Can fantasy managers trust RJ Harvey next season?
Yahoo Fantasy's Matt Harmon and Justin Boone discuss if the Denver Broncos trust RJ Harvey as their lead back next season. Hear the full conversation on the "Yahoo Fantasy Forecast" podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
And they never just kind of saddled up R.J. Harvey with a lot of work.
You know, to grind out the game.
And that kind of makes sense considering the player he's been in his rookie season.
He was a top 20 back in fantasy in total points.
I believe, by the end of the season, but he never cleared 80 yards as a rusher.
He was under 4.0 yards per carry in all but two games, including playoffs.
Since Week 11, after J.K. Dobbins went on IR.
And again, not to bring up pass blocking reps from Pro Football Focus, but in the postseason, 11 pass blocking snaps to Tyler Badie, seven for R.J. Harvey, four for Adam Prentice, two for Jaleel McLaughlin.
And the reason I think that's important to talk about Boone.
I think that what we've seen from Harvey is that he's a dangerous pass a pass-catching weapon.
It's a big reason why he was, you know, the total points were where they were from a fantasy standpoint.
In addition to touchdowns.
But I don't.
Yeah...
Think he has shown so far the ability to be that early s-down.
Sustaining, base-running rusher, but he has been a passing-down weapon.
But they don't play him on pure passing downs 'cause they don't yet trust him in pass protection.
So, just a little bit of an odd role for R.J. Harvey to analyze going forward, and the fact that they might make some moves at running back.
In the off-season.
I think this is something to consider when we're talking about his draft outlook for next season.
Yeah, I mean, he did have 17 touches last week.
The next closest back was McLaughlin.
He had five.
Right?
Sure.
Yeah.
So he is getting- Yeah... Like, the, the clear work there.
The production wasn't ideal in that game, But the Patriots' defense is legit, right?
Like, we've talked about Milton Williams.
Totally... And how that run defense has been completely different when he's been healthy versus when he missed time.
The weather in that game, all that sort of stuff.
You know, the week before against the Bills, yes, it was a little closer.
He had 11 touches, four for McLaughlin.
But he outgained McLaughlin 66 to 21 in terms of scrimmage yards.
Right?
So I think this is also that Sean Payton thing, where Payton's always gonna wanna work in some more backs.
I think you brought up the interesting part of this, and that's, does J.K. Dobbins end up back there next year?
Do we see them go out and get someone else and continue to have this kind of committee?
But I do think Harvey is the future as the lead back.
It's just never gonna be, I don't think, a lead back in the way that we're talking.
Like the top fantasy guys, where he's gonna have, you know, 25 touches a game, and he's gonna go out there and just dominate work.
I don't think that's how they're gonna operate.
So while I said I, I think I was wrong in my initial ranking of Trayveon Henderson, and I had him as that, like, fringe, low-end RB1 for fantasy.
I had Harvey down at RB17 for this very reason, because I do kind of somebody else involved.
And there's upside there.
For sure.
He could take a leap forward and could prove us wrong, but I do think they are gonna continue to operate in some form of committee.
And I think that's gonna hold down his fantasy stats a little bit.
But I don't know that I would put too much just on that Patriots game.
Because that was a very, very difficult matchup for him.
RB9 in fantasy points for game from wk 11 on, that was after Dobbins went out.
That's where Harvey ranked, right?
Like, he has that ability.
Yeah.
He does have that sort of ceiling, and even When Dobbins was still out there, he had two top 10 weekly finishes.
He showed some explosiveness.
He showed some big play ability.
Like, there is a lot to like there.
I don't wanna, you know, go too negative about him because he had tougher matchups in the playoffs and, you know, had this game, obviously, we're talking about.
Where, you know, not, not the biggest performances.
He's not leading them to these victories necessarily.
I still think we did see when Dobbins went down, that ceiling is there for him.
But we have to watch and see what they do this off-season and whether they get someone else.
And I do think there will be someone else, but I think moving into next season.
It's gonna be someone else in that #2 role, not taking over the #1 role and bumping him back down.
