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Fantasy Football Week 9 Start or Sit: Trent Richardson

Trent Richardson Fantasy Football

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Trent Richardson is far removed from being the third overall pick in the draft, and Ahmad Bradshaw is casting a surprisingly large shadow over the third year running back. However, Richardson is silently running a strong campaign in his first full season with the Indianapolis Colts. He ranks as a Top 25 back this season and with his upcoming matchup against the New York Giants, Richardson might improve his 2014 stat line this week.

Richardson’s season has been full of ups and downs; he has scored but twice this season. That has certainly helped his total fantasy points this year, and if not for those scores, he’d be a definite “sit” option. Right now, the Colts running back is averaging a mere 3.5 yards per carry, but that’s not the concern, entirely. He averaged that same figure in 2012 when he was a Top 10 RB as a rookie. The worry is that he’s not getting the consistent carries he was as a rookie, and there’s no discernible figure for when he’ll land in the end zone on any given Sunday.

In his two games with a touchdown — against the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans — there was no telltale sign of him scoring. He saw mass touches of at least 17 carries, but he’s seen high workloads in other games and has not scored again. The commonality those two games share, we can say, is that he saw his lowest yards per carry: under three yards. Those games in which he scored were against middle of the road run defenses. It’s not as if they’re feisty teams that let him catch a break on a run for a score.

Perhaps what determines Richardson’s success is how well the opposing defense preps for Bradshaw and the pass game.  They’ve both been successful this season, and have lent a distraction for Richardson to pick up yards, and in two games finding the end zone as well. The Giants have a very weak run defense, giving up the third most points to running backs, and they have a middle of the road pass defense. Their game plan is likely to stop Andrew Luck and crew from striking through the air, and that should help Richardson find some success this week.

I’m not terribly confident that he’ll score, since that seems to be a rarity with him right now. However, he’ll be good for at least seven points off rushing yards, and maybe a few more through the air. He’ll be a solid start as a RB2 or FLEX this week.

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