Without a doubt, Cincinnati Bengals running back Jeremy Hill has been one of the biggest disappointments in all of fantasy football this season. The second-year rusher was a first-round pick in most leagues following his devastating finish to his rookie season, but he has failed to consistently produce this year.
Hill has totaled just 404 rushing yards on 124 carries (3.3 YPC) while scoring seven rushing touchdowns and one receiving TD. While the scoring has obviously been nice, third-year RB Giovani Bernard quickly replaced Hill as the starter earlier this season due to the latter's ineffectiveness. The workload between the two has been fairly even, but Bernard has been the more productive player overall.
Yet with Hill scoring two more touchdowns last week, fantasy owners are undoubtedly hopping back on the bandwagon. Here's why ESPN Senior Fantasy Analyst Matthew Berry thinks that is a bad idea.
"After last week, everyone will start him, and of course, he will crush your hopes and dreams," Berry wrote in his weekly Love/Hate column. "The Rams are allowing the fewest yards per rush after contact (1.28) and for a big guy, Hill sure has been easy to bring down this season: He's averaging 1.38 yards after contact per rush, 44th out of 49 qualified RBs. Out of his 132 touches, zero has gone for longer than 15 yards. If you start him, you're hoping he falls into the end zone, which certainly could happen, but it's not something I'd want to bank on."
St. Louis also ranks 16th in rushing yards allowed per game (108.1), 11th in TDs (5) and eighth in yards per carry (3.8). All of that is to say that Hill may have a tough time generating anything outside of short-yardage gains.
Giovani Bernard, however, could fare better. The Rams have allowed at least 60 receiving yards to opposing running backs four times this year. Bernard is an explosive pass-catcher out of the backfield as evidenced by his 146 total yards against the Arizona Cardinals last week. He's the better play of the two Cincy ball-carriers.