Fantasy Football: 5 Undervalued Running Backs to Target

Giovani Bernard, Cincinnati Bengals

ADP: 11.04 (RB47)

Giovani Bernard is yet another pass-catching threat who is unnecessarily undervalued in 2018.

In games with at least 40% of snaps played in 2017, Bernard averaged 11.0 PPR points, more than a usable rate for a second or third running back on our fantasy teams. Plus, his per-game average spiked to 17.3 from Week 13 onward last season.

In that Week-13-through-17 stretch, Bernard ran 129 pass routes, ranking him fourth among all running backs. On the full season, he ranked 18th among running backs in routes run and ran 99 more pass routes than 2018 starter Joe Mixon.

Even if Mixon gets more passing-down reps, Bernard's usage down the stretch last season indicates he's still a significant part of the Cincinnati Bengals' gameplan.

As far as rushing goes, pretty much everyone knows that the Bengals' line was in shambles last season, and they ranked 24th in adjusted line yards, via FootballOutsiders. Despite this setback, Bernard mustered a 38.1% Rushing Success Rate, just shy of Mixon's 40.11% mark.

The Bengals bolstered their offensive line this offseason -- or at least made it less dreadful.

In his five NFL seasons, Bernard has finished as the RB13, RB17, RB17, RB40, and RB28, so his RB47 tag would indicate that he's in for a big dip in production. That's just unfounded.