By: Jake Rajala

The fantasy football season is heating up as Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season approaches. With that stated, I’m going to discuss the pivotal running back spot and outline the five best deep sleepers at RB for the 2022 season.

Trey Sermon

The San Francisco 49ers 2020 third-round pick, Trey Sermon, had a disappointing rookie campaign: 193 all-purpose yds and 1 total TD. Nonetheless, he has easily been one of the most improved 49ers this off-season. He started hot this summer and he nicely showed progress in the eyes of Kyle Shanahan. Per NBC Sports, Shanny stated, “Yeah I was really happy with Trey. There were things that we wanted him to improve on from last year. He’s shown that in training camp every single day that he’s got the opportunity to, and I thought he did the same thing last night.”

Travis Homer

The Seattle Seahawks RB Travis Homer was honestly a stud in the Hawks recent pre-season loss. He had four carries for 41 yards and two receptions for 33 (including a 25-yard catch). With Rashaad Penny routinely having injury issues (as he hasn’t played 10+ games in each of the past three seasons), Homer could be involved alongside Kenneth Walker in the Seattle offense.

Jerick McKinnon

The explosive Kansas City Chiefs running back Jerick McKinnon is only rostered in 4% of fantasy football leagues. However, I believe McKinnon will defy expectations and continue to shine in a Chiefs uniform. “Jet” unveiled 315 all-purpose yds in his latest playoff gauntlet and I foresee him being involved all-around quite well moving forward. I also don’t love Clyde Edwards Helaire’s potential and believe it’s imminent that McKinnon will continue to garner an impressive role (assuming he can stay healthy).

Chuba Hubbard

The Carolina Panthers RB Chuba Hubbard is only rostered in 5% of ESPN leagues. Nonetheless, he is still a talented RB and he displayed his abilities with 612 rushing yds and 5 rushing TDs last season. Hubbard, who is the Panthers RB2, could certainly have a big role in the Panthers offense if CMAC continues to be derailed by injuries. McCaffrey missed 10 match-ups last season and 14 contests in the season prior.

Benny Snell Jr.

The Pittsburgh Steelers RB Benny Snell Jr. should be leaned on more with Najee Harris moving forward. Snell Jr. ousted 449 all-purpose yds as a rookie & 429 total yards in his sophomore campaign. Mark Kaboly of The Athletic nicely pegged Snell Jr. as the best back-up RB option on the Steelers. It’s clear that he has better experience than Anthony Mcfarland Jr. (fourth-round pick in 2020) and rookie Jaylen Warren.

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By: Jake Rajala

The Seattle Seahawks have an exciting RB tandem with Rashaad Penny and Kenneth Walker, but their RB group still doesn’t have the best experience. It should be noted that they will not have the dual-threat magic from Russell Wilson and Chris Carson, who ran for 1,151 rushing yds in 2018 and 1,230 rushing yds in 2019, recently retired. Their likely lead RB Rashaad Penny registered 749 rushing yds, 6 rushing TDs, and averaged a personal best 6.3 YPC in 10 games last season. He was quite efficient, but he hasn’t recorded a top-end season (such as 1,000+ rushing yards) in his four-year career. Penny re-signed with the Hawks on a one-year deal worth $5.75 million dollars this off-season.

Pete Carroll brought in the Michigan State stud Kenneth Walker to be the RB2 and his fresh legs should be helpful for the long season. The questions surrounding him are: how quickly can he adapt to the scheme? Will he be a three-down RB? Can he be consistently effective behind the Seahawks OL?

Walker honestly has impressive power, but it’s unclear how dangerous he will be in his first season. I expect him to be at least a modest RB (around 600 rushing yards and 5 rushing TDs), but I’m not sure if he will have a rookie season similar to Javonte Williams’s rookie campaign (903 rushing yds).

After the fascinating top two RBs in Seattle, the Hawks carry Deejay Dallas and Travis Homer. Dallas has registered 246 rushing yds and 4 rushing TDs in his two-year career. Homer had 338 total yds last season, but he may not be involved enough in 2022 to match his 2021 output.

The Seahawks had the 11th most rushing yds and the 10th most rushing TDs in 2021. I expect them to be a middle-of-the-pack rushing offense next season (with a 1,000+ rushing yard season from Carson), but there will likely be growing pains with Walker. With that enunciated, the Hawks RB tandem can improve w/ an improved OL in the 2023 off-season — which could spell a Top-10 rushing offense in the 2023 season.

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