For most of the season, the Washington Football Team backfield has been pretty predictable. Antonio Gibson is the lead back. J.D. McKissic is the satellite back. Over the past two weeks, with McKissic out, the Football Team has leaned on Gibson, but something changed in Week 14. Fantasy football managers witnessed Jaret Patterson and Jonathan Williams both see some work. Are either Patterson or Williams worth a pickup on the Week 15 waiver wire?
Jaret Patterson and Jonathan Williams got some work last week
Patterson is a rookie UDFA. Williams is a former fifth-round pick that’s bounced around the league on practice squads most of his career. Head coach Ron Rivera mixed both of them in last week against the Cowboys.
Patterson had 4 carries for 29 yards and 1 reception for 9 yards. Williams carried the ball 4 times for 16 yards and a touchdown while adding 19 yards on his lone reception.
It goes without saying that 5 touches won’t cut it for either of these backs to return value for fantasy managers. What we’d be hoping for is for one of them to secure that RB2 role behind Gibson.
Williams is the more interesting of the two because we’ve seen proof of concept. In Weeks 11 and 12 of the 2019 season, Williams was the feature back for the Colts, filling in for Marlon Mack. Williams rushed for 100 yards in each of those games and, for two weeks, was a fantasy RB1.
Last week’s game against the Cowboys was … weird
Although Patterson and Williams were involved last week, I’m not quite sure it was intentional.
The Cowboys led 24-0 entering the third quarter. It was 27-8 entering the fourth quarter. Patterson’s first touch didn’t happen until midway through the third quarter. Williams didn’t even see the field until halfway through the fourth. The game was over … until it wasn’t.
My theory is Washington thought they were in garbage time until they scored a touchdown, and Dak Prescott followed it with a touchdown to the wrong team.
When Williams was in the game, the Football Team was down three scores. It was only after they scored and then got the pick-six that it looked as if Williams was receiving meaningful work.
J.D. McKissic is close to a return
Last week, McKissic got in two limited practices and was questionable. He ultimately did not play, but he’s clearly advanced through most of the concussion protocol. At this point, he is likely awaiting (or possibly already has received) clearance from an independent neurologist.
[the_ad_group id=”61550″]
If McKissic returns this week, he would return to his previous role alongside Gibson and render Patterson irrelevant and Williams likely inactive. Even if McKissic does not return, he appears no more than one week away.
Antonio Gibson remains the lead back
In Week 14, Gibson played 68% of the offensive snaps. He carried the ball 10 times for 36 yards and caught both of his targets for 5 yards. Without McKissic, though, Gibson can’t see all of the work.
The question for fantasy managers is whether a running back behind Gibson has any value. With the fantasy playoffs upon us, managers need to consider all options, no matter how obscure.
Should fantasy managers add Jaret Patterson or Jonathan Williams off the Week 15 waiver wire?
In short: no. There are too many things that have to go right for one of them to have fantasy value, and we wouldn’t even know which one.
Gibson would need to get hurt. McKissic would need to remain in the concussion protocol. Patterson or Williams would need to separate from the other.
There are only three weeks remaining in the fantasy football season. You are certainly not starting either of them this week so you’d be stashing third and fourth-string running backs on a mediocre offense with the hopes of a series of unfortunate events unfolding over the next 10-14 days resulting in one of them having fantasy value.
It’s too unlikely, and there isn’t enough upside to justify spending any FAAB or burning a roster spot on Patterson or Williams.
