Joshua

Kelley

Tyjae Spears’ availability is in question. Only Julius Chestnut — a special teamer who has 10 rush attempts in three NFL seasons — joins Tony Pollard on the roster currently. Kelley has a chance of finding real NFL snaps for the suddenly run-heavy Titans as an elevation this week. Kelley was part of a huge running back workout a few weeks ago for the Titans and apparently impressed them the most.

Kelley is so stapled to Spiller that he couldn’t even let him work out without joining in. It’s possible that this is just checking in with the best available list, or it’s possible that this is the precursor to an IR designation for someone lower on the Tennessee depth chart. Nobody signed here would be a real threat to playing time without injuries in front of them. Spiller was released by the Chargers at last cuts this year after Kimani Vidal climbed over him for the RB3 role.

This is likely just a depth-related insurance signing after rookie RB Tyrone Tracy’s Tuesday ankle injury, though Tracy has already resumed running. Kelley never cleared even 450 rushing yards in a single season with the Chargers and peaked at 4.0 yards per carry. He is unlikely to be fantasy-relevant in 2024.

This was not a “hot hand” situation. This was clean up on aisle 63-21 blowout loss. The Chargers were down 49-0 four minutes into the second half, resulting in no shortage of clock-killing work. It does seem that Spiller has surpassed Josh Kelley for No. 2 duties. As poorly as Austin Ekeler has been playing, Spiller has no path to RB3/4 value in Week 16 against the Bills.

It’s only one game, but fantasy managers who thought Kelley was the running back in line for more work behind Austin Ekeler were left wondering what happened in Week 14. Second-year running back Isaiah Spiller was second behind Ekeler with 12 snaps, which was almost as meaningless as Kelley’s seven. Outside of being a potential handcuff to Ekeler, both Spiller and Kelley are off the fantasy radar as neither are particularly good to deploy in any kind of timeshare.

Kelley’s three carries for half of what Isaiah Spiller (6-19-0) received. Neither back did enough to suggest they should earn more touches in Week 15 against the Raiders, as both can be left off the fantasy radar next week.

Isaiah Spiller will be active this week and the Chargers are expected to give him, Ekeler, and Joshua Kelley work. Though it’s shocking to see these names taking work away from Ekeler, the superstar running back has been anything but that this year. He is averaging 3.5 yards per carry while also failing to make the outsized impact as a pass-catcher we are used to seeing. Ekeler will remain ahead of the other Chargers backs in the fantasy rankings, but he is well outside of the RB1 cohort on the back of this news. Kelley is a dart-throw RB4 for desperate teams.

As if Austin Ekeler managers haven’t been through enough, it sounds like the Chargers are ready to further entertain the idea of a more split backfield. We saw this in Week 13 when Ekeler played on just 57 percent of the team’s snaps — his fewest since Week 1 when he went suffered an injury. Ekeler is averaging 3.5 yards per carry and has been far from the impact player we’ve seen over the last several years. Staley said the team will continue “exploring” and “making adjustments” in hopes of getting their flailing rushing game back on track. Despite his struggles, Ekeler is still the RB15 in fantasy points per game in PPR leagues, but he hasn’t finished any higher than RB24 over the last three weeks. A continued decline in playing time and efficiency could make him difficult to start in any capacity down the stretch.

Kelley was a total non-factor and barely saw the field in the second half with the game close the whole way. He can be held on your bench if you have Ekeler, but that may be the only reason for him to be on your roster.

Kelley’s 49-yard score came early in the second quarter and was the longest play for any running back in the Chargers’ backfield. Despite playing an RB2 role, Kelley led the Chargers in rushing and could be in line for a bigger role depending on Austin Ekeler’s Week 8 status. Ekeler played out the game, but exited briefly in the second quarter with a lower body injury and was seen limping at various points throughout the day. If Ekeler isn’t able to go in Week 8, Kelley would have high-end RB2 upside against the Bears.