Last season James Conner became the main running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Of course, this was the case after the entire Le'Veon Bell debacle which is officially behind the Steelers. Bell is off with the New York Jets, meaning Conner is officially their guy.
With that in mind, what are his fantasy prospects for 2019? Where does he rank among NFL running backs?
Last season Conner got his first true workload in the NFL. He appeared in 13 games, running the ball 215 times. With those carries, Conner picked up 973 yards (4.5 yards per) and 12 touchdowns. He also added 55 receptions for 497 yards and one more touchdown in the air.
This year he'll be the featured back again and shouldn't be too worried about anyone behind him taking too many of his carries. That bodes well for his numbers, meaning it bodes well for fantasy players.
Last season, Conner was 11th in rushing yards and third in rushing touchdowns. He was also ninth in receiving yards at the running back position and tied for twelfth in receptions.
It's also important to remember he did that in his first year as a starter, in a season where he only appeared in 13 games. He's also on a team that no longer has Antonio Brown.
Although they still have JuJu Smith-Schuster, Brown clearly leaves a big hole in the offense. That means the Steelers offense will likely run the ball even more frequently than they did in 2018. Even when they are passing, expect Conner to see the ball thrown his way more often.
With all this, Conner will more-than-likely be pushed into the top-10 running backs. He also benefits from some running back by committee situations.
Todd Gurley is usually an obvious top-3 running back. However, his knee injury pushes him back a little bit. Then came the reports that he might not even be an every down back anymore. Suddenly, Gurley drops even further.
This is the case for Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt as well. Hunt is suspended for the first eight games, destroying his ranking. When he comes back he'll get solid playing time likely though, which really cripples Chubb's ranking as well.
Adrian Peterson will likely see a massive downturn in production with Derrius Guice healthy. While Guice won't put up too huge of numbers with Peterson getting some carries.
There are a few other cases like this in the NFL.
All of this combined should lead to James Conner being one of the top backs in fantasy football when all is said and done. There's one major problem though, consistency.
Fantasy football is usually done on a weekly basis. Very few leagues exist anymore where there are no head-to-head matchups but a season total of stats instead.
With that in mind, Conner has a little bit of a problem. Last season the running back had six 100-yard rushing games. He also had three sub-30 yard games (two were sub-2o).
Meanwhile, Conner had five multi-touchdown games on the ground. That means he had six games where he failed to score a rushing touchdown.
The inconsistency means he can win you a game one week, but be a no-show and lose you one the next.
Even with that in mind though, it's hard not to put Conner near the top of your list. It's easy to excuse a young running back for having some inconsistent play in his first year as a starter. Hopefully he improves in that category in 2019.
James Conner isn't a first-round running back just yet, but he's right on the cusp. Don't let him slip too far in your draft, or you'll likely be regretting it when you face him in the season.
Throw him right into the top-10 of running backs, possibly peaking at number eight.
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