Fantasy Football: 5 Undervalued Running Backs to Target

Bilal Powell, New York Jets

ADP: 13.02 (RB54)

I don't really understand Bilal Powell's ADP. Powell is currently atop the New York Jets' depth chart, and early-down back Isaiah Crowell sustained a concussion in the preseason. Crowell is already back to practice, but that injury shows just how fickle this backfield could be. (And if you recall from the Duke Johnson discussion, Crowell was very ineffective in 2017 on the ground.)

Behind the veterans, the Jets have Trenton Cannon, Elijah McGuire (who underwent foot surgery and isn't guaranteed to be back by Week 1), and Thomas Rawls, who finds himself at the bottom of the depth chart. That's not an overabundance of competition.

In nine games with at least 40% of snaps played last season, Powell averaged 11.5 PPR points, putting him in the RB2 conversation for starting lineups.

Unlike some other backs we've targeted, Powell struggled on the ground, producing a Rushing Success Rate of 29.78% on his 178 carries. By comparison, though, Matt Forte had a 36.27% Success Rate on 102 totes, and McGuire increased expected scoring on 32.18% of his 87 carries. The Jets' rushing game was bad all around last season.

Another notch in Powell's favor is that his routes ran number fell to 158 last season (41st among running backs) after sitting at 317 in 2016 (6th) and 235 in 2015 (22nd). Despite this drop, remember that he averaged 11.5 PPR points in games with even a modest snap rate.

If he's healthy, it's almost a given that Powell will surpass his RB54 draft cost. He's our RB43 in PPR formats, and Jim Sannes and I rank him inside our top-35 for the season.