It’s been a a very tough year for Derrius Guice since tearing his ACL. He’s suffered a set-back, or two along the way. He’s also endured the Redskins drafting a talented running back, along with the re-signing of Adrian Peterson. But, he returned to action in Preseason Week 3 when he surprisingly got the start against the Falcons. Guice showed off his beastly skill-set immediately by stiff-arming a poor defender into the ground and capping his night off with 44-yards on 11 carries (plus a touchdown that was called back). However, with Adrian Peterson turning back the clock and a very shitty surrounding cast, life is not going to be easy for the former LSU Tiger. Still, fantasy owners should be optimistic about what they saw from the second-year back on Thursday and he immediately rejuvenated his dwindling stock.
Behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league (especially without Trent Williams), Guice did a tremendous job of physically bullying defenders and making them miss in the open field.
“It was important to get him the ball,” coach Jay Gruden said. “Wanted to give him quite a few touches. Get him some rhythm, a sweat. Get used to hitting the ground, getting hit, tackled, protecting the football…I think it was a productive night for him. Looked like he was decisive with his cuts for the most part, ran with some power at times, moved the pile when there wasn’t anything there. I was impressed.”
Guice will continue to battle old man Peterson for early-down touches and he’ll likely give away passing downs to the reliable Chris Thompson. The competition in the backfield, along with the overall pathetic talent in Washington will keep us relatively down on Guice. But, it’s a positive step forward for the running back. He currently slots in at our RB30 (+4 vs ECR).
