The Pittsburgh Steelers are 4-1 after coming off their bye week and beating the Browns last week. They are in firm control of the AFC North coming into their divisional matchup this Thursday with the 2-4 Bengals. Throughout the season, they’ve used both Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell in the backfield and both have had success at times. Which one is likely to put up the points you need for your fantasy team this week?
Looking at their Week 7 matchup, let’s examine the fantasy football value of each of the Steelers running backs and see who to start in this matchup.
Jaylen Warren fantasy football outlook
Warren won the job as the top running back in training camp and preseason, and when he has been healthy, he has served as the team’s lead back. He missed Week 4’s game in Dublin with a knee issue that forced him to be a late scratch, but he returned after the Week 5 bye and played 53% of snaps against the Browns.
Warren had 11 carries for 52 yards and two catches for 11 more yards. He didn’t get into the end zone or have any big plays, but he maintained his role as the lead back with Gainwell and rookie Kaleb Johnson mixing in a little as change-of-pace options.
Warren found the end zone in Week 1 and ripped off an 65-yard reception in Week 2. He still has big-play potential, as he showed against Seattle:
Warren is mostly a grinder, who can be counted on to get tough yards and wear down a defense. He is effective in short yardage situations, but Aaron Rodgers has been throwing for most of the team’s touchdowns this season.
While he doesn’t have a full every-down workload or tons of goal-line work, he still gets enough work and brings enough upside to me an RB2 consideration (more below).
Kenneth Gainwell fantasy football outlook
Gainwell stepped up with a huge week while Warren was out, finishing with 99 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. While he fell one yard short of any 100-yard bonus, he probably more than made up for that by catching six passes on six targets for 35 yards.
With Warren back, though, Gainwell only got six carries for 22 yards. He still had six catches for a second straight game, totaling 14 receiving yards.
He looks like he’ll be in the slightly smaller role in the timeshare with more work on passing downs and some goal line work mixed in. He already has three rushing scores on the season, all of which have come on short runs.
BONUS: Kaleb Johnson fantasy football outlook
Rookie running back Kaleb Johnson was in the dog house in Pittsburgh after misplaying a kickoff into a recovery for a touchdown against Seattle. Johnson had six carries for 22 yards against the Vikings and six more carries last week against the Browns for 15 yards.
He did get some work in garbage time but was also involved early in the game, and he could step into more work as the season goes on. The third-round pick from Iowa has a very high ceiling but isn’t involved enough just yet to be a starting option.
The Bottom Line
The Bengals have surrendered the most fantasy points to opposing running backs this season, giving up an average of 119.6 rushing yards and 46.3 receiving yards per game to the position. Running backs have also scored 10 touchdowns in the six games against Cincinnati.
With such a good matchup, Warren can be a low-end RB2 or flex play, while Gainwell is a flex option with touchdown-dependent upside.
In DFS contests, the game isn’t on the main slate but is part of showdown contests like the NFL Showdown $1.5M Thursday Night Showdown [$500K to 1st] (PIT @ CIN).
Since Gainwell is only $6,400 in a flex spot in those contests he’s a great addition to your roster, while Warren is also affordable at $8,400. Warren is the better option if you can afford either option since his workload is more secure, but Gainwell is a great value option for DFS. Both backs have enough potential in this matchup to be strong considerations in season-long leagues.
