Week 15 Fantasy Football Market Share Report: Greg Olsen Lives Again

Rushing Market Shares

1. Dion Lewis Could Get Heavy Volume

For as scary as their reputation may be, the New England Patriots' backfield has been pretty steady for a while now. Dion Lewis gets work between the 20s, and then Rex Burkhead slams the ball home at the goal line. We can live with that predictability.

You knew those good feelings couldn't last, though.

Burkhead just can't catch a break this year.

Based on the information we have, it seems like Burkhead is likely to miss at least Week 16 against the Buffalo Bills. While it's a bummer for anyone in a season-long championship game, it could make Lewis a saint for others.

In Sunday's game, the Patriots had just 17 running-back carries as they tried to make up ground on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Lewis had 13; Burkhead had the other 4. If you take Burkhead out of the equation, Lewis was basically a lone ranger here.

With Burkhead going down, Lewis played 55.0% of the snaps, a major increase from his previous season-high of 43.3% in Week 11. This was in a game script that set up better for James White. That's huge for Lewis' forward-looking value.

Add in the potential for goal-line work, and Lewis is suddenly the clear lead back in one of the league's best offenses. That's worth a whole heck of a lot more than Lewis' $6,700 price tag on FanDuel's Week 16 main slate, especially when it's in a plus matchup at home.

Unless we get word that Mike Gillislee will return to a major role, we should be viewing this as being Lewis' backfield. He has been productive while getting just a piece of the pie recently, and that piece is about to grow significantly in size. Plug him in liberally until given reason not to.

2. Alvin Kamara Quietly Steps Forward

After Alvin Kamara suffered a concussion in Week 14, it was fair to expect the New Orleans Saints to ease him back into action against an inferior New York Jets squad on Sunday.

Instead, he had his heaviest workload of the entire season. Go figure.

Although it was Mark Ingram who had the big plays, Kamara matched him in the carry column with both players getting 12 totes. Kamara added seven targets while Ingram had six. The 19 total opportunities for Kamara were the most he has seen all year.

All told, Kamara handled 29.7% of the team's carries plus targets in Week 15, an increase from 24.9% in the three weeks prior to his concussion.

As strange as it may be, Kamara may actually be trending up.

In Week 16, the Saints will be facing the Atlanta Falcons for the second time in three games, a repeat of the contest in which Kamara sustained the concussion. In that game, he played just six snaps but had three targets and a carry before exiting. With his price back down to $8,500, it's likely time to buy back in before Kamara reminds us why he was priced at $9,100 to begin with.

3. The Ravens' Backfield Is a Mess

In Week 14, Alex Collins looked like a beast. He was trucking defenders on his way to 166 yards from scrimmage, scoring his fifth touchdown in four games.

In Week 15, he got out-carried by Javorius Allen, who out-gained him on the ground, 70-19. Sure. Why not?

Allen finished the game with 13 carries and 3 targets while Collins had 12 carries and 8 targets. The snaps were split, too, with Collins leading the way at 38.5%, followed by Allen (33.3%) and Danny Woodhead (29.5%). It was a script that set up well for Collins with the Baltimore Ravens cruising to a 27-10 victory, but he still couldn't top 40% of the snaps. How can you trust him in any other scenario?

The way these touches are distributed is similar to that of the Philadelphia Eagles with Jay Ajayi and company. But this Ravens' offense isn't anywhere near the same caliber of Philadelphia's, even with Nick Foles at the helm. It's hard to truly buy into any piece if the touches are going to be this spread out.

The Ravens' defense is going to make us want to consider pieces of this backfield as it should give them short fields and put them in positive game script. But if we don't know who's going to lead the way in a given week, that's a risky proposition. It's enough to sour us on Collins despite the talent he has flashed when given opportunities.