Fantasy Football 2017 Preview: 5 Annoyingly Valuable RBs

Every year, there are those pesky RBs who we aren’t excited to own, don’t think are that great, and cause us frustration because we own more talented members of their backfield. These types of RBs often come fairly cheap on draft day, however, and wind up pretty valuable during the season. 

Below are five such players, whom we may find frustrating – or useful – depending on whether or not we own them.

All ADP data is courtesy of FantasyPros.com.

Latavius Murray, Vikings (ADP: 93)

The fantasy community seems down on Latavius Murray in terms of talent. Despite a pretty productive season in Oakland, and a decent-sized contract to join Minnesota this offseason, he’s been overlooked in favor of rookie Dalvin Cook. The rookie is going 30 spots ahead of Murray, despite Murray scoring 12 touchdowns in a crowded Raiders backfield, and missing four games. Murray averaged four yards per carry, which isn’t exceptional, but is also not disastrous. Over the past two seasons, Murray has started 28 games, and scored 20 rushing touchdowns. Clearly, he has a nose for the end zone, and even if he receives less work than Cook, Murray is obviously going to get the first crack at goal line work. We can whine all we want about Cook being more explosive and exciting, but fantasy football is about numbers; Latavius Murray is going to score more fantasy points.

I am concerned about Murray's inactivity as he recovers from injury, but at the end of the day he was signed to  fairly big contract for a reason, and at minimum will score the majority of Minnesota's RB touchdowns.

Jonathan Stewart, Panthers (ADP: 105)

Stewart has been a stalwart for several years, but when the Panthers drafted college superstar Christian McCaffery No. 8 overall, Stewart’s stock plummeted like a mob victim with cement shoes. I love McCaffery’s talent, but I don’t see why adding him means Stewart has become a borderline FLEX play. McCaffery is undersized; that does NOT mean he can’t be a big time producer, but it means he’s unlikely to receive an RB1 workload as a rookie. The Panthers are still a run-first team, and that means Stewart will continue to be the leader of the backfield. And while Cam Newton will of course vulture TD opportunities in the red zone from Stewart, that’s always been the case. Stewart is still the primary goal line option for Carolina. McCaffery will be flashy, and will probably have a few long, spectacular TDs in 2017, but he’s not going to eat into the type of work that Stewart gets. In fact, McCaffery’s presence may help J-Stew get through 16 games for once.

Jeremy Hill, Bengals (ADP: 130)

Hill is another RB whose draft stock has plummeted severely thanks to the addition of a rookie at his position, in this case, Oklahoma’s Joe Mixon. Hill has been a disappointment overall since his dominant rookie season, but he has remained a touchdown machine throughout his career. Hill has never scored fewer than nine rushing touchdowns in a season, which is unlikely to change even with Mixon joining the fray. Giovani Bernard is going to be brought along slowly after suffering a torn ACL last year, and it is likely to be Gio who loses value with Mixon’s arrival as opposed to Hill. Mixon never registered 200 carries as a Sooner, and he showed receiving chops, catching nine TD passes in two seasons. Mixon is here to push Gio out the door, not to rob Hill of his chances to fall into the end zone from the one-yard line.

Terrance West, Ravens (ADP: 135)

West, in my opinion, is truly annoying. Last season was the first time he’d ever averaged more than 3.9 yards per carry; he averaged four. Still, he’s going to be Baltimore’s lead back for at least the first four games, as Danny Woodhead is new to the team and coming off a major injury, and Kenneth Dixon, a younger and better RB, has been lost for the season to a meniscus injury. West now has the ability to entrench himself as the bell cow, and even if he underwhelms, he will probably remain the top choice for goal line work. Woodhead should be Woodhead, but West will irritatingly be a start-worthy RB in the in 2017.

Tim Hightower, 49ers (ADP: 285)

Hightower is the king of this designation. He’s joined the 49ers, and while Joe Williams is a popular deep sleeper, there’s an above-average chance he will be done in by Hightower when the inevitable Carlos Hyde injury occurs. Hightower is the reason Mark Ingram hasn’t been a first-round pick for the last two years, despite the fact that he spent 2012-2014 doing something OTHER than being an NFL running back. Hightower will not be a lead back at any point for San Francisco, but he’ll vulture goal line work from Hyde at times, and when Hyde goes down, Hightower will be the TD vulture in his split with Joe Williams. Annoying, but worth a late, late pick.