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Week 4 of the NFL season is upon us, and that means one thing—it’s the beginning of bye weeks. Luckily there are only two teams on a bye this week, the Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers.
However, this does leave some holes at the running back position. Many teams suffered when Eddie Lacy went down with a concussion and looked for a replacement in Week 3, most likely in James Starks. Now, both Green Bay backs and Panthers back DeAngelo Williams will be unavailable.
There are some viable one-week replacement options such as Daniel Thomas, Marcel Reece or Ronnie Hillman. The one thing these backs have in common is that they’re all backups. There is one starting running back still available in about 30 percent of leagues that is a good flex option this week—New York Jets running back Bilal Powell.
He was in a timeshare with Chris Ivory for the first three weeks. Powell has been the more productive of the two. He’s racked up 226 rushing yards and a touchdown while Ivory has only 72 yards. During last week’s game against the Buffalo Bills, Ivory re-injured his hamstring and could miss multiple weeks.
In Week 4, Powell faces a Tennessee Titans defense that has allowed over 100 yards and a score to opposing running backs in the last two weeks. Powell is the clear-cut No. 1 back right now and will get most, if not all, of the carries. You can expect at least 70 yards and a score from him.
Looking forward, you may want to hold onto Powell for the next couple of weeks. The Minnesota Vikings, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Redskins all have bye weeks in Week 5. This means that top backs Adrian Peterson, Doug Martin and Alfred Morris will be sitting out, making Powell an even more attractive start.
Bill Pivetz is a fantasy football writer for Rant Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @Mr_Piv1127.
