We’re back for the Week 14 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
Since many of the same players land on the running back advanced stats leaderboard, let’s discuss the last half of the season from Weeks 7-13. Benny Snell has the third-lowest stuff rate, with Dontrell Hilliard behind him and Ezekiel Elliott with the sixth-lowest. Snell flashed in Week 12 when Najee Harris left the game and rushed 12 times for 62 rushing yards.
Harris returned in Week 13, and Snell served as the team’s second-best rusher even with Jaylen Warren healthy. It’s a small sample of 18 carries, but Snell used his designed gaps 72.2% of the time, with Harris and Warren right next to him. While we prefer Warren as someone to stash, Snell muddies the backfield with a respectable 2.6 yards after contact and an 11.1% evasion rate.
