With DeMarco Murray's (hand) availability very much in doubt, plenty of Fantasy owners are going to be scrambling for the waiver wires ahead of Week 16. At the Fantasy Football Today blog, I took a look at Murray's backups, Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar, to see how they might be used in Murray's absence:
"Dunbar saw more work than Randle in Week 15 as well, playing 14 snaps to Randle's three. However, the team has been more likely to give Randle the ball when he's been on the field, as he has touched the ball on 58.1 percent of his offensive snaps. That number is closer to Murray's mark of 56.9 than Dunbar's 38.9 percent mark."
Randle is averaging a robust 7.0 yards per carry on the season, twice what Dunbar has managed. However, Dunbar has much more experience as a pass-catching option out of the backfield, so we could see a true split if Murray sits, with Randle handling the early downs and Dunbar getting work when the team needs to pass.
If you can only pick up one player, Randle looks like the guy to own. Both Jamey Eisenberg and Dave Richard have him among their top-16 running backs for the week, while Dunbar manages to just barely sneak into Dave's top-30, and doesn't come anywhere close for Jamey. He may have more value in a PPR format, but Randle has been so effective running the ball, he probably fits what the Cowboys want to do more.