I know Arian Foster hasn’t officially been ruled OUT for week 3, but let’s face facts. If there is a Miami RB to own, it’s not Foster. At this point, he’s just a name, and that’s the only reason his ADP was anywhere near 65th overall during the draft process.
#Dolphins RB Arian Foster, who is not at practice today, viewed as a long shot to play Sunday. A chance he plays in 2 weeks, though.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 21, 2016
But fantasy players were trying to catch lightening in a bottle, or simply didn’t do their homework. Now less than 3 weeks into the season, Foster owners are looking for a replacement back. So the question has become, Jay Ajayi or Kenyan Drake?
The easy answer is to throw up the white flag and stay away from this disaster completely. Neither back has proven anything yet and even with Foster, the Dolphins are 27th in rushing this season. If Miami were playing the Jets, Seahawks, or any team that has some semblance of a run defense, I’d agree with staying away. But they are playing the Cleveland Browns – the same Browns team that ended 2015 30th in the league in rush yards allowed and have already given up 213 on the ground in 2016. So if I find myself debating which low-end RB I want to start for Week 3, I can’t ignore this match-up.
With that said, give me Ajayi.
I understand he’s had limited carries in his eye-blink of a career –- he has a career high of just 9 rushes in a single game -– but Kenyan Drake has literally only touched the ball 4 times ever — granted one of those touches went for 6 — but remember Jack Doyle Week 1? It’s kind of amazing just how much a touchdown will mask an otherwise underwhelming performance –- 2 carries, 12 yards / 2 receptions, 6 yards -– excuse me if I’m not ready to jump on the Drake bus just yet.
Ajayi has shown he can run — he averaged 3.82 a carry last season — and he has shown flashes of being a sure-handed pass catcher out of the backfield. Before Ajayi got hurt, there were rumors he was going to end camp in 2015 as the starter. We heard the same rumors this preseason — which means the Dolphins clearly like him — he just simply hasn’t had his time to shine yet.
Now don’t get me wrong. This will not be a 90/10 split by any means, but be prepared for the Jay Ajayi coming out party.
I have my party hat, do you have yours?
