Advanced Touches is the second in our weekly Advanced Series and takes aim at the running back position. These stats gleaned from the excellent work of PFF game charters will give you the insight to adroitly navigate start/sit decisions, waiver wire acquisitions, and trade proposals.
Our Week 1 article features an expanded glossary. As a quick refresher, remember that Elusive Rating is a combination of forced missed tackles and yards after contact, while Breakaway Percentage gives you a measure of 15+ yard runs. YCo is yards before contact. VYA is my contrarian measure of Vision Yards per attempt.
Due to my research into Vision Yards and the conclusions that have stemmed from it, I've downgraded backs who consistently struggle to achieve yards before contact. Such players rate lower for me in both reality and in fantasy than they do for most pundits. Week 5 provided a mild counterargument.
| Quieting Skeptics | ||||||||
| Snaps | Touches | Elusive | Breakaway | Yco/A | VYA | Routes | YPRR | |
| Ahmad Bradshaw | 72 | 34 | 41.2 | 32.5 | 2.3 | 4.4 | 21 | 1.38 |
| Arian Foster | 56 | 30 | 12.6 | 44.1 | 1.9 | 3.3 | 15 | 1.07 |
| Trent Richardson | 51 | 22 | 69.3 | 17.6 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 22 | 2.14 |
| Adrian L. Peterson | 44 | 20 | 22.4 | 83 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 21 | 0.71 |
| Rashard Mendenhall | 22 | 16 | 89.3 | 21 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 6 | 3.33 |
| Frank Gore | 46 | 14 | 23.5 | 63.2 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 16 | 0 |
In several of these cases I’m actually one of the few skeptical voices, but that makes it even more important to be fair-minded about the Week 5 success of these players. Ahmad Bradshaw has appeared less talented than both Andre Brown and David Wilson this season, but his 200-plus yards from scrimmage on Sunday were the result of dominance in every possible category. Although Wilson showed his first round pedigree on the long touchdown run, Bradshaw was still getting almost all the carries late in garbage time. If you’re going to give an injury-riddled back 34 touches in a blowout, then the backup isn’t a threat to playing time.
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