We’re back for the Week 7 installment of running back advanced stats. Each week, I’ll use the Advanced Stats Explorer to examine the underlying metrics of notable rushers. I’m also including routes run and receiving data to provide a more complete picture of a player’s usage and skills.
Metrics like yards before and after contact, evasion rate, stuff rate, and designed gap rate tell us how a running back is using his blockers, how effective that blocking is, and how effective that RB is at making would-be tacklers miss — all skills that translate into future production. In this way, the advanced RB stats can help us find waiver-wire gems and trade targets before the rest of our league mates.
Stuff Rate
Once again, Kenneth Gainwell remains the only running back with a 0% stuff rate and uses his designed gaps 82.6% (No. 5) of the time. Gainwell has hardly factored with a healthy Miles Sanders shouldering the load. Sanders averages 17.5 carries per game for a 47% rush share versus Gainwell’s 3.8 carries and 10% rush share. Unfortunately, neither has garnered a healthy target share, with Sanders at 7% and Gainwell at 5%. Meanwhile, Sanders averages routes 10 per game, with Gainwell at 10.2. I want to hold Gainwell where possible based on the team context, though his other running back advanced stats don’t pop off the page.
Jaylen Warren comes in with the second-lowest stuff rate and keeps flashing some elusiveness with a 19% evasion rate. However, let’s examine Brian Robinson with the third-lowest stuff rate on 26 total carries. In Robinson’s second career game, his share of snaps and opportunities increased. Although it’s a small sample, Robinson has shown the ability to fight for extra yards, aligning with the lower percentage of carries resulting in zero or fewer yards. In his final season at Alabama, Robinson ranked 76th with 2.8 yards after contact and 18th with a 27.7% evasion rate. He’ll need to continue fighting for extra yards since the Commanders rank 27th in yards before contact in front of the Rams and Buccaneers.
