Washington Redskins fans and fantasy football owners are surely curious to see how head coach Jay Gruden will proceed with the team's backfield. Starter Alfred Morris has rushed for at least 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns in three seasons since being drafted and has never missed a game. He also racked up 121 yards on the ground last week against the Miami Dolphins.
But Morris, while consistent and effective, has never been a very dynamic runner. He's a physical, downhill rusher who can handle a large workload, but won't help you in the passing game (just 39 career receptions) or provide many explosive plays (longest career rush is 45 yards). As a result, new Redskins general manage Scot McCloughan invested a third-round pick into the 6-foot-2, 231 pound Matt Jones out of Florida.
The rookie obviously has great size, but it was unknown how the Skins would use him in their offense beyond a third-down capacity. In his NFL debut, Jones carried the ball six times for 28 yards. A solid first game but by no means eye-opening. This week, however, Jones shined.
The Florida product played 31 snaps to Morris' 34 and averaged 6.6 yards per touch on 22 touches (Morris averaged 3.6 on 20). Overall, Jones carried the ball 19 times for 123 yards (6.5 YPC) and two touchdowns while catching three passes for 23 yards). Morris is the reliable veteran who has earned the starting job with years of consistent production. But Jones is rapidly proving himself to be the more explosive player of the two.
Jones isn't always going to have monster games like that, but if he can be nearly as consistent on a per-touch basis than his play should warrant a legitimate time share in Washington's backfield. It's not out of the question for him to start receiving 50 percent of the carries out of the backfield or even usurp the starting job if he continues to emerge as a big play threat.
Fantasy owners will want to monitor the situation closely. Even before the season started, knowledgeable owners knew Jones was a solid handcuff. Now he may start to become a consistent flex pay or even a RB2 in most formats, depending on the workload.
