I have a new favorite last-round pick. Darrel Williams. I think he’s going to win the backup tailback job in Arizona, and he’ll be pretty productive when he’s in there.
Williams recently signed a one-year deal at the minimum. He also kind of got kicked the curb by Kansas City late last year. When they got rolling in the playoffs last year, it was with Jerick McKinnon as their main back. They kind of cooled on Williams at that time.
Williams is also really slow, contributing to him not even being drafted when he was coming out of LSU. I can’t say for sure, but if we were to take all of the running backs who ran for at least 400 yards last year out to a track, I would guess Williams would be the slowest of those guys.
These are not selling points.
But I think Williams can play some. He had his moments with KC. When Clyde Edwards-Helaire got hurt in 2020, Williams filled in nicely in the playoff wins over Cleveland and Buffalo, helping to lift them to the Super Bowl.
Williams played on a lot of third downs last year. He can catch, and I think his size makes him better in pass protection. They also used him some in short-yardage. On both fronts, bigger and better than CEH.
There were seven games last year where KC moved Williams up into the starting role, and he put up top-10 numbers in those games (using PPR scoring), averaging 50 rushing and 39 receiving yards, with 5 TDs.
Now he’s coming into Arizona, and I think he’ll be the backup running back. He’s got a lot more experience than their sixth-round pick, Keaontay Ingram. And he’s a lot bigger than holdovers Eno Benjamin and Jonathan Ward. He should be the guy, and James Conner has never played an NFL season without missing at least two games.
Williams should get some starts, I figure, and he’ll be a top-10 kind of back when he’s in there (given the nature of the offense).
I like stashing backup running backs, and Williams looks like one of those stash guys.
| RUNNING BACKS: FANTASY POINTS PER GAME | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | Att | Run | No | Rec | Total | TD | PPR |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 8 | 27.4 | 117.1 | 2.3 | 19.3 | 136.4 | 1.29 | 23.6 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 17 | 19.5 | 106.5 | 2.4 | 21.2 | 127.7 | 1.18 | 22.2 |
| Austin Ekeler, LAC | 16 | 12.9 | 56.9 | 4.4 | 40.4 | 97.4 | 1.29 | 21.9 |
| Leonard Fournette, T.B. | 14 | 12.9 | 58.0 | 4.9 | 32.4 | 90.4 | .71 | 18.3 |
| Christian McCaffrey, Car. | 7 | 14.1 | 63.1 | 5.3 | 49.0 | 112.1 | .29 | 18.2 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | 16 | 18.3 | 75.3 | 2.6 | 19.6 | 94.9 | 1.00 | 18.1 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 13 | 18.5 | 69.1 | 3.6 | 33.8 | 102.8 | .69 | 18.1 |
| Najee Harris, Pitt. | 17 | 18.1 | 70.6 | 4.4 | 27.5 | 98.1 | .59 | 17.7 |
| Darrel Williams, K.C. | 7 | 12.9 | 49.9 | 4.3 | 39.3 | 89.1 | .71 | 17.5 |
| James Conner, Ariz. | 15 | 13.5 | 50.1 | 2.5 | 25.0 | 75.1 | 1.20 | 17.2 |
| D'Andre Swift, Det. | 13 | 11.6 | 47.5 | 4.8 | 34.8 | 82.2 | .54 | 16.2 |
| Dalvin Cook, Min. | 13 | 19.2 | 89.2 | 2.6 | 17.2 | 106.4 | .49 | 16.2 |
| Darrell Henderson, LAR | 10 | 14.2 | 64.8 | 2.7 | 17.2 | 82.0 | .80 | 15.7 |
| Nick Chubb, Cle. | 14 | 16.3 | 89.9 | 1.4 | 12.4 | 102.4 | .64 | 15.5 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | 15 | 11.4 | 53.3 | 3.5 | 26.1 | 79.3 | .67 | 15.4 |
| Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 15 | 14.5 | 58.1 | 3.6 | 23.2 | 81.3 | .60 | 15.3 |
| David Montgomery, Chi. | 13 | 17.3 | 65.3 | 3.2 | 23.2 | 88.5 | .54 | 15.3 |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 17 | 13.9 | 58.9 | 2.8 | 16.9 | 75.8 | .76 | 14.9 |
| Elijah Mitchell, S.F. | 10 | 18.8 | 85.9 | 1.9 | 13.7 | 99.6 | .50 | 14.9 |
| Antonio Gibson, Was. | 16 | 16.1 | 64.8 | 2.6 | 18.4 | 83.2 | .65 | 14.8 |
| Cordarrelle Patterson, Atl. | 16 | 9.6 | 38.6 | 3.3 | 34.3 | 72.9 | .69 | 14.7 |
| Damien Harris, N.E. | 15 | 13.5 | 61.9 | 1.2 | 8.8 | 70.7 | 1.00 | 14.3 |
| Sony Michel, LAR | 7 | 21.3 | 86.7 | 1.9 | 11.1 | 97.9 | .43 | 14.2 |
| Kareem Hunt, Cle. | 8 | 9.8 | 48.3 | 2.8 | 21.8 | 70.0 | .67 | 13.8 |
| Myles Gaskin, Mia. | 13 | 12.5 | 44.4 | 3.5 | 16.7 | 61.1 | .54 | 12.8 |
| James Robinson, Jac. | 14 | 11.7 | 54.8 | 2.2 | 15.9 | 70.6 | .57 | 12.7 |
| Melvin Gordon, Den. | 16 | 12.7 | 57.4 | 1.8 | 13.3 | 70.7 | .63 | 12.6 |
| Javonte Williams, Den. | 17 | 11.9 | 53.1 | 2.5 | 18.6 | 71.7 | .41 | 12.2 |
| Clyde Edwards-Helaire, K.C. | 10 | 11.9 | 51.7 | 1.9 | 12.9 | 64.6 | .63 | 12.2 |
| Chase Edmonds, Ariz. | 12 | 9.7 | 49.3 | 3.6 | 25.9 | 75.3 | .17 | 12.1 |
—Ian Allan
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