Another injury struck the Jets backfield in Week 12, as Michael Carter sustained a low ankle sprain and is questionable for their upcoming game against the Vikings.
Picking up the slack for Carter was the duo of Ty Johnson and Zonovan Knight, who combined for 181 all-purpose yards in New York's rout of Chicago. James Robinson was a surprise healthy scratch for this game, but he figures to factor into this equation if Carter is sidelined.
To help you suss out this backfield mess, read on below for analysis from the Action Network's fantasy football staff.
Sean Koerner: Ty Johnson scored last week, but he should be left on the waiver wire. He will remain a change-of-pace back, at best, and probably ranks fourth within the Jets' RBBC. You are better off taking a flier on someone like Keaontay Ingram, who is a James Conner injury away from RB2/Flex value.
Zonovan Knight is the Jets back who is worth taking a chance on. Unfortunately, he will be a hot commodity thanks to his solid Week 12 performance, but this backfield is extremely murky right now.
Michael Carter left the game early due to a low ankle sprain, but is day-to-day and has a chance at suiting up in Week 13. He is likely going to remain the starter going forward, when healthy. Meanwhile, newly acquired James Robinson was a healthy scratch last week. We don’t have too much insight into what led to that decision, but it seems like it was due to the coaching staff being more impressed with Knight.
When everyone is healthy in this backfield, I think it’s fair for us to view Knight how we viewed James Robinson heading into Week 12. He’s a RB3/flex option who could potentially become a RB2 if he plays well enough to command a full workload and/or Michael Carter-James Robinson miss time due to injury.
I’m not a fan of investing heavily into murky 3-4 way RBBCs, but we are late enough in the season where there might not be many more options that come along.
Samantha Previte: Johnson and Knight were both featured heavily against the Bears.
Johnson recorded five rushes for 62 yards and a touchdown and caught a pass for 16 yards. Knight rushed 14 times for 69 yards and caught three passes for 34 yards.
The pair's usage was inflated due to the loss of Carter, who could miss time with a sprained ankle. Knight out-snapped Johnson by a count of 30 to 15 and saw significantly more touches, so he would be my preferred add of the two, though I would expect Robinson (62% rostered) to also be in the mix.
The Jets have a favorable matchup next against the Vikings, whose defense has allowed the ninth-most fantasy points to running backs.
