Fantasy football preseason Week 1 review: Sleeper & bust candidates at RB

The first week of preseason has come and gone. While we shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from what were glorified scrimmages, some players showed better than others, and sometimes it’s just fun to read the tea leaves based on a handful of snaps.

So with the caveats out of the way, let’s take a look at some potential sleeper and bust candidates for fantasy football purposes, focusing on running back this time. Most of the top-tier, entrenched starters played sparingly, if at all, so nothing has changed for them. We’ll instead look at some more fringe options and briefly examine their fantasy outlook as the regular season inches closer.

Jonathan Williams, Buffalo Bills — Williams is taking Mike Gillislee’s spot as LeSean McCoy’s handcuff. That’s a good spot to be in, given McCoy’s injury history, and Williams did well playing with the starters in Buffalo’s opener, putting up 46 total yards on five touches. We shouldn’t expect him to match Gillislee’s production from last year (ten touchdowns, mostly on goal line vultures), but Williams looks the part and should be a quality fantasy starter if McCoy gets hurt.

Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints — The Saints, as per tradition, have a crowded backfield once again. This time it’s Mark Ingram, Adrian Peterson, Kamara, and Travaris Cadet all fighting for touches. Kamara got some shine in the preseason game, getting the start while Ingram and Peterson sat out. He made the most of his chances, turning four carries into 35 yards. Kamara still needs a lot to go right to have significant fantasy value this year, but he’s probably done enough to overtake Cadet as the pass-catching back. He’s one to monitor in PPR formats.

Chris Carson, Seattle Seahawks — Seattle’s backfield is a tough nut to crack right now. Thomas Rawls played with the first team on Sunday, while Eddie Lacy worked with the second unit. Neither man stood out, which gave Carson a chance to shine. His stat line isn’t impressive (seven carries, 19 yards), but Carson showed good burst, ran with a violent physical style, and finished his runs at the goal line for two touchdowns. In other words, he looked like the good version of Lacy, which we’ll get to below. Pete Carroll loves his competition, so don’t be surprised if Carson jumps up the depth chart soon.

Paul Perkins, New York Giants — Perkins is the starter, but that might only be by default. He’s drawn lukewarm reviews all offseason and didn’t do anything of note in Friday’s game, taking five carries for just 3 yards. Meanwhile, Orleans Darkwa has been eating into Perkins’ first-team reps, while Shane Vereen is set as the pass-catching back. There’s a good chance Perkins will get stuck in a committee, making him un-startable in most fantasy leagues.

Eddie Lacy, Seattle Seahawks — Lacy started training camp as the ostensible starter, but has since fallen to second behind Rawls. He proceeded to look like just another guy on Sunday, taking four carries for a pedestrian 10 yards and getting stuffed at the goal line. A plodding committee back who doesn’t catch passes (that’s C.J. Prosise’s job as long as he stays healthy), Lacy is being grossly overdrafted at his sixth-round ADP.

Alfred Morris, Dallas Cowboys — Once thought to be on the roster bubble, Morris’ odds improved when Ezekiel Elliott got handed a six-game suspension. However, he’s still at best the No. 2 behind Darren McFadden, and he had just 11 yards on five carries, while McFadden had six carries for 28 yards. When Morris had a chance to push for a bigger role, he took a step back instead.