There is a longstanding feud between NFL head coaches and fantasy football managers, especially as it pertains to running back usage.
Fantasy football managers would love to know what kind of workload the backs on their roster will see on a weekly basis. NFL coaches are much more concerned with getting the most out of their offense.
"You don't need a fantasy team when you’re in charge of a real team," San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters last year, deepening the torment for fantasy managers.
As fantasy players start preparing for drafts, offseason workouts could lend some perspective on the pecking order for some backfields. However, others seem tailor-made to cause anguish for managers trying to set their weekly lineups.
Based on prior usage, coaching staff and talent in the backfield, it might be best to steer clear of these groups of running backs altogether.
The Baltimore Ravens enter the 2022 season with the greatest combination of potential and complete ambiguity for fantasy managers.
Thanks to the offense that Greg Roman has built around Lamar Jackson, a great fantasy running back could emerge. In 2020, the Ravens were one of only three teams that ran the ball more than they passed.
Even when the Ravens went more aerial in 2021, they still got fantasy-relevant performances from the likes of Latavius Murray, Devonta Freeman and Ty'Son Williams.
The Ravens enter 2022 with an improved offensive line after adding Morgan Moses and Tyler Linderbaum this offseason. They also traded away wide receiver Marquise Brown, which suggests they're still going to be fairly run-centric.
However, it's still unclear who will be the primary beneficiary of that approach. Not only are J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards coming back from injuries, but Baltimore signed Mike Davis and drafted Tyler Badie in the sixth round.
Dobbins showed signs of being a fantasy star in his rookie season, when he averaged 6.0 yards per carry and caught 75 percent of his targets. But he is coming off a torn ACL and is in a crowded backfield, so it's probably best to temper expectations for him and the rest of the Baltimore backs.
Most of the teams featured here have too much talent in their backfield. That's a good problem for the team to have, although fantasy managers might beg to differ.
That isn't the case in Houston, though. The Texans are going to be a headache for fantasy managers because there isn't a clear answer at running back, period.
The soon-to-be 32-year-old Rex Burkhead led the Texans with a career-high 427 rushing yards last season. However, he averaged only 3.5 yards per carry and scored only three touchdowns across 16 games (five starts).
The Texans brought in competition for Burkhead this offseason, including Marlon Mack, whom they signed to a one-year, $2 million contract. After tearing his Achilles in Week 1 of the 2020 season, he tallied 28 carries for 101 yards in six games with the Indianapolis Colts last year.
The Texans also retained Royce Freeman, who had 35 carries for 92 yards in seven games with them last season, and they signed Dare Ogunbowale to a two-year, $3 million contract. Ogunbowale has only 299 rushing yards across five seasons in the NFL.
Houston also spent a fourth-round pick on Dameon Pierce, who was a bulldozer at Florida. He projects as a between-the-tackles mauler for a team that often figures to be playing from behind this season.
Pierce is worth a look in dynasty leagues, but it's going to be tough for him or any of Houston's backs to make much of a fantasy impact in 2022.
Josh Jacobs was a borderline RB1 in 2021. He finished as the RB13 in points-per-receptions formats, which was a solid follow-up to his RB8 finish in PPR scoring in 2020.
Jacobs also enjoyed fairly consistent usage to get to his numbers. Even though the Las Vegas Raiders signed Kenyan Drake last offseason, Jacobs was easily the lead back. He averaged almost 11 more touches per game than Drake and had 18 total touches per game.
However, Jacobs is now part of a Josh McDaniels backfield. If the former Patriots offensive coordinator brings the same tendencies to Vegas that he had in New England, Jacobs will be much more frustrating from a fantasy perspective in 202.
The Raiders' offseason moves hint at that. They did not exercise their fifth-year option on Jacobs, signed former Patriots tailback Brandon Bolden and spent a fourth-round pick on Georgia running back Zamir White.
Bolden played 31 percent of the Patriots' offensive snaps last season, and he hauled in 41 catches on 49 targets for 405 yards. Throw White into the mix, and the Raiders now have four backs who could have roles this season.
Throw in the addition of star wideout Davante Adams and a potential rise in passing volume, and this backfield looks even less appealing from a fantasy perspective.
Elijah Mitchell made a lot of fantasy managers forget how frustrating a Kyle Shanahan backfield can be. Mitchell was reliably the San Francisco 49ers' top back from Week 7 on last season whenever he was healthy.
Mitchell missed a three-game stretch in December, but he led the team in rushing in eight of the nine games he played after the Niners' Week 6 bye. Deebo Samuel led them in the other one, but he isn't a true running back, so that can't be held against Shanahan's staff.
With former Niners offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel now taking over as the Miami Dolphins' head coach, fantasy managers might look at Mitchell's 2021 season and believe McDaniel will make a Dolphins back fantasy-relevant. Sometimes it pays to have trust issues, though.
McDaniel was the run-game coordinator in San Francisco from 2017 to 2020 before taking over as the offensive coordinator last year. The Niners had plenty of backfield shenanigans during that four-year span.
In 2020, they had four different players lead them in rushing yards in a given week, and they didn't have a single runner lead the team for more than two weeks consecutively. The year prior, they shuffled between Raheem Mostert, Matt Breida and Tevin Coleman before finally settling on Mostert as the lead back late in the season.
The Dolphins added Mostert, Chase Edmonds, Sony Michel and undrafted free agent Zaquandre White this offseason to compete with Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmad. Any of them could be capable of putting up numbers in McDaniel's scheme.
Good luck figuring out which one it will be from week to week.
Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots have a permanent reservation on this list.
The Patriots haven't had a running back finish in the top 12 of PPR scoring since James White finished seventh in 2018. Even then, White was part of a committee with clearly defined roles. His fantasy success largely stemmed from the 123 targets he saw in the passing game.
White will once again be a factor for the Patriots. That's bad news for anyone relying on Damien Harris or Rhamondre Stevenson in fantasy.
Harris finished eighth in standard scoring last season, but only because he scored 15 touchdowns on the ground. When it came to workload, he averaged 14.7 touches per game compared to Stevenson's 12.3.
White played in only three games before suffering a season-ending hip injury, but he averaged 4.7 targets per game before going down. Chris Mason of MassLive.com expects him to play a "significant" role as a third-down back this season if healthy.
The Patriots also added Pierre Strong Jr. in the fourth round of the draft. He was the B/R Scouting Department's seventh-ranked running back and drew a comparison to Elijah Mitchell from scout Nate Tice.
In other words, New England has a stable of talented backs and a head coach who has long tormented fantasy managers with his unpredictable backfield usage.
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll will finally be able build an offense in 2022 without the pressure to "let Russ cook".
Carroll often came under fire for not always letting longtime Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson try to win games with his arm. Now that he'll have Drew Lock or Geno Smith under center instead, a run-heavy attack will make far more sense.
Although that sounds like good news for fantasy managers, it may be difficult to pick the right back on a week-to-week basis.
Chris Carson had been Seattle's lead back until last season, when he played in only four games before a season-ending neck injury shut him down. Carroll recently said the Seahawks "don't have updates yet on Chris and we won't know for some time."
In Carson's stead, Rashaad Penny exploded over the home stretch of 2021. He averaged 22 points per game in PPR formats over the final five weeks of the season, which led all backs during that span.
However, Penny may face competition from Kenneth Walker III, whom the Seahawks selected in the second round of this year's draft. He was the B/R Scouting Department's No. 2 running back in the draft class.
All three of Carson, Penny and Walker could be the No. 1 back at some point this season. And since the Seahawks might not face many run-heavy game scripts with Lock or Smith under center, this backfield has fantasy heartbreak written all over it.
If you had any fantasy shares of Antonio Gibson in the first two years of his NFL career, you probably aren't a fan of Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera.
Gibson has all of the makings of a bonafide fantasy star coming out of Memphis. He racked up 1,104 yards from scrimmage and 12 total touchdowns on only 71 touchdowns while playing a hybrid running back/wide receiver role. Combine that production with his unique frame (6'2" and 220 pounds) and elite athleticism, and he has a sky-high ceiling.
However, Gibson's usage has been inconsistent in Washington, as Rivera still likes to lean on J.D. McKissic as his passing-down back. McKissic had 80 catches for 589 yards on 110 targets in 2020 and 43 catches for 397 yards on 53 targets last season.
For a fleeting moment this offseason, Gibson appeared poised to be unleashed when McKissic briefly agreed to terms with the Buffalo Bills. However, a change of heart landed him back in Washington.
The Commanders also spent a third-round pick on Brian Robinson Jr., further complicating the backfield picture. The 6'1", 225-pounder could eat into Gibson's goal-line and short-yardage work.
Rivera has already declared there will be a committee approach in Washington again, likening his backfield to the one he used in Carolina when he had Jonathan Stewart, DeAngelo Williams and Fozzy Whittaker.
"I mean, in this league today, you know, you just can't have one primary back. You've got to have a plethora of them. And we just feel it's a very good room right now," the coach said, per the team's website.
Gibson's upside once again seems likely to be hampered by his backfield competition, while McKissic and Robinson won't be viable fantasy starters.