Week 14 Fantasy Football Market Share Report: Latavius Murray Looks Good
If you made it this far, then you probably didn't experience many injuries last week. If you made it this far and also experienced injuries in the first round of the playoffs -- congrats.
This is the time where those players you held onto because they were splitting touches but could benefit from an injury might just come in handy. Here's a look at some guys who might be called upon in the semifinals of your fantasy playoffs.
Rushing Market Shares
Ronald Jones
In Week 14, Ronald Jones split the work right down the middle with Peyton Barber, each seeing 11 rushes and both netting fewer than 40 yards (Jones with 36 and Barber for 34).
And despite both seeing 50 percent of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' running back carries, it was Jones who was more involved in the passing game, seeing five targets and finishing with four receptions for 23 yards. Barber had two receptions for 19 yards.
Both backs are usable, but Jones has the greater chance to pop and has played himself back into the timeshare after getting called out for pass blocking a few weeks ago.
Latavius Murray
Latavius Murray, running back for the New Orleans Saints, just looks better than his backfield partner, Alvin Kamara. And this is one of those times when the box score and the visual meet up to say the same thing.
Maybe we find out Kamara has been hurt all along, but with a 35 percent share of the Saints' running back carries, Murray took his seven carries for 69 yards while Kamara totaled 25 yards on his 13 rushes. Murray even led Kamara 25 yards to 18 in the passing game, despite Kamara seeing five targets to Murray's two.
Murray is startable in all formats this week in a game in which the Saints are healthy home favorites over the Indianapolis Colts.
Receiving Market Shares
Alex Erickson
Alex Erickson led the Cincinnati Bengals in targets on Sunday with seven and turned his opportunities into five catches for 45 yards.
His 21.8 percent market share isn’t elite by any means, but with Auden Tate done for the season, Erickson figures to see an uptick in targets moving forward. Erickson also had 71 air yards last week, according to AirYards.com.
Consider him a PPR flex option if you need a long shot off the waiver wire and are out of options on your bench.
Keke Coutee
Keke Coutee, wide receiver for the Houston Texans, saw seven targets and finished with five catches for 66 yards in the absence of Will Fuller, and Houston hasn't committed to Fuller playing in Week 15.
Coutee saw the third-most targets behind DeAndre Hopkins (13) and Jordan Akins, and while it was a pass-heavy attack in a negative game script, the Texans' Week 15 matchup with the Tennessee Titans should be a high-scoring affair (50.0-point total).
Coutee only had 44 air yards, but he also delivered 40 yards after catch, helping to compensate for his short-yardage role. He’s worth a look if Fuller remains out.
Red Zone Market Shares
Royce Freeman
It’s the time of year when opportunity trumps almost everything else, and Royce Freeman is getting good opportunity for the Denver Broncos.
He doesn’t garner the excitement that running mate Phillip Lindsay does, but Freeman has 20 red zone rushing attempts on the season and a 40 percent market share of the Broncos’ red zone rushing work after Lindsay dominated the red zone volume for much of the early part of the campaign.
Freeman has a chance to help fantasy owners in the flex spot these final two weeks. He only has two touchdowns out of his 20 attempts, but he'll score if he keeps getting carries inside the 20.
Marvin Jones
Far from the list of elite receivers lies Marvin Jones of the Detroit Lions. Jones, who garners 26.4 percent of the red zone receiving work, is often forgotten behind teammate Kenny Golladay.
But Jones has 14 red zone targets and eight touchdowns -- that's two more red zone targets, three more touchdowns and higher catch percentage in the red zone (71 percent to 50 percent) than Golladay, according to Pro Football Reference.
The usage is great, and the matchup this week is even better as the Lions host the Bucs. Jones is a solid WR2 in Week 15.