NFL
Fantasy Football: 5 Late-Round Running Backs With Early-Season Roles
Darren Sproles comes off the board late in fantasy football drafts, but he figures to have a meaty role early for the Philadelphia Eagles. Which other backs can we target late with guaranteed work early in the season?

C.J. Prosise, Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks' backfield is about as messy and ugly as you can get for fantasy. It's hard to tell whether Thomas Rawls or Eddie Lacy will get the early-down work, and it's possible neither of them will be a locked-in starter.

When we have situations like this, it's often best to target the cheapest asset available and hope they pull through. But the cheapest asset here isn't Lacy or Rawls; it's C.J. Prosise.

Prosise is currently the 44th running back off the board, according to Fantasy Football Calculator. This is just a smidge behind Rawls (40th) and Lacy (41st), which is sweet for our purposes as Prosise may be the surest bet for volume.

When healthy last year, Prosise had a solid workload. He peaked at a 77.1% snap rate in the team's ninth game before a shoulder injury cut his season short. That game with the high snap rate came with Rawls on the sidelines, and Lacy wasn't with the team, but Prosise's skills in the passing game present a dimension that neither Lacy nor Rawls can boast.

Prosise will miss the team's third preseason game with a groin injury, and staying healthy will likely never be a forte. But he gets us access to an efficient quarterback in Russell Wilson, and Prosise figures to have a consistent role in the passing game. That's enough to justify taking him in the 10th round.

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