When Houston Texans starting running back Arian Foster was lost for the season to injury, backup Ben Tate seemed to be a strong candidate for late-season value. Tate was one of the NFL's most popular running-back handcuffs in the preseason, so the time had come for him to justify that faith.
Ben Tate awful, Dennis Johnson productive for Texans, fantasy owners
The Texans starting running back was horrific Sunday, with his backup offering some usefulness. We break down the fantasy implications.
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Ben Tate ran the ball seven times Sunday. For one total yard. He did catch five passes for 26 yards, but Tate's performance was bad enough that he was benched for backup running back Dennis Johnson in Sunday's 13-6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Johnson was far more productive, with 13 rushes for 74 yards and two receptions for 13 more.
Fantasy impact: Tate has done very little in place of Foster -- in fact, he’s done very little all season, with only one score on the year. Since his workload hit double digits in Week 6, Sunday was Tate’s first game with fewer than 10 carries. In that time -- six games, 88 carries -- Tate has averaged only 3.27 yards per rush.
With Tate’s continued struggles and Johnson’s decent performance Sunday, it certainly looks like it’s moving to a timeshare in Houston, which will rob Tate of any value his awful play hadn’t. As bad as the team has played of late, it’s hard to trust Tate anyway. Neither he nor Johnson is worth much of anything in fantasy, with Johnson maybe even being more worthy of a stash.
