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The Pittsburgh Steelers running game has been a major disappointment for the majority of the 2019 NFL season. Incumbent starter at running back, James Conner, has digressed massively after a 2018 Pro Bowl bid. To make matters worse, Conner has been hampered by injuries for the better part of the team’s past five games.
However, with Conner out of the lineup a week ago, rookie Benny Snell Jr. stepped up and gave the team a much-needed spark. Conner is now set to miss yet another game for the Steelers this week, giving Snell Jr. another showcasing to flex his running prowess and possible a platform to show that he deserves the lead-back duties in Pittsburgh, even when Conner returns.
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Benny Snell Jr.’s Fantasy Outlook vs. Cleveland Browns
While many fantasy “experts” pegged Jaylen Samuels as the clear go-to play in the Pittsburgh backfield a week ago, we had different ideas of how things would pan out. Here is a snippet of last week’s article covering Benny Snell Jr.’s fantasy prospects.
“Do yourself a favor and scoop him before he possibly becomes the top waiver-wire add of Week 13. He may just be what your team needs to make a title run.”
Hopefully, you took our advice, because if not, you likely had to forfeit the rest of your FAAB to acquire Snell after his 22-touch, 103-yard performance against the Cincinnati Bengals.
While those numbers are impressive on their own, arguably the biggest takeaway from his Week 12 performance, and his rookie campaign as a whole, is Snell’s efficiency as a runner. Snell finished last week’s game with an impressive 4.7 yards per carry. For the season he owns a 4.4 ypc average, and in games that he’s seen more than six carries he averages 4.55 yards per carry.
To put that in even better perspective, James Conner and Jaylen Samuels have combined for 12 games of just 3.3 ypc or fewer this season.
A matchup with the Cleveland Browns this week seems like a difficult one on the surface. The Browns allow the 13th-fewest fantasy points to opposing running backs this season. Starting RBs have averaged just 43.25 yards per game in their last four games against the Browns, and just 27 ypg over the last three.
However, those numbers could be a bit misleading. This is because no running back since Week 8 has carried the ball more than nine times against Cleveland. Prior to Week 8, the Browns were a lot more susceptible on the ground, allowing an average of 102.25 yards per game to a combination of four different running backs over a three-game span, each who carried the ball at least 11 times against them.
Should You Start or Sit Benny Snell Jr. in Week 13?
With Conner essentially ruled out for Sunday, the Pittsburgh backfield is Benny Snell Jr.’s to dominate. Jaylen Samuels has become essentially a non-factor in the run game, averaging just 3.5 carries and 16 rushing yards over his last two games.
We’d like to see Snell used more in the passing game (just two receptions this year), yet we can’t complain about the volume he’s seen of late. Snell has seen 18+ touches in each of his past two games that he’s not left with injury.
Snell should continue to see a high volume of usage with Duck Hodges taking the helm under center and no JuJu Smith-Schuster available in the passing game.
Snell has low-end RB2 upside, although he’s best served as an RB3/Flex start due to the fact that Cleveland hasn’t allowed a rushing touchdown to a running back in four of their last five games.
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READ NEXT: Fantasy Football Week 13 RB Rankings
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