Looking at Last Season's Finishes to Find This Year's Breakout Fantasy Football Players
Rashad Jennings, RB, New York Giants
Not many people seem to like Rashad Jennings, and I’m not sure why. Entering his seventh season, Jennings is well-traveled, having played for three teams, so maybe that plays into it, but he’s been a fairly solid producer when healthy, averaging 4.2 yards per carry through 749 career rushes.
After finally realizing Andre Williams is downright terrible, the Giants let Jennings have the backfield (mostly) to himself over the final four games. In that stretch, he rushed 79 times for 432 yards (5.5 yards per carry) and added 7 grabs for 89 yards.
| Opponent | Rushes | Yards | Touchdowns | YPC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 14 | Dolphins | 22 | 81 | 0 | 3.7 |
| Week 15 | Panthers | 16 | 107 | 1 | 6.7 |
| Week 16 | Vikings | 14 | 74 | 0 | 5.3 |
| Week 17 | Eagles | 27 | 170 | 1 | 4.3 |
One of the more impressive things about his four-game surge is who it came against. Two of the opponents -- the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers -- had good defenses last year. Carolina ranked second in Adjusted (for strength of schedule) Defensive NEP per play while the Vikings ranked 13th.
Looking ahead to this season, the Giants’ already crowded backfield -- Jennings, Williams and Shane Vereen -- got even more populated as New York drafted Paul Perkins. The addition probably put Williams’ roster spot in jeopardy while it’s unlikely to affect the roles of Vereen or Jennings much right away.
Jennings is expected to be at least the early-down back -- maybe more -- while Vereen does his thing in the passing game. If Jennings goes into the season as the starter, he’d have to play like Williams to not deliver value on his current ADP, which has him as RB38.
