Another week, and another brutal piece of news -- suspected -- for the Baltimore Ravens. Several different NFL reporters are saying that Gus Edwards suffered a significant injury in practice today. The belief is it's a torn ACL, same as what knocked out J.K. Dobbins a week ago.
NOTE: The injury has caused a slight delay in the Thursday rankings update. Our intent is to have it delivered on time, by 5 p.m. Eastern. It should post to the subscriber area of the website ("Your Stuff") about 10-15 minutes earlier than the PDF edition is delivered by email.
The Edwards status isn't official, but I can't think of any instances where teams have "feared a torn ACL" only to later find out it's just an MCL sprain or something. Don't cut Edwards right away, but be prepared to do so -- and make sure his backups are rostered.
Assuming the report is correct, Baltimore's starter in Week 1 should be undrafted TySon Williams. He was set to be the No. 2, maybe picking up 30 percent of the carries; now he should be the No. 1. Possibly a top-20 running back in Week 1, facing a soft Las Vegas Raiders defense on Monday night. (We originally had Edwards 12th in Standard and 18th in PPR.)
Baltimore signed LeVeon Bell to its practice squad on Tuesday. Most likely, he'll be elevated to the active roster, and slot in as the No. 2 initially. The only other backs on the roster are fullback Patrick Ricard, and Trenton Cannon (just recently signed himself). It's possible Cannon is the No. 2 Monday night, but Bell seems more likely (and Cannon weighs 185 pounds; doesn't seem likely to have a heavy-duty role regardless).
If Williams does have a strong showing Monday night, he can make his case to hold Bell off for the starting job. Starting running back for the Ravens is a pretty significant player in fantasy leagues. Over the last three years, there have been 25 running backs with at least 125 carries who averaged at least 5.0 yards per attempt. Baltimore has had 20 percent of those backs.
RUNNING BACK YARDS PER ATTEMPT, 2018-2020 (125+ CARRIES) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | Att | Yds | Avg | TD |
2020 | J.K. Dobbins, Balt. | 134 | 805 | 6.0 | 9 |
2019 | Raheem Mostert, S.F. | 137 | 772 | 5.6 | 8 |
2020 | Nick Chubb, Cle. | 190 | 1067 | 5.6 | 12 |
2020 | Aaron Jones, G.B. | 201 | 1104 | 5.5 | 9 |
2018 | Aaron Jones, G.B. | 133 | 728 | 5.5 | 8 |
2018 | Phillip Lindsay, Den. | 192 | 1037 | 5.4 | 9 |
2020 | Derrick Henry, Ten. | 378 | 2027 | 5.4 | 17 |
2019 | Gus Edwards, Balt. | 133 | 711 | 5.4 | 2 |
2018 | Matt Breida, S.F. | 153 | 814 | 5.3 | 3 |
2020 | Miles Sanders, Phil. | 164 | 867 | 5.3 | 6 |
2018 | Gus Edwards, Balt. | 137 | 718 | 5.2 | 2 |
2018 | Nick Chubb, Cle. | 192 | 996 | 5.2 | 8 |
2019 | Devin Singletary, Buff. | 151 | 775 | 5.1 | 2 |
2020 | Ronald Jones, T.B. | 192 | 978 | 5.1 | 7 |
2019 | Derrick Henry, Ten. | 303 | 1540 | 5.1 | 16 |
2018 | Melvin Gordon, LAC | 175 | 885 | 5.1 | 10 |
2020 | Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 232 | 1169 | 5.0 | 11 |
2019 | Mark Ingram, Balt. | 202 | 1018 | 5.0 | 10 |
2020 | Damien Harris, N.E. | 137 | 691 | 5.0 | 2 |
2020 | Gus Edwards, Balt. | 144 | 723 | 5.0 | 6 |
2019 | Nick Chubb, Cle. | 298 | 1494 | 5.0 | 8 |
2018 | Saquon Barkley, NYG | 261 | 1307 | 5.0 | 11 |
2018 | Christian McCaffrey, Car. | 219 | 1098 | 5.0 | 7 |
2020 | Dalvin Cook, Min. | 312 | 1557 | 5.0 | 16 |
2020 | Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 187 | 932 | 5.0 | 16 |
--Andy Richardson