Vox Talks: The Seattle Backfield

Matt Price Posted On July 19, 2017

Welcome back to Vox Talks, the series that gives our readers a look inside the DLF Voxer thread. Voxer has been a game changer for me both as a writer and as a dynasty player. One of my favorite things about writing for DLF is access to this chat and all the great minds that reside within. This week I wanted to pick our writer’s brains on the running back situation in Seattle.

I posed the question: “Which Seattle running back do you want at their current price?” I felt this might be a topic with vastly different viewpoints and the first three responses proved that to be the case. FFGhost, Dan Sainio, and Mike Valverde all supported different pieces of the backfield.

Let’s start with Eddie Lacy. (July ADP = 89.5, RB28)

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Dan threw his support behind the former Packer: “Weight and overall health remain a concern, but you can’t find more upside for the current price tag. People quickly forget he had a first round ADP at the start of the 2015 season.”

Tom Kislingbury is also #TeamLacy: “Yes he’s a bigger guy (insert tired fat joke of your own choice) but Pete Carroll has only said great things about him and for all his (conspiracy theory) faults Pete Carroll is reliably honest. I’m buying Lacy where I can.” Doug Green agreed with Tom and added “two years ago he was our number two Dynasty RB. Now he’s DOA?”

Just before I was about to submit this article for editing, Joseph Nammour also chimed in with support for Eddie Lacy: “He’s been really good when healthy over the last few years, even when he was pushing 260+. So he’s shown that he can still be effective if he’s fat, but if we get the bonus of having him in better shape, he can be dominant. Not counting on it, but he’s so cheap compared to how expensive he used to be.”

Joseph is right about Eddie Lacy’s current price. His ADP hit an all time low in March 2017 at an ADP of 193.8 and while it has been steadily climbing since then to his current price of 89.5, it’s still a far cry from his price at the start of the 2016 season when he was going in the early fourth round at 38th overall.

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CJ Prosise (July ADP = 83.5, RB25)

The FFGhost is all about Prosise “I’ve been a fan since day one…he holds solid PPR value in leagues and could see as much as an even share with Lacy. This will happen! This MUST happen!”

Whoah, there Ghost! Let’s back the Prosise truck up a notch or two. I’ve never been a believer in Prosise as a feature back but he can definitely be a fantasy asset. The converted receiver is the best pass catcher in the backfield and has the ability to score a touchdown from anywhere on the field. I do worry about his usage later in games as Seattle seems likely to be leading in the second half of most games and will want to lean on Lacy and Rawls in those situations to keep the clock running.

While Prosise is half a round more expensive than Lacy, his price is certainly palatable in the late seventh / early eighth, nearly two full rounds cheaper than he was back in February. If you like Prosise I would advocate buying now as his price could shoot up with just one flashy play in the preseason. If he takes one to the house I’d expect him to be back up in the early sixth round of startups.

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Thomas Rawls (July ADP = 163, RB52)

I was all over Rawls last off-season. He hurt me badly and I don’t believe he ever made it back to 100%. I do believe that the Seahawks still like him despite the addition of Eddie Lacy. I think it probably says more about what they think of Alex Collins than it does Rawls. If Lacy is ineffective or gets hurt then Rawls should take over the early down work. The nightmare scenario would be if Rawls shared early down work with Lacy, creating a fantasy miasma.

Mike Valverde is #TeamRawls and had this to say “Prosise is just a flex option in PPR leagues and Lacy is an unreliable injury concern.”

Ryan Finley adds, “I’m taking Thomas Rawls, mostly because I see him as the best value. The problem in Seattle is the offensive line is still arguably the worst in the league, which tends to have a chilling effect on the run game. I’d prefer to stay out entirely.” I’ll take that as a slight lean towards Rawls because he is by far the cheapest option, but a preference to avoid the backfield completely.

If you don’t believe in Rawls at all I can see passing at his current price, but his ADP has fallen 331.6% to 163.33 since December when he was at 49.25 overall. That’s a 9.5 round price drop, dudes. If Lacy isn’t the answer than Rawls will pay off that mid 14th round draft pick in spades.

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Thanks to all the DLF writers who participated in this discussion. Readers, please leave your thoughts on the Seattle backfield in the comments below!

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Matt Price

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

Senior writer and co-host of the DLF Dynasty podcast, the longest running dynasty focused podcast on the planet

Creator and Co-host of Dynasty Game night, the fantasy football game show.

Creator and host of the Zookeeper Stories podcast.