Fantasy Football Running Back Position Battles After Week 4 - Chase Brown, David Montgomery, Bucky Irving, and more

Justin Carter looks at running back position battles after Week 4 of the 2024 NFL season. How are these backfields shaping up for fantasy football?

As Week 5 approaches, we're starting to get a sense of how certain backfields are shaping up. Some of these are backfields that carried major question marks in the preseason while others have shifted as the 2024 season has gone along. What do the position battles look like now?

For these four teams, that battle for the starting role continues after four games. In some cases, the incumbent has the edge, but in other cases, a fresh face is making a strong case for more touches.

With a four-week sample size under our belt, we wanted to take a look at some fantasy running back tandems from across the league and assess who the starter will be going forward and who fantasy managers should prioritize for the rest of the season.

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Cincinnati Bengals

Players: Zack Moss, Chase Brown

The 1-3 Bengals didn't look like they had any kind of running back controversy after Chase Brown had just 14 carries through the team's first three games. While he was producing plenty of yards on a per-play basis, Zack Moss's ability between the tackles looked like it would keep him as the team's lead back.

But then came Week 4 against the Panthers, a game where both running backs had 15 carries. Brown turned those into 80 yards and two touchdowns while Moss turned his into 51 yards.

It wasn't that simple, though. Moss saw four targets to Brown's three and caught a touchdown pass in the loss, so we can't just say that Brown outplayed Moss. Both players were effective in different ways.

Chase Brown leads the entire NFL in yards per carry, his rushing success rate is 65.5%, and his EPA per rushing attempt is +0.25, and that's all with his longest run being 20 yards.

Now his role is being expanded. Let's take a look at him and his role!https://t.co/2kvtJSCU43

— mike (@bengals_sans) October 1, 2024

Still, you can't ignore Brown setting a season-high in carries, with more than he had all season combined coming into the week. He also played a season-high 40% of the team's snaps.

Who Should I Start Moving Forward?

Both players look like fantasy RB3 options right now. Moss is the safer of the two, but Brown has more upside, so how you handle them in fantasy depends on what your team needs the most. For me, I'd rather have the big-play ability of Brown, even if Moss is more dependable.

Detroit Lions

Players: David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs

We knew the Lions would have a split backfield this season with David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs and that's exactly what we've seen.

Through four games, Montgomery leads 63-54 in carries while Gibbs leads 13-9 in targets. Overall, there's a 72-65 edge in touches for Montgomery, which feels about as close to an even split as possible.

The only surprise here is that Montgomery is the one leading that split. There was a lot of thought that Gibbs would edge him out in opportunities this year, but Montgomery is averaging 5.1 yards per touch, so there's no reason to take him off the field.

I mean sure, Gibbs has been better, sitting at 5.6 yards per touch while both players have found the end zone four times, but not by enough to change the play-calling.

Who Should I Start Moving Forward?

Both players remain strong fantasy options and I don't foresee that changing unless one suffers an injury. They're a strong duo that will both continue to get opportunities. Gibbs has more explosive play ability and led Montgomery in touches in Week 4, so if someone is going to emerge, it's likely him, but Montgomery is still a solid RB2 while Gibbs is a low-end RB1 the rest of the season.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Players: Travis Etienne, Tank Bigsby

This is a position battle that no one saw coming. Travis Etienne opened the season as the No. 1 guy in Jacksonville and with Tank Bigsby coming off a disappointing rookie campaign, it didn't seem like that would change at all.

And while Bigsby had 12 carries in Week 1, he had just two across the next two games. This was Etienne's backfield. But Week 4 might have changed some of that. Etienne again led the team with 11 carries, but he finished with 40 fewer rushing yards than Bigsby, who looked impressive as he took his seven carries for 90 yards.

Who Should I Start Moving Forward?

Etienne is still the No. 1 guy here, but Bigsby appears set to eat into his touches. Etienne ranks as a low-end RB2 going forward while Bigsby is still down in the RB4 tier, but he's trending up and should be grabbed off the waiver wire in anticipation of a growing role.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Players: Rachaad White, Bucky Irving

For the first time this season, Buccaneers rookie running back Bucky Irving had double-digit carries, with 10 for 49 and a touchdown in the team's 33-16 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

His numbers were virtually identical to those of Rachaad White, who had the same number of carries and yards but failed to find the end zone. White did add two catches for 35 yards while Irving finished with one for six.

Rachaad White had played 100% of Tampa Bay's red zone snap through three weeks.

In Week 4, rookie Bucky Irving handled all five of Tampa's red zone rush attempts. https://t.co/kfuS0xnnuP

— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) September 29, 2024

After having 272 carries last season, this was expected to be White's backfield, but he's been fairly ineffective. His 49 yards this week were his most of the year, and while he had 21 touches in Week 1, that number has dropped to 11, 11, and 12 in subsequent games.

It certainly appears that Irving not only has evened things up in the backfield but has a shot to emerge as the team's lead back soon.

Who Should I Start Moving Forward?

This is such a fascinating spot here because neither player has definitively claimed the lead role. In the three cases above, we know who has the most fantasy value going forward, but that's simply not the case in Tampa.

For example, in the consensus rest-of-season rankings at FantasyPros, White is the RB29, while Irving is the RB31. See, it's that close.

In my opinion, Irving's upside makes him the player I'd prefer to roster out of the two going forward, even if White has the higher floor of the two at this current moment.

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