My previous article spotlighted the five most consistent running backs in fantasy football in 2013. This piece will review quite the opposite in evaluating who were the five most inconsistent fantasy football running backs during the 2013 fantasy season.
eDraft’s player consistency tool measures how consistently a running back performed based on a minimum amount of total yards per game they achieved and a minimum number of touchdowns scored. In using the tool, I ranked players who actively participated in at least 14 of their regular 16 season games, and who either started, or shared running back duties on a consistent basis.
Jacquizz Rodgers, Bilal Powell, Bernard Pierce, Darren Sproles and Lamar Miller were quite far from consistent to say the least, therefore, they make the list of the five most inconsistent fantasy football running backs for 2013.
Note that there were other running backs who performed less consistently in 2013, however, they were not starters, or did not play in many games such as Johnathan Franklin, or Ronnie Hillman, who had very minimal if any fantasy relevance during the season.
As far as Rodgers, Powell, Pierce, Sproles and Miller, likely people had one, but hopefully not more than one on their roster as a flex or spot-play at any given week during 2013. Where every now and then one of these running backs could score you an adequate amount of fantasy points, more often than not, their inconsistent performance week after week became grueling.
Let’s review how inconsistently the above-mentioned players performed adjusting eDraft’s consistency tool to its various ranges of completing anywhere from 25 to 200 total yards per game, and/or scoring one or two touchdowns.
Using the standard setting on the consistency metrics tool, which ranks the running back on having either made 100 total yards and/or scored one touchdown, Sproles only accomplished this in 13% of his 15 games played.
Darren Sproles | Consistency | 100+Rush Yds | 100+Total Yds | 125+Total Yds | 1+T | 2+TD | Either |
| 13% | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Adjusting the metric to rank these running backs to only having 50 total yards and/or one touchdown, presents a better picture, however, Powell still only attained these numbers injust 31% of his games. Compare that to Jamaal Charles who knocked this ball out of this park 100% of his games last season.
Bilal Powell | Consistency | 50+Rush Yds | 50+Total Yds | 75+Total Yds | 1+TD | 2+TD | Either |
| 31% | 4 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
If we increase the consistency tool back to 100 total yards and change the touchdowns to two per game, Rodgers was able to achieve these numbers just 13% of his games; something LeSean McCoy did in 50% of his games.
Jacquizz Rodgers | Consistency | 100+Rush Yds | 100+Total Yds | 125+Total Yds | 1+TD | 2+TD | Either |
| 13% | 0 | 0 | -0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Ranking the running backs easier in yards by completing 50 total yards and/or scoring two touchdowns per game gives us these results for Miller, who accomplished this in 50% of his 16 games played.
Lamar Miller | Consistency | 50+Rush Yds | 50+Total Yds | 75+Total Yds | 1+TD | 2+TD | Either |
| 50% | 8 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
Lastly, for Pierce, changing the metric to only having 75 total yards keeping the minimum touchdowns to two, he only met these minimums in 13% of his 16 games. Matt Forte did this in 69% of his 2013 games.
Bernard Pierce | Consistency | 75+Rush Yds | 75+Total Yds | 100+Total Yds | 1+TD | 2+TD | Either |
| 13% | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
So, as you can conclude, not one of these five running backs is anywhere near 100% consistency, which is probably while they failed you multiple times over the fantasy football season last year. This tool will surely come in valuable when planning your next season’s fantasy football draft or ranking NFL players for other purposes.
To try out the consistency tool yourself, visit eDraft.com and hover over the NFL tab towards the upper left. This tool can be used to rank not only the running backs, but all other offensive positions.