We’ve mentioned Javonte Williams nearly every week in this article. He finally got his shot with Melvin Gordon sidelined. Heading into Week 13, Williams led all backs in yards after contact, broken tackle rate, and evasion rate amongst players with 100 attempts. Williams delivered on these promising peripherals, amassing nearly 180 yards from scrimmage and a receiving touchdown.
Metrics like yards before and after contact, evasion rate, stuff rate, and designed gap rate tell you a lot about how an RB 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.
