The Ravens’ backfield continues to be a bit of a mess through seven weeks. Lamar Jackson is their leading rusher, and then there’s a whole bunch of guys … J.K. Dobbins, Kenyan Drake, Justice Hill and now Gus Edwards.
Dobbins is on the shelf once again after undergoing knee surgery and being placed on injured reserve. Drake popped in Week 6 only to drop a dud in Week 7 as Edwards went off.
Our fantasy experts assess below whether Edwards is a priority add entering Week 8.
Sean Koerner: Edwards operated as the lead back in his first action in a year and a half. He ran for 66 yards on 16 attempts and punched it in for 2 scores.
With Dobbins set to miss the next 3-5 games, Edwards should be able to provide low-end RB2 value. His lack of receiving stats limit his upside, but RB-needy teams who are fighting for a playoff berth should be pretty aggressive trying to land Edwards this week.
Mike Triplett: I’ll pounce if I need RB depth or have an early waiver-wire priority this week. Otherwise, I might be a little hesitant to use a large portion of my FAAB budget on Edwards.
There are just too many red flags for me, including the severity of Edwards’ injury and how much time he missed; the fact that he has never caught 10 passes in a season before; and the fact that Baltimore’s backfield is still overcrowded – especially when Dobbins returns from IR.
Since Edwards isn’t used in the passing game, the main reason to invest in him is if you expect volume — and I’m worried that will be hard to rely on since the Ravens have treated both Dobbins and Edwards cautiously after their major knee injuries.
However, I do have to admit that they surprised me by handing Edwards 16 carries and two TD runs in his first game back. He definitely soared past Drake in the backfield pecking order.
