The cutdown to 53 players came and went on Tuesday, but teams continue to adjust their rosters. In the last 24 hours, three running backs with some chance of getting on the field have landed on new teams.
Sony Michel, most notably. He was beaten out by other backs in Miami, but he’s now signed with the Chargers. That’s a good indication that team isn’t satisfied with its backups behind Austin Ekeler. Los Angeles has drafted Joshua Kelley, Larry Rountree and Isaiah Spiller the last three years, but none of them really stood out in the preseason. They’ve now released Rountree. Maybe Spiller in the future progresses to where he can be put on the field, but for the short term, Michel looks like the No. 2 back in the offense.
I am somewhat interested in Trey Sermon (pictured). He didn’t do much in his two years with the 49ers. With him being a third-round pick, they gave him every opportunity to turn things around, and it simply didn’t happen. (I thought he looked pretty ordinary in all three of their preseason games.) They opted instead to keep free agent rookie Jordan Mason and their current third-rounder, Tyrion David-Smith. But Sermon got picked up by the Eagles, which looks like a perfect landing spot.
The Eagles led the league in rushing last year, and they are a little lean at the position. Miles Sanders is talented by has had problems staying healthy, and their other two backs are awfully small (Boston Scott, Kenneth Gainwell). Makes an awful lot of sense, therefore, to bring in Sermon to see if he’s a better fit with their system. I don’t think we can put Sermon on a fantasy roster right now (I would slot him behind all three of those backs), but he’s a guy we should all be ready to move on.
Finally, Baltimore signed Kenyan Drake. I’m not crazy about this fit. He’s best as a pass catcher – as a third-down back – but that’s not really part of the Ravens offense. They rank next-to-last in receiving production by running backs over the last three years. And I liked what I saw out of Mike Davis in the preseason, making me think Drake will be the 3rd-best running back in that offense. (If J.K. Dobbins has some kind of setback with his knee, at that point we can start considering putting Drake on a fantasy roster.)
Combined, these running backs last year had 18 games where they touched the ball at least 10 times.
| RECENT RUNNING BACK MOVERS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Opp | Result | Rushing | Receiving | PPR |
| Michel, LAR | Jac. | W 37-7 | 24-121-1 | 3-8-0 | 21.9 |
| Michel, LAR | at Min. | W 30-23 | 27-131-1 | 1-4-0 | 20.5 |
| Michel, LAR | at Balt. | W 20-19 | 19-74-1 | 3-25-0 | 18.9 |
| Drake, L.V. | Phil. | W 33-22 | 14-69-1 | 3-10-0 | 16.9 |
| Drake, L.V. | at NYG | L 16-23 | 4-30-0 | 6-70-0 | 16.0 |
| Michel, LAR | Sea. | W 20-10 | 18-92-0 | 2-23-0 | 13.5 |
| Drake, L.V. | Balt. | W 33-27 | 6-11-0 | 5-59-0 | 12.0 |
| Michel, LAR | at Sea. | W 26-17 | 11-37-1 | 1-8-0 | 11.5 |
| Sermon, S.F. | G.B. | L 28-30 | 10-31-1 | 2-3-0 | 11.4 |
| Michel, LAR | T.B. | W 34-24 | 20-67-0 | 3-12-0 | 10.9 |
| Drake, L.V. | at Pitt. | W 26-17 | 7-9-0 | 5-46-0 | 10.5 |
| Sermon, S.F. | Sea. | L 21-28 | 19-89-0 | 0-0-0 | 8.9 |
| Drake, L.V. | Mia. | W 31-28 | 8-24-0 | 3-33-0 | 8.7 |
| Michel, LAR | at Ariz. | W 30-23 | 20-79-0 | 0-0-0 | 7.9 |
| Michel, LAR | at Hou. | W 38-22 | 9-42-0 | 2-14-0 | 7.6 |
| Sermon, S.F. | at Jac. | W 30-10 | 10-32-0 | 1-23-0 | 6.5 |
| Michel, LAR | S.F. | L 24-27 | 21-43-0 | 1-6-0 | 5.9 |
| Michel, LAR | at Ind. | W 27-24 | 10-46-0 | 0-0-0 | 4.6 |
—Ian Allan