Reading over Ian's Patriots preview -- published on the site later today -- I noticed he put forth James White as a cheaper type of running back pick who could pay dividends. The Falcons allowed 6 TD receptions by running backs during the season, and White is New England's main third-down, pass-catching tailback.
I decided to pull all the numbers for running backs against Atlanta this season. New England will also use Dion Lewis plenty, of course, so no one should be looking at these numbers and assuming White will account for all of the production. But LeGarrette Blount won't get any of them -- he caught 8 more passes this season in his 18 games than I did -- so it's reasonable to see all of the potential receiving production by running backs going to Lewis and White.
Lewis will likely be on the field more and more expensive in salary-cap type leagues, but White will handle at least some passing downs and come a lot cheaper.
Week-by-week running back receiving production against the Falcons this year is shown below.
| RUNNING BACK RECEIVING VERSUS ATLANTA | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | No | Yds | TD |
| Buccaneers | 8 | 66 | 1 |
| Raiders | 10 | 88 | 0 |
| Saints | 10 | 62 | 1 |
| Panthers | 10 | 84 | 0 |
| Broncos | 7 | 57 | 0 |
| Seahawks | 7 | 66 | 0 |
| Chargers | 6 | 53 | 1 |
| Packers | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Buccaneers | 10 | 68 | 0 |
| Eagles | 8 | 57 | 0 |
| Cardinals | 10 | 122 | 1 |
| Kansas City | 3 | 23 | 1 |
| Rams | 3 | 22 | 0 |
| 49ers | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Panthers | 2 | 16 | 0 |
| Saints | 9 | 47 | 1 |
| Seahawks | 4 | 32 | 0 |
| Packers | 4 | 33 | 0 |
| Total | 115 | 905 | 6 |
--Andy Richardson