Is it just me or has Miami Dolphins running back Lamar Miller been the most maddeningly frustrating player in all of fantasy football this year? Through no fault of his own, Miller's workload has varied greatly throughout the season which has impacted his fantasy consistency.
Former Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin barely used him through the first month of the season causing owners everywhere to abandon ship. Then during interim head coach Dan Campbell's first two games, Miller received more carries and topped 100-yards rushing in back to back games. Unfortunately, he has only crossed 100-yards from scrimmage once since that little run. To make matters worse, rookie fifth-round rusher Jay Ajayi has been getting more playing time recently.
So now the question is if owners should stick with Miller this week against the New York Jets? ESPN Senior Fantasy Analyst Matthew Berry doesn't seem to think so.
"Why doesn't Dan Campbell love him like I do? Whyyyy?" Berry wrote in his weekly Love/Hate column. "So, not only was Miller's snap count down last week (68.8 percent of snaps after having played 81.4 percent in the previous two weeks), but he was asked to block on 21.2 percent of them. Meanwhile, Jay Ajayi's snap percentage is on the rise (10 percent in his first game, 18.6 percent in his second game, 25 percent last week), and when they bring him in, they're not asking to block (he's played 32 snaps and was asked to block just three times). The Jets are back at home after a tough loss, and I expect them to concentrate on stopping Miller in a nearly must-win game. The Jets have allowed only one running back to score a rushing touchdown this year (to Darren Sproles, of all people, in Week 3)."
Piggybacking off of Berry's stats, the Jets also rank third in rushing yards allowed per game (91.6) and seventh in yards per carry (3.8). It would be a difficult matchup for Miller even if Ajayi wasn't poaching snaps.
Miller has been more active as a receiving option of late which helps to offset the troubling rushing totals, but there's no denying that he is trending in the wrong direction. He's a talented player that deservers more action, but without opportunity it's hard to be a steady fantasy option.
