8 Fantasy Football Sleepers for Week 16

Kalen Ballage, RB, Miami Dolphins

The unfathomable has happened, Frank Gore has been placed on the injured reserve, and for the first time since 2010, he will play in fewer than 16 games this season.

While a lack of touchdowns has severely hampered Gore's fantasy production this year, his volume has been significant. Since Week 4, he has double-digit carries in all but two games, averaging 12.0 rush attempts and 1.4 targets per game in that stretch.

When he went down last week, the Miami Dolphins didn't unleash Kenyan Drake to play a workhorse role. Rather they started leaning on Kalen Ballage. Ballage, despite not seeing his first touch until the second quarter, handled 12 carries and 1 target while playing 49% of the team's offensive snaps.

Yes, that game was a blowout, so there was room for the 'Phins to lean on the rookie a bit more than they might otherwise, but Gore has played at least 50 percent of the team's snaps in three of his past five games, and it really doesn't look like they want to lean on Drake as a workhorse.

Ballage doesn't have a high floor, especially against a Jacksonville Jaguars team that has limited running backs to bottom-five fantasy production on the year, but nothing is more important than volume at the running back position. It's typically tough to find waiver wire running backs with volume, and that means Ballage is worth some serious consideration if you have a need at the position this week.