NFL Player News

If you just look at the raw snap counts for Matt Asiata and Jerick McKinnon in Week 4 against the Falcons, you might come away thinking Asiata was the workhorse and McKinnon is a change of pace back. After all, Asiata was on the field for 58 percent of the team's offensive plays, while McKinnon played the understudy role, with 42 percent of the work.

However, the numbers are a bit skewed by the first two drives, when Asiata played 13 consecutive snaps to open the game. It seemed like Asiata was in line for a huge workload Sunday, but McKinnon appears to have forced a change in the game plan. McKinnon opened the third drive with a 55-yard run, and the workload changed from that point on.

The Vikings played 63 offensive snaps from the start of the third drive, and McKinnon played 32 of them, with Asiata taking on 31. McKinnon touched the ball on 59.4 percent of his snaps as well, while Asiata touched the ball on just 48.4 percent of his snaps from that point on -- after getting eight touches on his first 13 plays.

Asiata seems likely to continue working as the primary ball carrier for the Vikings, but he just has not been particularly impressive, even accounting for his three-touchdown showing Sunday. McKinnon is less of a sure thing in this backfield given his workload, but he seems to have a much higher upside; even if you remove his 55-yard scamper, he averaged 4.7 yards per carry to Asiata's 3.9.

If you have to own one player in Minnesota, it should be Asiata. He is the starter, and it seems like the team is going to keep going back to him. However, McKinnon is the lottery ticket here. The Georgia Southern product has the higher upside in this backfield, and he might keep forcing the Vikings to change their plans moving forward. 

At the Fantasy Football Today blog, I snagged video from the game Sunday to compare how McKinnon and Asiata played. 

If the question before the season was, "Which Patriots running back do I want to rely on?" the answer through four games has been an emphatic, "Neither." The team's moribund offense has affect everyone involved, and Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley have been hit as hard as anyone.

Last season, the Patriots had one of the best running games in the league, and they augmented it with Vereen's pass-catching skills to create a tandem that was consistently useful for Fantasy owners. So far, however, Vereen and Ridley have just two double-digit Fantasy games between them, one each. And things aren't much better for Vereen in PPR leagues, where he has just one additional 10-plus-point effort.

The Patriots have one of the league's five-least productive offenses, as they are averaged just 298.5 yards per game, while scoring just 20.0 points per game. At this point, Fantasy owners probably cannot rely on either member of the Patriots backfield on a weekly basis, especially as long as they continue splitting time and work. 

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said he'll keep using running backs Matt Asiata and Jerick McKinnon as a committee, with McKinnon as the "change-of-pace back," reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

"I hope we can continue to grow his role, but I don't think he's going to be an every-down player right now," Zimmer said of McKinnon, who exploded for 135 rushing yards on 18 carries Sunday.

Asiata will continue to start after running for 78 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries.

The good news is Knile Davis delivered his second straight 100-yard game even with star running back Jamaal Charles back on the field Week 4 against New England. The bad news is Charles looked so good himself that Davis may not have a shot at another.

Only two weeks removed from a high ankle sprain that seemed certain to sideline him for weeks to come, Charles scored three touchdowns -- one on the ground and two through the air -- and was consistent with his 18 carries, the longest going for 17 yards. He acknowledged some soreness afterward but gave no reason to believe he won't be back out there Week 5 at San Francisco.

In fact, if not for a big lead in the second half, he might have been out there longer in Week 4. Of Davis' 16 carries, 11 came in the second half. He played 43 percent of the Chiefs' snaps to Charles' 54 percent.

If Week 5 ends up being a closer game -- and it most likely will be -- the Chiefs may not ask Davis to spell Charles as much. While you're no doubt pleased with your decision to stick with the backup despite Charles' return, you may have simply lucked out. Davis remains as good as a of a handcuff option as you'll find in Fantasy, but you should plan to bench him for the foreseeable future.

Despite Jamaal Charles' return from an ankle injury, Chiefs coach Andy Reid indicated running back Knile Davis will continue to get substantial work. Davis has run for 239 yards the past two weeks.

"They're both explosive players," Reid told ESPN.com. "They're completely different players, but they're both explosive players. That makes my job easy. Just give them the ball."

With the Patriots in comeback mode all night, running back Shane Vereen was on the field a lot in Kansas City. He ran eight times for 26 yards and caught all five of his targets for 41 yards.

Vereen established season highs in touches and receiving yards. He'll play Cincinnati on Sunday night.

Chiefs running back Knile Davis shared backfield duties with star Jamaal Charles on Monday night, but it didn't stop the second-year pro from going over 100 yards rushing for the second straight week. Davis ran 16 times for 107 yards (6.7 ypc) and caught one of two targets for 12 yards.

Davis got going early, ripping off a 48-yard run in the first quarter. He played 30 snaps to Charles' 34. Davis is up to 321 rushing yards through four games entering Sunday's visit to San Francisco.

Chargers running back Branden Oliver, an undrafted rookie, earned praise from coach Mike McCoy after totaling 56 yards on 13 touches in the Week 4 win over Jacksonville.

"He's just going to get better with time," McCoy said, per ESPN.com. "And if we get him a few more creases, there's going to be some explosive plays, because he's a strong runner that's always going north and south."

With Ryan Mathews and Danny Woodhead injured, Oliver shared snaps Sunday with starter Donald Brown.

Jets fullback Tommy Bohanon fractured his collarbone in the Week 4 loss to the Lions, coach Rex Ryan said. The team will work out fullbacks this week.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said Monday he views Jerick McKinnon as a change-of-pace running back this season, according to The Star Tribune. However, Zimmer mentioned McKinnon potentially becoming an every-down back in 2015.