Antonio Gibson was a borderline first-round pick in 2021 fantasy football drafts, while J.D. McKissic was merely an afterthought. Through six weeks of the season, McKissic has outscored Gibson half the time. What should fantasy managers do with the Football Team’s running back duo in Week 7?
Antonio Gibson’s shin injury remains a concern
The biggest issue befalling Gibson right now is his shin issue. He’s been playing through a stress fracture in his shin. According to the medical experts and Gibson himself, this is a matter of pain tolerance. As a result, it sure looks like Ron Rivera is reducing Gibson’s workload in order to manage the injury.
Last week, Gibson barely played in the second half of Washington’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. He had an MRI on Monday, which suggested he aggravated the injury. The Football Team did not release any information regarding the results of that MRI, and Gibson went through his normal practice routine. However, he comes with a constant risk of missing in-game action.
Game script plays a big factor in Washington’s running back usage
Despite preseason talk of Gibson playing a Christian McCaffrey-like role, nothing has been farther from the truth. Gibson is a two-down back. McKissic, meanwhile, is the primary passing-down back.
When the Football Team is trailing, they go heavy on McKissic. His boom games have been surprisingly predictable. Guess what? I’m predicting another one this week.
So far, McKissic has been a viable fantasy starter every even-numbered week. Of course, that’s not an actionable trend. What is actionable is the reason he’s been useful those particular weeks.
In Weeks 2 and 4, Washington was in shootouts with the Giants and Falcons, respectively. In Week 6, they trailed the Chiefs throughout the entire second half and just peppered McKissic with checkdown targets (10 of them). I’m predicting a similar game script this week against the Packers.
I’m starting J.D. McKissic over Antonio Gibson and so should you
I was big on Gibson entering this season. In fact, I have him in two leagues. In one of them, half my team is on their bye weeks. Therefore, I’m starting both Gibson and McKissic.
In my other league, however, it doesn’t make sense to start both of them. I have to choose one, and I’m choosing McKissic.
Several factors make McKissic a better fantasy option than Gibson this week
The Green Bay Packers are touchdown favorites at home over the Football Team. I’m expecting Aaron Rodgers to really lay it on a soft Washington defense. The Packers are vulnerable against the run, but they’re not going to give their opponent a choice.
If the Football Team is trailing throughout, they are not going to run Gibson. Instead, they’re going to go into hurry-up mode, and that will be with McKissic.
There’s always the chance that Gibson breaks off a big run or falls into the end zone. Still, when making lineup decisions, we must make educated guesses on what is most likely to happen. The most likely outcome is game script leads to increased McKissic usage. Combine that with the risk that Gibson aggravates his shin, and it’s evident McKissic is the more trustworthy Washington RB in Week 7.
