Directional rushing update for Week 9

During the NFL season, we’re going to break down how different offenses are utilizing their running backs. As the year goes on, patterns begin to emerge that will allow us to anticipate and exploit mismatches between a defense and an offense that we’re targeting in fantasy football. 

Bird’s Eye View

Teams are beginning to really regress toward the mean by direction. New England is hell-bent on rushing up the middle — nearly 70% of their runs are either off the guard or up the middle.. 

Most of that work has come via Damien Harris, who’s led the team in rush share every week of the season. 

Rushing – Left

Derrick Henry will likely lead the way here for another week or two before being overtaken thanks to his injury. If you’ve been reading my other content this week, you’ll be sick of hearing me talk about Jonathan Taylor. He’s already played in the Thursday night game … and showed again why he has a chance to absolutely explode over the second half of the season. 

Khalil Herbert has sneaked up this list and looks to be a talented back. It appears that he’s the real deal and is thriving despite being attached to an offense that hasn’t done much during his tenure as the starter. 

Rushing – Right

Joe Mixon, Dalvin Cook and Alvin Kamara are leading the way among non-injured RBs here. We also start to see more quarterbacks make their way onto the list here. Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts are in the top 12 of rushes out to the right through the first two months of the season. 

The San Francisco 49ers’ backfield was intriguing since draft season back in August. 

You can see the roller coaster that Elijah Mitchell has been on from a rushing share perspective. The entire backfield has been a revolving door thanks to injuries and Shanahanigans. 

Rushing – Middle 

Damien Harris continues to be used early and often up the gut. Najee Harris has just eclipsed him in volume on rushes between the guards. New Saint Mark Ingram is also high on this list. In some sense that’s scary for teams with Alvin Kamara. It sounds silly, but if they’re trying to keep Kamara fresh, what better way to do so than to take away some of his volume in the most dangerous part of the field. 

“The Others”

We’ll wrap up with a quick look at the ball carriers who have seen between 40 and 64 rushes and where they were deployed most often.