NFL Player News

Raiders featured back Darren McFadden is a near-certainty to be sidelined for the game Sunday in Houston. A lingering hamstring injury had him working on the side during practice Friday. Rashad Jennings will fill his role against the Texans.

On the off chance that Raiders running back Darren McFadden is healthy enough to play in Week 11 against the Texans, his owners shouldn't expect much. 

McFadden will be facing a Texans run defense that hasn't allowed a 100-yard rushing performance this season. Over the last four games, the Texans have allowed just one rushing touchdown (to Jamaal Charles) and are the 13th-hardest team for running backs to score Fantasy points against.

McFadden probably won't play in Week 11, but even if he does, he's better left on the bench in most formats. 

Buccaneers running back Doug Martin will have surgery to repair a torn labrum Friday.

The team had initially waited to see if Martin would respond to rehab before shutting him down for the season. He was placed on injured reserve last Friday. There is currently no timetable for his recovery. 

Colts running back Trent Richardson continues to disappoint, and he had his role in the offense usurped by Donald Brown in a 30-27 win over the Titans.

Richardson finished the game with just 22 yards on eight carries, while Brown finished with 14 carries for 80 yards and two touchdowns. Richardson was used more like a third-down back in the game, finishing with five receptions for 31 yards.

Richardson has been a major disappointment for the Colts, and it appears his role is going to continue to be an issue. The Colts next face the Cardinals in Week 12. 

Colts running back Donald Brown finally did what he has been threatening to do for much of the season Thursday; he emerged as the team's featured back. With Trent Richardson still scuffling, Brown led the team to a second-half comeback in Week 11, in a 30-27 win over the Titans.

Brown had just four carries before halftime, though he was already receiving a larger share of the workload than Richardson. He really got going after the half, however, and finished with 80 yards on just 14 carries, along with two touchdowns. He scored from 6 and 11 yards out in the game, the first time in his career he has scored twice in a game.

Brown finished with nearly twice as many carries as Richardson, a trend that bears watching moving forward. The Colts face the Cardinals in Week 12. 

Titans running back Chris Johnson got off to an impressive start in Week 11 against the Colts, but was a nonentity after halftime in a 30-27 loss Thursday.

Coming off a game where he barely made any impact, Johnson carried the Titians to two easy scoring drives in the first quarter. He capped off both drives with touchdown runs, one of 30 yards and then another from 7 yards out.

All told, Johnson headed into the locker room at halftime with 13 carries for 80 yards and a pair of scores, with the Titans holding a 17-6 lead. Rather than lean on Johnson to chew up the clock, however, the Titans barely put him to use; he rushed the ball just four times for 6 yards in the second half.

Johnson finished the game with 86 yards on 17 carries, to go along with one reception for -1 yard.  He has two touchdowns in two of his last three games, with all four of his scores for the season coming in that span. Despite the lackluster second half, this goes down as one of his better games of the season, and continues an upward trend for his season. He will attempt to keep that going in Week 12, when the Titans take on the Raiders. 

A hamstring injury that knocked Raiders running back Darren McFadden out of the Week 9 game and caused him to be inactive on Sunday sidelined him against from Thursday practice. His status for the Week 11 battle against Houston will be clearer when the team issues its Friday injury report.

An intensified workload awaits Patriots running back Shane Vereen in practice this week as he returns from a broken wrist that had him on short-term IR since Week 2. That will allow Bill Belichick to determine his readiness to play Monday night against Carolina.

"This will really be an opportunity for us to evaluate this week kind of where he is, give him some harder assignments and see how he's doing," Belichick told the Boston Herald.

Vereen did just fine in Week 1 with 101 yards on 14 carries and seven catches for 58 yards. He is expected to work mostly as the primary third-down pass-catching back upon his return.

Chargers running back Ryan Mathews is a victim of the offensive system in which he plays. And so are his Fantasy owners. His team not only throws the ball 57 percent of the time, but he is often on the sideline watching backfield mates Danny Woodhead and Ronnie Brown in action.

Mathews is averaging fewer than 15 carries a game and is a non-entity in the passing attack. Too bad, too, because he is certainly productive when given the chance. He has 539 yards in 131 carries for a strong 4.1 YPC average and two touchdowns.

Week 11 foe Miami has had plenty of work against the run, ranking 31st in the NFL in rushing attempts and 25th in yards yielded on the ground with 1,072, but their 3.9 YPC average ranks the Dolphins 12th in the league. Their run defense, however, has collapsed in recent weeks. They have surrendered 455 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground in the last three games.

That bodes well for Mathews, who is more of an ideal second Fantasy running back than a No. 1, even in deeper leagues. He is ranked between 17-19 by all three CBSSports.com senior Fantasy writers among NFL running backs this week, which seems about right. He should be active in all formats.

Donald Brown remains a bit of an enigmatic start on a weekly basis. The Colts gave up a first-round pick to acquire Trent Richardson, only to slam the brakes on him and work in Brown nearly every game. Fantasy owners are left with no choice but to add Brown and see where this goes. 

In Week 10, Brown had a season-high five receptions, but only two carries. This may end up being significant, as the Titans have given up 48.7 receiving yards to opposing running backs this season, the fifth-most in the league. With Richardson only seeing five receptions total over the last two games, it may be Brown who gets to exploit that Tennessee weakness. 

With the solid matchup in Week 11 -- the Titans have allowed eight touchdowns to opposing backs in the last four games -- Brown is worth consideration in deeper leagues. But while he's stuck in a timeshare with Richardson, neither back will emerge with enough Fantasy value to be started in standard formats.