To the surprise of absolutely no one, James Conner picked up an ankle injury in Pittsburgh's game against the Giants last night. To the surprise of people drafting Jaylen Samuels or Anthony McFarland all summer, Benny Snell took over and had a really nice game (113 yards).
Mike Tomlin reportedly says the Steelers will "leave the light on" for James Conner, a oblique way of saying that if Conner is healthy, he'll start in Week 2. But if you didn't learn the hard way last year not to count on Conner, you should have learned it last night. If the Steelers push Conner back into the lineup, he'll be limping out of it shortly thereafter. Snell is one of the week's top pickups.
Even last year, Snell was very productive with his chances, and he's running better now. It was a surprise that I was able to draft him in the last rounds of a couple of best-ball drafts this summer -- nobody seemed aware that he was the proper backup.
In the 4 games Snell operated as the lead back a year ago, he averaged 73 rushing yards. That was a top-12 figure among backs who played at least 4 games last season.
| RUNNING BACK RUSHING, 2019 (PER GAME) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | Run | Rec | Total | TD |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 15 | 102.7 | 13.7 | 116.4 | 1.20 |
| Nick Chubb, Cle. | 16 | 93.4 | 17.4 | 110.8 | .50 |
| Josh Jacobs, Oak. | 13 | 88.5 | 12.8 | 101.2 | .54 |
| Christian McCaffrey, Car. | 16 | 86.7 | 62.8 | 149.5 | 1.21 |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 16 | 84.8 | 26.3 | 111.1 | .88 |
| Chris Carson, Sea. | 15 | 82.0 | 17.7 | 99.7 | .60 |
| Dalvin Cook, Min. | 14 | 81.1 | 37.1 | 118.1 | .93 |
| Marlon Mack, Ind. | 14 | 77.9 | 5.9 | 83.8 | .60 |
| Saquon Barkley, NYG | 13 | 77.2 | 33.7 | 110.8 | .62 |
| Leonard Fournette, Jac. | 15 | 76.8 | 34.8 | 111.6 | .20 |
| Bo Scarbrough, Det. | 4 | 75.3 | 1.3 | 76.5 | .25 |
| Benny Snell, Pitt. | 4 | 73.3 | 2.3 | 75.5 | .50 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | 16 | 71.1 | 17.9 | 89.0 | .50 |
| Devin Singletary, Buff. | 10 | 69.2 | 19.4 | 88.6 | .40 |
| Mark Ingram, Balt. | 15 | 67.9 | 16.5 | 84.3 | 1.04 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | 16 | 67.8 | 29.6 | 97.4 | 1.19 |
| Carlos Hyde, Hou. | 16 | 66.9 | 2.6 | 69.5 | .38 |
| Raheem Mostert, S.F. | 9 | 66.6 | 19.2 | 85.8 | 1.00 |
| Frank Gore, Buff. | 6 | 65.7 | 10.7 | 76.3 | .33 |
| Phillip Lindsay, Den. | 16 | 63.2 | 12.3 | 75.4 | .44 |
| Matt Breida, S.F. | 9 | 60.2 | 12.2 | 72.4 | .22 |
| Adrian Peterson, Was. | 15 | 59.9 | 9.5 | 69.3 | .33 |
| Kenyan Drake, Mia.-Ari. | 14 | 58.4 | 24.6 | 83.0 | .60 |
| Jordan Howard, Phil. | 9 | 58.3 | 7.7 | 66.0 | .78 |
| Todd Gurley, LAR | 15 | 57.1 | 13.8 | 70.9 | .96 |
| Sony Michel, N.E. | 16 | 57.0 | 5.9 | 62.9 | .44 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 14 | 56.9 | 38.1 | 95.0 | .43 |
| David Montgomery, Chi. | 16 | 55.6 | 11.6 | 67.1 | .44 |
| LeVeon Bell, NYJ | 15 | 52.6 | 30.7 | 83.3 | .29 |
| Miles Sanders, Phil. | 16 | 51.1 | 31.8 | 82.9 | .40 |
| Melvin Gordon, LAC | 12 | 51.0 | 24.7 | 75.7 | .75 |
| Kerryon Johnson, Det. | 8 | 50.4 | 15.9 | 66.3 | .50 |
| Devonta Freeman, Atl. | 14 | 46.9 | 29.3 | 76.1 | .43 |
| James Conner, Pitt. | 10 | 46.4 | 25.1 | 71.5 | .70 |
| Damien Williams, K.C. | 11 | 45.3 | 19.4 | 64.6 | .64 |
| Ronald Jones, T.B. | 16 | 45.3 | 19.3 | 64.6 | .38 |
| Mark Walton, Mia. | 4 | 40.5 | 16.5 | 57.0 | .00 |
| Boston Scott, Phil. | 4 | 39.3 | 49.8 | 89.0 | 1.00 |
| Tevin Coleman, S.F. | 14 | 38.9 | 12.9 | 51.7 | .50 |
| Gus Edwards, Balt. | 15 | 38.7 | 2.9 | 41.6 | .13 |
| David Johnson, Ariz. | 8 | 37.8 | 40.4 | 78.1 | .63 |
| Rashaad Penny, Sea. | 10 | 37.0 | 8.3 | 45.3 | .40 |
| LeSean McCoy, K.C. | 13 | 35.8 | 13.9 | 49.7 | .38 |
| Alexander Mattison, Min. | 13 | 35.5 | 6.3 | 41.8 | .08 |
| Jamaal Williams, G.B. | 14 | 32.9 | 18.1 | 50.9 | .43 |
| Royce Freeman, Den. | 16 | 31.0 | 16.0 | 47.0 | .25 |
| Tony Pollard, Dall. | 15 | 30.3 | 7.1 | 37.5 | .22 |
| Latavius Murray, N.O. | 14 | 29.7 | 10.6 | 40.4 | .14 |
| Peyton Barber, T.B. | 16 | 29.4 | 7.2 | 36.6 | .46 |
| Austin Ekeler, LAC | 12 | 28.1 | 60.3 | 88.3 | .58 |
| Patrick Laird, Mia. | 5 | 27.4 | 27.6 | 55.0 | .27 |
| Duke Johnson (3rd), Hou. | 16 | 25.6 | 25.6 | 51.3 | .31 |
| Rex Burkhead, N.E. | 13 | 23.2 | 21.5 | 44.7 | .23 |
| Kareem Hunt, Cle. | 8 | 22.4 | 35.6 | 58.0 | .38 |
| James White (3rd), N.E. | 15 | 17.5 | 43.0 | 60.5 | .42 |
| Tarik Cohen (3rd), Chi. | 16 | 13.3 | 28.5 | 41.8 | .19 |
| Chris Thompson (3rd), Was. | 11 | 12.5 | 34.4 | 46.9 | .00 |
| Jaylen Samuels (3rd), Pitt. | 14 | 12.5 | 21.8 | 34.3 | .14 |
| Nyheim Hines (3rd), Ind. | 16 | 12.4 | 20.0 | 32.4 | .25 |
| Kalen Ballage, Mia. | 6 | 11.7 | 7.0 | 18.7 | .17 |
| Giovani Bernard (3rd), Cin. | 16 | 10.6 | 14.6 | 25.3 | .00 |
| Dion Lewis (3rd), Ten. | 15 | 9.4 | 9.7 | 19.1 | .07 |
| Jalen Richard (3rd), Oak. | 16 | 9.1 | 20.2 | 29.3 | .00 |
| Dare Ogunbowale (3rd), T.B. | 16 | 1.1 | 17.9 | 18.9 | .13 |
Snell won't be involved as a receiver; that should be Jaylen Samuels. But he'll be the main runner, as soon as Pittsburgh decides to stop messing around with Conner.
--Andy Richardson