Let’s take another look at the Bears and Packers, since there have been developments with those teams in the last 24 hours. Most notably, the Packers have placed Eddie Lacy (ankle) on injured reserve. He’s not only missing tonight’s games, he’s guaranteed to miss the team’s next seven games as well.
The Packers now have only two tailbacks on their roster. They traded for Knile Davis on Tuesday, and today they’ve promoted Don Jackson off their practice squad. Jackson is a free agent rookie out of Nevada who wasn’t even invited to the combine.
I watched some of Jackson’s college highlights on YouTube. He looks like a pretty ordinary college back. He ran for a little over 2,000 yards in 26 games his last two years of college, with 15 touchdowns. They didn’t use him much in the passing game – just 20 catches (2 TDs) in those 26 games.
Jackson ran a 4.47 at his pro day workout, helping him land a contract with the Packers. Because of an injury they didn’t play him in the preseason, and he landed on their practice squad. He’s 5-foot-10 and 208 pounds.
I can’t say with certainty which of these two backs will be more productive. Davis has the advantage of having been around for a few years. He’s a little more talented and has shown he can be productive at the NFL level, averaging 86 rushing yards in the six games in which he’s had 15-plus carries, with 8 TDs. Not much of a pass catcher and has had some issues with fumbles.
Jackson has the advantage of having worked in this offense for the last three months. He presumably knows the offense better.
I expect they’ll both play, and that the more effective of the two will then tend to get more work.
For tonight’s game, I wouldn’t be excited about starting either guy. I would divide the workload 60-40 in favor of Davis. If one of these guys is going to emerge in the next few weeks, I would say he’s a little more likely.
In the Dallas game, the Packers also used Ty Montgomery extensively as a third-down running back, and I expect that will continue. At 6-foot and 216 pounds, Montgomery is built like a running back, and he was effective in that role on Sunday, catching a team-high 10 passes.
The Packers listed Davante Adams as questionable, but I’m not sure he’ll be able to play – would need to pass through the concussion protocol, which would be difficult on a short week. So I would expect they would replace him primarily with Jeff Janis, with Montgomery also playing plenty (both as a pass-catching running back and fourth receiver).
For the Chicago Bears, they have declared Eddie Royal (toe) out. With Royal out, I think that cements Alshon Jeffery, Cameron Meredith and Zach Miller as solid pass-catching options tonight. All of those guys would move up just a little on my board.
Also for the Bears, they are listing Jeremy Langford (ankle) as doubtful. Langford won’t play, but I take this as evidence that he definitely will return after their Week 9 bye. If you’re in one of those leagues where most No. 2 running backs are on rosters, now could be a good time to pick up Langford.
Finally, the Bills are going without LeSean McCoy (hamstring) this week. With McCoy sitting, Mike Gillislee probably will be a top-10 back at Miami. Very solid option.
I am adjusting the projections for these players, and they will be posted shortly on the site, allowing you to see exactly where we have them slotted using the various scoring systems. They can be accessed through the custom rankings area of the website (on the main page, click on “Your Stuff”). The final adjustments to the player rankings will be posted, as usual, on Friday afternoon, after teams have submitted their injuries.
| Revised rankings for key players | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Y | P | B | Pos | TM | Player | FP Y | FP P | FP B |
| 15 | 18 | 13 | RB | BUF | Mike Gillislee | 11.5 | 13.5 | 3.8 |
| 37 | 41 | 41 | RB | GB | Knile Davis | 6.9 | 7.7 | 1.7 |
| 46 | 51 | 48 | RB | GB | Don Jackson | 4.9 | 5.6 | 1.2 |
| 6 | 6 | 9 | WR | CHI | Alshon Jeffery | 10.8 | 16.3 | 3.0 |
| 11 | 10 | 15 | WR | CHI | Cameron Meredith | 9.8 | 15.2 | 2.7 |
| 43 | 42 | 39 | WR | GB | Ty Montgomery | 7.2 | 11.4 | 2.1 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | TE | CHI | Zach Miller | 8.7 | 13.2 | 2.9 |
*Y,P, and B are rankings in the Yardage, PPR, and TD-only scoring formats. FPY, FPP and FPB refer to the number of projected fantasy points for each scoring system.
—Ian Allan