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Isaiah Spiller 2022 NFL Player Outlook: Short-Yardage Grinder On A High-Upside Offense
3 years agoLos Angeles Chargers running back Isaiah Spiller will be entering the league as the youngest RB this season, at just 21 years old. After performing poorly at the NFL Scouting Combine, Spiller's draft stock plummeted, allowing him to drop to Los Angeles in the fourth round. Nonetheless, the talent everyone had seen pre-combine still exists, and Spiller could play a primary role in this high-upside Chargers offense. The team does not want to give Austin Ekeler (5-10, 200 lb) the second-most red zone carries in the league again. Hence, why they drafted a 6-1, 215 lb RB in Isaiah Spiller to handle the short-yardage duties in this offense. Spiller is a more than capable receiving back, managing 20+ receptions and ~200 receiving yards in every season at Texas A&M. Still, the Chargers will continue to let Ekeler handle that workload. Meanwhile, the team has tried using Joshua Kelley (36 carries) and Larry Rountree (33 carries) to handle short-yardage situations. Despite his lack of draft capital, they are nowhere near as talented as Isaiah Spiller. I still expect Ekeler to see a majority of red zone opportunities between the 5-20 yard lines this season, but we'll likely see Spiller on the field once they are inside the 5. If he can earn 6-10 carries per game and score a couple of goal-line touchdowns, Isaiah Spiller could be a great value as the RB36 off the board in 2022 fantasy football drafts. Furthermore, suppose Ekeler were to ever go down with an injury. In that case, Spiller undoubtedly has league-winning upside as the three-down workhorse in one of the highest-scoring offenses in the league.
