Nobody has a more stacked lineup of fantasy analysts and NFL team reporters than ESPN. It's the rare "backfield by committee" that is actually a good thing for fantasy football managers.
Every Tuesday, Mike Triplett will ask our NFL Nation reporters a series of burning questions about the weekend's biggest stories to help inform you for your waiver wire pickups and other roster decisions.
This week's roundup kicks off with a closer look at the increased workloads for running backs Devin Singletary, Duke Johnson and James Robinson.
It's time to begin our weekly trip around the league, so fasten your seat belts and get ready to tour the NFL Nation!
Buffalo Bills
A career-high 22 carries for Devin Singletary?! Does this mean the Bills are finally embracing fantasy football and going away from the committee approach?
Those 22 carries were a career-high for a reason. Going from four carries the week before to 22 behind an offensive line missing two starters on the COVID-19 list is pretty wild. Singletary, however, has seen the field significantly more of late than the other Bills running backs.
Miami Dolphins
Duke Johnson also shattered his career high with 22 carries in just the second game he has played all season. Why were the Dolphins so committed to him -- and will it continue?
For a period of time last week, Johnson looked like the only option available for the Dolphins at running back. They did activate both Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed from the COVID-19 list later in the week, but Johnson out-touched Gaskin 22-10. However, that was mostly because Gaskin missed the entire week of practice.
All three of those players -- plus Phillip Lindsay -- are expected to practice this week. However, after what he showed against the Jets on Sunday, it would be borderline irresponsible for Miami not to give Johnson a shot at being its lead back in Week 16. Brian Flores said the team plans to take three running backs with them to New Orleans, so they're prepared to share the load at least somewhat. -- Marcel Louis-Jacques
Jacksonville Jaguars
Was this really just a case of James Robinson being unleashed now that Urban Meyer is gone?
I wouldn't blame Robinson's inconsistent usage all on Meyer. Sunday's 18 carries tied a season high, but Carlos Hyde was out with a concussion and the only other active options were Dare Ogunbowale and Nathan Cottrell, who was a practice squad call-up. Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell is the interim head coach, and while he did say last week that Robinson is the team's starting running back and will be treated as such, there's still some question in Jacksonville about how large Robinson's workload will be once Hyde is healthy again. -- Michael DiRocco
San Francisco 49ers
Will Elijah Mitchell get his RB1 workload back when healthy or has Jeff Wilson Jr. earned his way into a timeshare?
Well, the first part of the equation makes this tough because Mitchell has been battling a knee issue and it's unclear as to exactly when he will be back. This week is probably a bit of a long shot because the 49ers play at the Titans on Thursday. So this might be one of those things that works itself out on its own, at least from a fantasy perspective.
If Mitchell does return soon, it's reasonable to expect that he won't be approaching the 27-30 carries he was getting before his injury. It's also logical to think that Wilson will be the beneficiary. More likely, if and when Mitchell and Wilson are both healthy at the same time, Deebo Samuel's backfield workload will probably be trimmed a bit to something closer to three to four carries a game instead of the seven-to-eight range he's been enjoying. -- Nick Wagoner
Detroit Lions
It was another big week from Craig Reynolds. What do you expect the Lions' RB workload to look like when Jamaal Williams returns from the COVID-19 list?
It's very rare when a guy like Reynolds comes out of absolutely nowhere to put up back-to-back games like this. He had 83 yards in Denver, followed by another 112 in a Sunday night encore against the Cardinals -- in his first career start, no less. In August, Reynolds was signed off the couch before scoring a preseason touchdown the next day. Now he's fulfilling a key role late in the regular season without RBs Williams and D'Andre Swift.
It's clear that Swift is the No. 1 guy whenever he returns, but it's still unclear whether that will happen this season. However, when Williams returns, I can't imagine the Lions going completely away from Reynolds -- especially while he has the hot hand. Obviously he won't be getting 26 carries like he did versus Arizona, but 6-10 carries alongside Williams shouldn't be far-fetched.
"Craig has done a good job. Craig since Day 1, he's come in and just done his job," said Lions coach Dan Campbell. "It's all about intensity. It's all about focus, and he's just done a great job on scout team and just waited for his opportunity, and he's gotten two now back-to-back and showed up." -- Eric Woodyard
Cincinnati Bengals
Any updates on Joe Mixon's health? Any reason to believe he can get back to the kind of involvement in the passing game that we saw in the middle of the season?
On Monday, Zac Taylor said that Mixon had sustained a sprained ankle and will likely be limited at practice early in the week. However, Taylor also said he was encouraged by Mixon's outlook for Sunday's game against the Ravens. Now, as for his involvement in the passing game, that remains to be seen. Taylor praised Cincinnati's running backs in their ability to be receivers but also noted that Samaje Perine's involvement against Denver stemmed from checkdowns. That may not translate into more targets for Mixon if he were to play against Baltimore. -- Ben Baby
Green Bay Packers
It feels like we get teased by Marquez Valdes-Scantling's potential once or twice every season. Has his production finally become sustainable with 31 targets over the past four games?
He teases because a lot of his targets are low-percentage deep balls. When he and Aaron Rodgers connect, it's usually big. Davante Adams warned us all last week that if teams keep committing so many resources to stopping him, then Valdes-Scantling is going to beat them. On Sunday, he did just that against the Ravens. -- Rob Demovsky
Arizona Cardinals
Christian Kirk emerged as Arizona's WR1 Sunday without DeAndre Hopkins, while Rondale Moore was ineffective. Do you expect both trends to continue in the coming weeks?
This is a tough question because of how unpredictable the Cardinals offense is on a week-to-week basis, and this goes back to the early part of the season when they were rolling. Last week, it was Kirk. Next week it could be A.J. Green. The week after that, it could be Kirk again. I don't think Moore will emerge as a major factor in the passing game for the rest of the season, but I also think Kirk has a chance to be the WR1 more often than not over the final three games. However, like I said, the Cardinals offense is designed to get the ball into the hands of a lot of different receivers, so there's not necessarily a clear-cut WR1 with Hopkins having gone down. -- Josh Weinfuss
New Orleans Saints
Can we expect Taysom Hill to keep feeding Marquez Callaway like a WR1? Should we be concerned that he again struggled to complete passes to Alvin Kamara?
Callaway's 112 yards were a career high and his nine targets were a season high, so both are good signs if you're in a deep league with extremely slim pickings. He flashed the big-play ability that generated so much buzz in the preseason, but consistency has been Callaway's biggest problem -- and he actually missed out on one to two more catches that could have made Sunday's performance even better. In other words, it's hard to predict when his next big game will come.
Meanwhile, yes, it is concerning that Hill showed the same lack of rhythm and timing with Kamara that plagued him in his four starts last season, especially after it looked like he had improved in that area last week. Hill was either slightly behind or above Kamara on at least three throws. Kamara remains a must-start in fantasy leagues since he will be the focal point of New Orleans' offense by ground or by air. However, building that chemistry between Hill and Kamara has to be the Saints' No. 1 priority in practice this week, since he is so vital to their chances of success. -- Mike Triplett