At the beginning of the week I wrote that Zonovan Knight and Benny Snell were the top waiver adds, but both of those situations could be ugly. A day later, Jaylen Warren announced he'd been cleared to return and the Steelers' running back situation became instantly less clear.
We're leaning towards Warren for a variety of reasons. The biggest is that the team was making a bigger effort to get him involved before his hamstring injury; he saw a season-high 12 touches in Week 10 against the Saints, and that was with Najee Harris healthy. Snell, in that same game, did not receive a touch.
While we can't be too sure of usage with a duo we haven't seen together, I'm projecting 11 carries apiece for Warren and Snell, with Warren dominating passing downs. Against a Falcons defense that has surrendered the fifth-most PPR Fantasy points to running backs over the past five weeks, that makes Warren a borderline top-20 running back and Snell a touchdown-dependent flex.
Of course this is all dependent on Najee Harris missing Week 13. Keep your eyes on the injury reports before starting any Steelers.
Now let's get to the rest of the Week 13 RB Preview:
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Warren has been by far the most efficient Steelers' running back, averaging 5 yards per carry and 8.6 yards per catch. If he maintains anything close to that with a starter's workload, he has top-15 upside.
As long as Najee Harris is out, I would still expect double-digit carries for Snell and he could be the short-yardage back against a Falcons defense that has allowed 13 touchdowns to running backs this season.
If Josh Jacobs' calf doesn't heal, White could be in line for 15 touches against a Chargers defense that has allowed 5.6 yards per carry to running backs this season. White would be a high-end flex in that scenario.
Dobbins is returning to practice this week and is the top stash at running back right now. If he can get back to 100% before the Fantasy playoffs, he'd have league-winning upside against the Browns, Falcons, and Steelers down the stretch. Just don't expect any help getting you to the playoffs.
Assuming he's able to go, Jacobs is the clear top value on both sites. Coming off a 300-yard game he's still not the highest-priced running back on the slate even though he's up against a Chargers defense that allows 5.64 yards per carry on the season to running backs.
Montgomery plays for a terrible offense and he's an underdog again in Week 13. I understand why he's contrarian, but he totaled 136 yards against this defense back in Week 2 and that's when he was sharing with Khalil Herbert. He has RB1 overall upside this week and neither his price nor his roster rate will reflect that.
