J.K. Dobbins is the Best Fantasy Football Handcuff in 2020
In 2019, Mark Ingram finished as the No. 8 running back in fantasy football. The Ravens rusher was one of seven backs with double digit rushing scores, he was second among all running backs with five receiving touchdowns, and one of 15 backs with over 1,000 yards on the ground.
But Ingram turns 31-years-old this season and despite his productivity, that’s basically senior citizen status for NFL running backs.
As a result, the Ravens selected J.K. Dobbins in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft and when considering Ingram’s age and his contract coming to an end after the season, many believe Dobbins will be the Ravens back of the future.
Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
But where does that leave the former Ohio State stud for the 2020 season? That’s the question we asked RavenCountry’s Todd Karpovich and Sports Illustrated’s fantasy football analyst Frank Taddeo.
Read the transcript on how Dobbins could be the best handcuff in fantasy football for the 2020 season.
Here's the full video transcript:
Bill Enright: Fantasy football players love rookie running backs. Let's take some analysis on the Baltimore Ravens rookie running back J.K. Dobbins, who the team took in the early rounds of this year's 2020 NFL draft. For that, I bring on Frank Taddeo, our fantasy analyst here at SI and also RavenCountry's Todd Karpovich. Todd, I'm going to start with you. What is John Harbaugh saying about the rookie out of Ohio State?
Todd Karpovich: Well, they're ecstatic that J.K. Dobbins fell to them in the second round and they sort of view him as the running back of the future because Mark Ingram turns 31 in December and Gus Edwards is planning a one-year deal. However, John Harbaugh said J.K. Dobbins has the talent to move up the depth chart this season and they expect him to be a playmaker this year. He had over 2,000 rushing yards for Ohio State last year in a black-and-blue Big Ten and he fits in perfectly in AFC North. J.K. Dobbins is going to have an opportunity to make some plays and I think he'll take advantage of it in 2020.
Bill Enright: Frank, when you're thinking about drafting Dobbins this year, obviously, if it's not a dynasty league, you're just playing in a redraft fantasy football league. He's probably going in the double digit rounds and that's because we all expect Mark Ingram to have the lion's share of the carry, at least early on in the season. But do you think Dobbins can be a guy that you want to stash on your roster for late in the season and maybe use him as a handcuff for Ingram this year?
Frank Taddeo: Yeah, I definitely do Bill, I think he's gonna be a strong stash bench guy that you're gonna want. You hit it right on the head. You're gonna want to draft him later in the rounds and towards the—maybe the middle of the rounds—because I'm not so sure, I think actually a lot of people could be looking at the possibility, as we just highlighted, that Ingram is getting up there in age. And because of that fact, the risk for injury is going to grow. So if there's a possibility that J.K. Dobbins could become a starter in this offense, maybe at some point this season, maybe in the middle of the season, should there be an injury to Mark Ingram because of that age...we know he's got mileage on those legs now. So if that's the possibility, we're looking at possibly a tremendous, tremendous value and steal for fantasy owners as we go into the fantasy football playoffs. For a player that obviously a lot of teams are gonna be looking to stash on their bench because maybe he doesn't get the role or maybe, you know, he gets only eight to 10 touches in the early months. But then if there's a possibility of him becoming the starter due to injury in those later months...wow Bill, sign me up, I'm definitely a guy that's gonna be looking to target Dobbins, even in redraft weeks in year one.
Bill Enright: All right, we have our fantasy football rankings up now. When it comes to the rookies, you can find it by going to SI.com/Fantasy.
