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Fantasy Football Week 4 Projection: Tampa Bay Buccaneers RB Doug Martin

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By @bradberreman24

Doug Martin, Fantasy Football

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin did not have a great season opener, with just nine yards on nine carries and one catch for seven yards against the Carolina Panthers. He also emerged from that game with a left knee injury that caused him to miss the last two games, but having 10 days between games has him ready to go for Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Despite holding Carolina’s running backs in check last week (eight carries for 35 yards), the Steelers are still in the middle of the pack against the position entering Week 4 (16.7 fantasy points per game, ESPN scoring). A fairly one-sided game in the Steelers’ favor led to the Panthers abandoning the run, and opposing running backs had 327 rushing yards on 58 carries (5.6 yards per carry) against Pittsburgh over their first two games (44 fantasy points, ESPN scoring).

Martin declared himself 100 percent healthy a few days ago, and he is in line for a big workload with Bobby Rainey fumbling twice in Tampa Bay’s last game. Rainey should still have some sort of a role despite his fumbling issues, but Martin looks likely to at worst be the lead back in a backfield committee during Sunday’s game.

Starting Martin this week is not for the risk-adverse, with the possibility he’s not quite fully healthy and the prospect of Rainey taking double-digit touches from him. But Martin’s fantasy owners may be forced to start him regardless, with a tough bye week thinning the running back ranks, and there’s a solid case to be made for deploying him as a RB2 with big upside potential.

Doug Martin Week 4 Fantasy Projection: 18 carries for 75  yards, two receptions for 15 yards and one rushing touchdown

Brad Berreman is a Columnist at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter or Connect on Google +.

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