Seattle Seahawks RB Zach Charbonnet and Tennessee Titans RB Tyjae Spears seem to both have bright fantasy football futures. Are either of them established enough to help your fantasy lineup this week?
Zach Charbonnet’s Fantasy Outlook This Week
Charbonnet was expected to sit alongside Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs on the fantasy landscape of rookie running backs before the NFL Draft. He’s explosive and strong and can perform professionally.
Unfortunately for Charbonnet and fantasy managers, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll had different ideas when he selected him in the second round, despite already having an established young star in the backfield in Kenneth Walker III.
Charbonnett has languished behind Walker all season. His explosive talent, however, does occasionally make him a Flex play, even if he’s not getting the whole load.
Over the last three games, Charbonnet has averaged just five carries but is producing 35 yards with it (seven yards per carry) for a 26% rush rate. He’s also pitching in two catches for 11 yards per contest in that time frame.
The day when Charbonnet is the unquestioned starter may be on the horizon, but it won’t be this week unless Walker comes down with an injury. The Seahawks face a positive game script as road favorites against the Los Angeles Rams, who are in the bottom half of defenses against fantasy RBs.
We have Charbonnet ranked as the RB35 this week in our PFN Consensus Rankings, and I see it similarly. I would play him as a high-upside Flex this week.
Tyjae Spears’ Fantasy Outlook This Week
We keep waiting for the day when Derrick Henry breaks down and cedes the lead-back duties to Spears, but we’ll likely have to keep waiting at least one more week. The youth movement in Tennessee is not fully here yet, even with Will Levis under center.
Spears has shown flashes of greatness but has recently settled into a minimal role in the Titans’ offense. He’s averaging only four carries for 21 yards over the last three games for a paltry 17% rush share.
Spears’ fantasy value comes from his average of 3.7 catches for 18 yards in the previous three contests. That is not a ton of catches, but in PPR leagues, that’s like another 37-74 yards gained, depending on your format.
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The Titans play a reasonably tricky matchup for fantasy running backs against the 13th-ranked Jaguars this week. They are seven-point underdogs, so one would naturally think the RBs won’t have many opportunities, but that’s not the case for Spears. He will get his points from catching balls out of the backfield.
I see Tennessee playing from behind and Spears grabbing 3-5 dump-offs, with each one having a legitimate chance of going the distance. We have Spears ranked as the RB37 this week, but I see him as a slightly better play and would even play him in my RB2 slot in PPR or Flex in standard scoring.
Should You Start Charbonnet or Spears This Week?
The decision between which uber-talented young backup RB can be a significant challenge this week. In the Pro Football Network Start/Sit Optimizer, PFN’s Consensus Rankings say that Charbonnet is the player to start. His projected 7.8 points include a projection of 34 rushing yards, 1.4 receptions, and 16 receiving yards. That doesn’t seem like a big stat line, but it outperforms (barely) the consensus projection for Spears (7.6 points).
However, when you isolate my rankings, I see Spears outperforming Charbonnet because of his game script and pass-catching roll in the Titans’ offense.
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