Derrius Guice: Waiver Wire Add & Stash for Week 10 (Fantasy Football)

If you forgot who started the season as Washington’s starting running back, you are forgiven. It’s been nine long weeks since that time, and a lot of things have changed in D.C. since then. There’s a new starting quarterback in Dwayne Haskins (for now), a new head coach in Bill Callahan, and a whole new offensive philosophy. Bill Callahan is a strong proponent of establishing the running game above all else. In four games since he’s taken over as the head coach, Washington has averaged 24.5 rushing attempts per game compared to the 17.6 attempts per game they averaged under Jay Gruden. This isn’t a running back by committee situation, either, as Adrian Peterson has handled 76.5% of the rushing attempts. And Derrius Guice will reenter the mix after Washington’s Week 10 bye. After missing the last eight games due to surgery to correct a torn meniscus, Guice is looking healthy.

Derrius Guice back at practice. Looks good pic.twitter.com/9oUr9c6cFH

— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) October 31, 2019

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Player Profile

After missing his entire rookie season and playing just one game this season, Guice’s NFL resume is almost non-existent.

In his only regular-season action, he went up against the Eagles’ strong run defense and mustered just 18 yards on 10 carries. One positive that can be taken from his debut effort was his usage in the receiving game. When he entered the NFL in 2018, one of the areas of concern surrounding Guice was how little he was used in the passing game during his time at LSU. In three years, he totaled just 32 receptions. That didn’t dissuade Washington from using him in the passing game, though, and he was targeted three times, catching all three targets for 20 yards against the Eagles.

In his Guice’s only preseason action, he had 44 rushing yards on 11 attempts, including a wicked stiff arm where he flat out disrespected one defender (at the 0:16 second mark). More importantly, he looked comfortable pulling in his one target.

In his limited NFL action, Guice has displayed the traits that made him one of the best running backs in college football during his final two seasons. He accounted for 2,638 yards on 420 attempts averaging 6.3 yards per carry in his sophomore and junior seasons. He is a patient running back that will follow his blocks until he can explode through the hole. Guice has a perfect blend of speed (4.49 40-yard dash) and power (see below) that could make him elite, assuming he can stay healthy.

Todays Freaky Friday so Derrius squats 650 @DhaSickest #Freaks pic.twitter.com/wtI9obhu6u

— Aaron Moffitt (@AaronTMoffitt) June 23, 2017

Outlook

Why should we count on Guice to take over as the lead back for Washington? There are a couple of reasons. Adrian Peterson, as great as he is, is 34 years old, with 2,940 rushing attempts under his belt. Older running backs have a tendency to fade later in the season. We can use last year as an example as to how an older back fares as the season progresses. In fact, we’ll take a look at Peterson’s 2018 season. During the first eight games of the season, he averaged a healthy 4.44 yards per carry (YPC) on 136 attempts. His YPC dropped over a half yard a carry to 3.80 during the final eight games on his final 115 rushing attempts.

Even if Peterson were somehow to stave off father time, it’s in Washington’s interest to take a look at what they have in Guice. Peterson is not the future at the running back position for Washington. In contrast, Guice was a second-round pick in 2018 and is still just 22 years old. At 1-8, Washington will not be fighting for a playoff spot and instead will own a top-10 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. They need to determine if Guice is a building block along with Terry McLaurin and Dwayne Haskins or if they need to invest in the position again this coming April. Guice couldn’t ask for a better situation to return to. He has a head coach who thinks winning is predicated on how many rushing attempts his team piles up. Bill Callahan has also shown that the rushing attempts will primarily belong to one player. Peterson has performed decently as the primary back, but Guice could emerge as a league winner.

Running backs to consider dropping for Guice based on our Rest of Season rankings:

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