He was going to be buried behind Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson, so Terrance West‘s 2015 fantasy football value may have just received a bump in value as a member of the Tennessee Titans.
“The fact that they got rid of Terrance West lets you know how much they believe in Duke Johnson.” – @Akbar_Gbaja pic.twitter.com/HMLW0hyvxn
— NFL Fantasy Football (@NFLfantasy) September 7, 2015
This move may have more moving pieces than people think.
For starters, I believe West will have a chance to earn a bigger role. Will he earn it? Maybe not, but the point is that he at least has the opportunity. West probably would have been cut long ago if Johnson wasn’t sidelined with injuries over the offseason.
I’m not a huge believe in Bishop Sankey. Not only did the team say he needed to improve his fundamentals, but the brass also wanted him to put on more weight to withstand the bruising and beatings of a 16-game season. With Dexter McCluster more of a gadget player and Antonio Andrews the only other back to beat out, West could become fantasy relevant as long as he turns his opportunities into production. While the Titans seem combatted to a committee approach, I don’t think it’s hard to imagine a hot hand receiving most of the carries.
West is a bigger back than Sankey, and all four of West’s touchdowns from last season were from nine yards out or less. He also has to get accustomed to the playbook, but West could see a lot of work early on goal-line carries. Remember when Tennessee made Chris Johnson and LenDale White relevant at the same time?
This also seems to indicate that the Browns are satisfied with Johnson’s current healthy. It’s trick to keep up with all these injuries around the league, so make sure to check out Payton Garret’s injury roundup article before Week 1.
I also asked Payton what she thought of this move to help give our readers even more insight.
Payton’s Thoughts on Terrance West
The Titans are not exactly a run first offense. They gained 34% less rushing yards (1447 yards) than the league average (2195 yards) and only managed six rushing touchdowns for the season. Sankey looks to get the majority of the carries, so West is an afterthought when it comes to fantasy. Even if they end up in some sort of timeshare or committee approach, if I’m betting on a running backs on the Titans at all, my money is on Sankey.
The more interesting part of the trade for me was the hole it left in the roster for The Browns. While Crowell wasn’t awful last season, he wasn’t spectacular either. In fact, West had more carries and more receptions than Crowell. There are a lot of big name running backs still on the market such as Ahmad Bradshaw, Pierre Thomas, and Montee Ball. I think whoever the Browns pick up has the opportunity to eat into Crowell’s touches, and potentially take over the starting position. All of the aforementioned players have better hands than Crowell and would offer something unique to a team that is sorely lacking in offensive weapons.
Categories: 2015 Fantasy Football
Your Fantasy Football Coach 
Leave a Reply