Kalen

Ballage

Snell saw his usual usage as he spelled Najee Harris for a couple carries in an implosion by the Pittsburgh offense. Snell won’t ben fantasy relevant unless Harris misses time down the regular season’s final stretch. Even then, Snell would likely split backfield touches with Kalen Ballage, who saw three carries against the Bengals.

McFarland has been struggling with ... something ... in training camp, having missed the final game of the preseason with an undisclosed injury. He’ll now be out for the first three games of the season at a minimum. The move leaves Benny Snell and Kalen Ballage as the on-roster backups to rookie runner Najee Harris, who is in line for a massive role in his rookie season. McFarland was the only backup to see a meaningful amount of reps with the starter in the preseason and could have earned some work on third downs. Neither Snell nor Ballage has the pass-catching chops that McFarland does. His absence gives Harris a small boost in receiving production and keeps him locked in as a low-end RB1.

McFarland made the Steelers final 53-man roster, so a stint on IR could be as short as three missed games. It’s still notable that McFarland, who was expected to operate as the Steelers’ No. 2 running back, could miss a chunk of the season. That would leave Benny Snell and Kalen Ballage as Pittsburgh’s backup running back options. With that in mind, it won’t be a surprise if Najee Harris handles 80% or more of the Steelers’ snaps for as long as McFarland is out of the lineup.

It was only last season in Week 1 that Snell looked like he might take over the Pittsburgh backfield, racking up 113 yards against the Giants after James Conner left the game with an injury. The Steelers have since let Conner walk, invested a first-round draft pick in Najee Harris, and signed Kalen Ballage, leaving Snell’s roster spot uncertain. Snell -- like all Pittsburgh backs -- was ineffective in 2020, averaging 3.3 yards per carry. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was often effusive in his praise of Snell despite the RB’s lack of production. Snell, 23, has almost no path to fantasy relevance in 2021 unless he lands in a less stable backfield.

Ballage is coming off career highs, rushing for 303 yards on 91 carries (3.3 YPC) between the Jets and Chargers. He made two spot starts in Weeks 5-6 while Austin Ekeler was sidelined. The 25-year-old remained ineffective despite his increased role, but his prototype build continues to land him chances. Ballage joins Benny Snell, Anthony McFarland, and Jaylen Samuels as a veteran committee option for the Steelers. Pittsburgh is still expected to add a running back in April’s draft.

Ballage was not targeted in the passing game. Claimed in early November, injury conspired to make Ballage the Chargers’ early-down back for the better part of a month, while he remained involved to an almost inexplicable degree even following Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson’s returns from injury. Coach Anthony Lynn was clearly a fan, but Ballage ultimately didn’t show much more juice (3.29 YPC) than he did during his Dolphins days. With Lynn quite possibly on the way out, Ballage won’t have a 2021 roster protector. Unsigned for 2021, Ballage will probably still get a shot to crack the Chargers’ 53-man roster.

It’s easy to see that Austin Ekeler isn’t full healthy coming of his severe hamstring injury, but he managed to complete to contest without a setback. Ballage will be the No. 2 back for Week 17 with Justin Jackson also mixing in.

The Chargers like Ballage enough that they made Justin Jackson a healthy scratch this evening and waived Troymaine Pope. His score was a one-yarder. Even with Austin Ekeler (quad) at less than 100 percent health right now, there will be zero reason for fantasy managers to turn to Ballage against the Broncos in Week 16.

Ballage, who played ahead of Justin Jackson, has seen seven rushing attempts in two straight games with Austin Ekeler back in the saddle as the Bolts’ primary back. Ballagecould still be in the running for an occasional goal line rush but he’s not much more than a bench stash for the season’s last three weeks.

It’s Austin Ekeler’s backfield for as long as he’s healthy and upright. Jackson played behind Kalen Ballage, who had seven carries against Atlanta. Jackson ran just seven pass routes while Ballage ran 11 routes and Ekeler ran 26. Jackson won’t be fantasy relevant unless both Ballage and Ekeler miss time. Jackson remains a top-tier political analyst on Twitter.