Shortly after early kickoffs on Sunday, reports surfaced that Kenyan Drake would not be traveling with the Dolphins to Pittsburgh for Monday night's game. This was not injury related. It's because the Dolphins are doing everything they can to trade the running back before Tuesday's deadline.
Once we know where Drake is headed we'll have a better idea what it means for his Fantasy value. The hope would be that he goes to a place like Detroit where he has a chance at something resembling a feature role. That's the hope that makes him worth holding on to, and I'd be all for a speculative add in the 20% of leagues where he's still available.
But he's not as good an add as his (former?) teammate.
While we're left to speculate on Drake's potential value, there's one thing we now know for sure -- Mark Walton needs to be rostered in most Fantasy Football leagues. Walton has 133 total yards in the past two weeks, and that's been with Drake accounting for 25 touches. Walton won't get all of those, and you should still expect to see Kalen Ballage in short yardage, but this should be a big boost for Walton in the passing game. Drake was averaging more than five targets per game, and Ballage has been terrible when targeted.
We found out about this news too late to adjust Week 8 rankings, but I did adjust my projections because I think it's instructive as the Walton's possible value moving forward. Without Drake, I project Walton for 12 carries and six targets on Monday night. Against a difficult matchup that puts him around 81 total yards with slightly under a 50-50 shot of scoring a touchdown. That makes him a low-end No. 2 running back who is better in PPR than non.
That's pretty encouraging for a back who is available in 63% of leagues. There's a good chance he's the No. 1 waiver wire priority on Tuesday.