There was a something of a mini-hype train for Bhayshul Tuten during fantasy draft season, but as a mid-round running back, he’s not exactly a name who gets a ton of shine as an every-week starter. This Sunday, he’ll be taking on a Denver Broncos defense that was one of the NFL’s best last year, but was gashed on the ground to open the new season.
Is the Jacksonville Jaguars standout a player who needs to be in Week 2 fantasy football lineups or is he better left on the bench? Here are the details on whether you should start or sit Bhayshul Tuten.
Bhayshul Tuten Start or Sit Advice for Week 2
In the Jaguars’ season opener, Jacksonville dismantled the Cleveland Browns 34-10 in a game that got out of hand quite quickly. Trevor Lawrence stole the show with four touchdown passes before hitting the bench, but the team’s running backs did plenty of dirty work on the day, too. Bhayshul Tuten finished with 15 carries for 66 yards, also catching his lone target for 22 receiving yards. In total, that added up to 88 scrimmage yards on 16 touches, good for 9.8 fantasy points in PPR formats.
That performance didn’t really stand out for fantasy football purposes. Tuten finished as the RB28 on the week in PPR, barely sneaking in to deliver top-30 value at the position. If you played him as a FLEX in a deeper league, you probably weren’t too mad about having nearly 10 points in that spot. However, he didn’t really show the upside in fantasy that we thought he might have on an ascending offense.
By all means, though, Tuten delivered a really solid outing by the standard of most NFL running backs. He averaged 4.4 yards per carry and broke three runs for 10+ yards. What was incredible is that 50 of his rushing yards came after contact, so his offensive line didn’t do him any favors.
The other bit of good news is that while Tuten played just 49% of snaps for the Jaguars, his 28 total snaps did lead the backfield ahead of Chris Rodriguez Jr., who played 23. He also paced the position group by far in rush attempts – Rodriguez and Ameer Abdullah combined for just 10. There was also little utilization of the backfield in terms of targets, with Tuten and Rodriguez only seeing one look apiece. All things considered, the usage backs the reporting that Tuten would serve as Jacksonville’s top halfback in 2026.
Volume doesn’t necessarily rule all, though. The Jags face the Broncos this week, who just allowed Kenneth Walker III to run for 173 yards on 23 carries in their own season opener. At first glance, that may imply this is a softer matchup, but the opposite may prove true. Denver ranked second in rushing yards allowed last season, though the unit was 16th in defensive EPA/rush. After losing Jonathan Franklin-Myers in free agency, this defensive front did lose a little bit of juice, but Week 1 was more likely an aberration than a sign of a regression in terms of run stopping.
The Bottom Line
It’s not particularly easy to make a call on whether to start or sit Tuten in Week 2. On one hand, he did see the majority of rushing work in Week 1 and is on an offense with a ton of touchdown upside. On the flip side, the Broncos’ defense could easily get back to stuffing the run like they did last season if their own performance in the opener was more of a fluke than a sign of things to come.
Even still, Tuten was likely drafted as an RB2 or a FLEX option on most fantasy rosters. After the vulnerability that Denver showed last week, perhaps the second-year runner can still make plays even if he gets hit – breaking tackles is one of his best traits. Given his expected workload and the way the Broncos’ defense was shredded by Walker III, it’s tough to send Tuten to the bench in Week 2.
Start him up as an RB2 or FLEX with confidence.
