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Game day update: Multiple reports have practice squad wide receiver and former Wake Forest quarterback Kendall Hinton as the expected starter for this game.
Saturday update: The Broncos will be playing without any of the quarterbacks on their roster. Jeff Driskel tested positive for Covid-19 and now Drew Lock, Brett Rypien, and Blake Bortles have all been deemed high-risk close contacts and are unavailable for Sunday’s game.
Practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton is likely to start having played three years of QB at Wake Forest. The team’s emergency QB is Royce Freeman, so we could see some of him as well, potentially in some wildcat looks. What this means for the Broncos ground game is unclear. It doesn’t help matters having no experienced NFL passers, but it also leaves the Saints unprepared for what the offense might look like. Expect to see Melvin Gordon and Phillip Lindsay both get a heavy workload, providing some volume benefit for fantasy football managers.
The Denver Broncos leaned hard on their running game last week to pull of a low-scoring upset of the Miami Dolphins. Both Melvin Gordon and Phillip Lindsay had more than 80 yards on the ground, but it was the former finished with the better fantasy football numbers thanks to a pair of touchdowns in that one.
Fantasy Football analysis: Broncos RBs Melvin Gordon, Phillip Lindsay
Lindsay had a slight edge in carries last week, 16 to 15, but the Broncos still treat Gordon more as a No. 1 back. He had 11 carries to Lindsay’s two in Week 10. Sometimes both back can have value in a weekly fantasy lineup, but this week could be a real stretch for both.
The Saints defense hasn’t let a running back post double digit fantasy numbers since D’Andre Swift of the Lions did it back in Week 4. Since that time, only one back has had more than 80 rushing yards against New Orleans, so you can probably skip both Lindsay and Gordon this week as this one’s liable to get out of hand.
Fantasy Start/Sit Recommendation
Sit Melvin Gordon and Phillip Lindsay.