RB: Just Give Me 18 Inches of Daylight...
That's all I need.
Gale Sayers in his prime. That's all we'd ever need for our fantasy teams. One good buy-low RB found in the late rounds, free agency, or a trade has a multiplier effect on elevating a squad's season-long success.
Many of these buy-low RB opportunities are rookies. From Corey Dillon to Bucky Irving, there's a rich history of rookie RBs who emerge during the season and wreck leagues.
Others are talented late-round options who've had a year or two to acclimate and earn a team's trust. Priest Holmes, Willie Parker, Kyren Williams, and Jordan Mason represent an equally rich history of young veterans who rise up the depth chart and tell the incumbent that their time is ending.
This week's Gut Check profiles the RB Fatales of September, ball carriers with enticing talent and potentially attractive backfield situations that could make your year. Yet, they're "fatales" for a reason. There's a trap door with each that could also derail your season.
RB Roster Management Advice
The easiest way to build a good redraft squad is to stockpile wide receivers. The WR position has the most spots in most starting lineups. It means there are more players in the pool with viable fantasy production.
WRs are also the most liquid assets on a fantasy roster when negotiating deals. You simply have more options and opportunities to create good squads with a stockpile at the position.
Most re-draft leagues lack the dynamics where stockpiling RBs offers the same opportunities for roster wealth. For a significant percentage of NFL teams, only one RB offers worthwhile fantasy production, while there's another one who "could" matter enough that he's worth a roster spot.
The danger of stockpiling RBs is clogging up roster space and ignoring opportunities to acquire meaningful producers who can help you immediately. While I prefer a near 50/50 balance of RBs and WRs when drafting a squad, it's because quality RBs are more difficult to acquire from waivers.
There are usually one or two a week, and this is the scene with your league's waiver wire.
I prefer stockpiling RBs during the draft. The hope is that I hit on one of the late-round options and during the first 4-6 weeks of the season, I can gradually thin the surplus and add more receivers. It doesn't always work out this neatly, but that's the initial plan.
If you prioritize receivers on the waiver wire, you increase your chances of building a stockpile, and in most formats, you'll only need one startable RB to field a strong contender. If you need more, but you have a stockpile at WR, you increase your shot of trading for one instead of chasing cheese down a hill every Tuesday or Wednesday.
There. You've been counseled on the pieties of curbing your salacious RB appetites. Now that you've been warned, let's get into trouble.
Big Trouble: Bhayshul Tuten
Sure, Travis Etienne Jr. delivered a 100-yard game, but Tank Bigsby is gone, and you saw this run from Tuten.
Bhayshul Tuten is probably already the best zone runner on this team if he can maintain ball security.
— Matt Waldman (@MattWaldman) September 8, 2025
This press and slide inside paired with his burst is breathtaking.
Could complement Etienne very soon. pic.twitter.com/h9AH6rOkB4
You've seen the draftniks touting Tuten since last year, and you're cynical that Etienne can attain or sustain starter volume. All you needed was Tuten to show a little thigh with a lateral cut and revealing burst, and you're racing to the waiver wire.
Your ardor may prove correct. Tuten's stylistic profile in the 2025 Rookie Scouting Portfolio fits a talent spectrum with Marshall Faulk at the unrealistic top end and Charlie Garner and Jahmyr Gibbs at the midpoint.
Here's my elevator pitch on Tuten from his scouting report:
If Tuten goes to a gap-heavy scheme, he can deliver starter production as long as he holds onto the ball. If he’s asked to run inside zone, he’s going to need further development before he can become a reliable decision-maker. Outside zone is a little better, but he’s prone to bouncing a lot of runs—and he gets outside way too early, inviting ideal angles for pursuit to limit plays.
Ball security will be one of the most important things for Tuten to fix. As I detail with Jaydon Blue, who is the next back behind Tuten on the RSP’s board, backs who fall below 1 fumble per 61 touches in college football rarely deliver starter production in the NFL in recent years.
Tuten’s ball security rate is 1 fumble per 67 touches and of his 11 fumbles in 737 touches, Tuten has fumbled 9 times during the past 2 years. He’s fast, he’s a confident tight-crease runner, and he’s physical for his size.
If Tuten can curtail his fumbling, he could become a slightly bigger version of Charlie Garner. If you never saw Garner, he would have been an even more devastating weapon in today’s NFL.
If Tuten can’t address the issue, he might wind up a career reserve with situational value, at best. At worst, he might not even be in the league.
With Tuten’s speed, there’s a good chance that he’ll earn draft capital that gives him the opportunity to compete for early playing time. While fumbling can make coaches turtle faster than bathing in the Arctic Circle, they’re more apt to give an early-round rookie at least twice the chances they’d give a late-round option. Add that up, and it still doesn’t amount to much.
You probably noticed that I said Tuten was likely the best zone runner on the Jaguars, but it's the scheme where he needs the most work. This may seem contradictory, but it's true upon closer examination.
Etienne's biggest runs last week came on gap plays where there's a pulling lineman as a lead blocker. This style of blocking has always been Etienne's wheelhouse. Etienne's decision-making lapses occur most frequently with zone plays that offer multiple choices.
This successful run shown below is not a gap play, but inside zone with a tight end coming from the backside to lead block. When I first watched this play, I saw the lead block but rushed through the analysis and labeled it a gap play.
The Panthers run defense was outmanned Sunday. Gap plays up the middle were like free parking for the Jaguars and Travis Etienne Jr.. pic.twitter.com/Qze7OgVFvI
— Matt Waldman (@MattWaldman) September 8, 2025
Still, the spirit of the play design fits what Etienne does best -- follow a lead blocker. It may not be a gap play, but it gives Etienne that gap-like guide.
Tuten is better at pressing creases tight to his blocks when executing zone plays. He's a superior runner moving laterally and maintaining contact balance.
If Tuten can demonstrate disciplined decision-making with zone plays -- staying true to the designed course in down and distance situations where cutbacks and bounce-outs become low-return decisions that anger coaches -- he will earn a larger share of playing time as the month progresses.
Of course, that's also predicated on ball security. If the decision-making and/or ball security decline, LeQuint Allen Jr. isn't flashy, but he's a Justin Forsett/Kyren Williams type who can take what's given and remain assignment sound so the offense can operate.
If you acquire Tuten, he has league-winning ability if the Jaguars give him the workload and the game scripts to be a high-volume runner. I think that top-five positional upside is improbable this year. Top-30 positional value? Probable.
Etienne looked good. Tuten is a great luxury pick right now. He's the magic beans that glowed at the sales table, and there were no tricks or cons.
Still, Etienne looked good. Tuten has an awful ball security history and a penchant for making hero-ball decisions that wreck drives when they don't work.
Angel Matt in the pew on your right shoulder: Prioritize startable receivers if it will help you create a stockpile and then trade for the RB you want.
Devil Matt sitting behind Angel Matt with a Zippo trained on those wings: Nothing great comes without risk. Speed. Speed. Speed...
The Crow perched on the balcony rail of the church: Continue focusing on receivers for as long as there are legitimate starters on your waiver wire, and when you have 2-3 more starters than you need, trade for a back. You might even land Tuten.