mostert is the player to start. His projected 12.8 points include 60 rushing yards and three receptions for 18 receiving yards. His projected stat line outperforms the consensus projection of Achane’s 10.0 points.
The rookie is projected to record 46 rush yards and two receptions for 16 yards.
My ranking for these running backs aligns with the consensus. Mostert’s ability to get in the end zone is too much to pass on this week. The feeling is he will improve his rushing yards while still scoring touchdowns.
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