Hot and cold, that's how fantasy football seems to work sometimes. Look at the Cincinnati Bengals backfield, for example.
In 2013, rookie running back Giovani Bernard was the impressive new kid on the block. He totaled 170 rushing attempts for 695 yards (4.1 YPC) and five touchdowns to go along with 56 receptions for 514 yards and three more scores. A successful first year by any measure, no?
But the Bengals invested a second-round pick into RB Jeremy Hill the next year and he promptly tore the league up. Hill notched a sizable 222 carries for 1,124 yards (5.1) and nine touchdowns his rookie season while catching 27 passes for 215 yards. He was one of the most impressive rushers over the second half of the 2015 season, especially in fantasy football.
Coming into this season, Hill was the undisputed top dog in Cincinnati's backfield and one of the sexier late first or early-second round picks.
But once again the script was flipped. Bernard has outperformed Hill so far this season (5.6 YPC vs. 3.3) and usurped the starting job, only to see Hill back in the top spot this past weekend.
"A big reason Bernard had put up three consecutive weeks of double-digit fantasy points was because he has been getting plenty of opportunities in the run game," ESPN Fantasy Football analyst Scott T. Miller wrote. "That changed on Sunday, as Bernard got just one carry. He scored just three points on the day, his lowest total this season."
While Bernard is the more dynamic playmaker of the two, it appears as if the coaches believe Hill is the better lead back. Considering his success running between the tackles last year, they could be right. But it's not as if Hill made the most of his decent workload. The sophomore RB turned his 15 carries into 60 yards (4.0). In his last game, Hill turned 16 carries into just 56 yards (3.5). Fantasy owners have been banking on Hill's usage in goal line situations (6 total TDs on the year), but he's seen the endzone just once over his last three weeks.
For the life of me, I can't figure out what is wrong with Hill or what the Bengals will do from a workload standpoint. This is one of the more frustrating fantasy situations in all of football. Owners will just have to cross their figners and hope for the best.
