YPT The Running Back Touch of Success

Yards Per Touch – YPT – The Running Back Touch of Success

By John Cooney

Editor’s Note: You can visit John Cooney’s website called PASS2WIN.com for more in depth Fantasy Analysis. ~Laddie Morse

The pro backfield ball carriers of today are just as skilled, productive and durable as their predecessors, however they just are not getting the same volume of rushing opportunities as the ground grinders of yesteryear. Actually, the running backs of the past 10-15 years are actually better athletes than the a majority of those old pro workhorses thanks to advances and dedication to nutrition, physical conditioning and medical practices. The problem is the position is just so darn demanding and the tailback’s body possesses a finite number of quality carries in his physical account.

As running backs grew bigger, stronger and faster, so too did linebackers, defensive front-men and in-the-box safeties. NFL coaches finally came around to the idea that reducing the number of high impact collisions on a star rusher not only could potentially extend the career of running back, but also keep a key offensive cog consistently available throughout the grueling 17-week regular season grind. General managers and franchise owners helped their on-field bosses see the light by lowering the financial rewards and contracts of running backs, viewing backs as assets with rapidly depreciating values.

To get the most out of gifted backfield athlete without physical and medical overload, offensive blue-printers rewrote playbooks, getting their prized backfield stars away from the big bullies at the line of scrimmage, often rolling them outside the hashmarks and into the flats where there is far less traffic and collision potential. Good idea, but the problem many teams faced early on in this playbook preservation practice was that those big, burly-type backs built for pounding the football through the o-line did not possess the breakaway chops to make the most of their one-on-one opportunities on the perimeter.

Little-by-little, running back dimensions started to shrink, and the shorter, quicker athlete with nifty footwork, darting elusiveness, good hands and the ability to run expanded pass patterns morphed into the new prototype tailback. Smaller, quicker (not necessarily faster), more versatile make up the shape, form and function of today’s multi-tasking rusher/receiver. They still are asked to take handoffs, but not in the body-killing volumes as before. These days, a tailback that is bringing it for an offense is mixing in more opportunistic handoffs and pitches with a variety of pass route options. Backs are involved in traditional screens and flares, but also now have the chance to explode to daylight behind hit-n-run blockers in bubble screens, catch-n-run drags across mid-field on hooks and stops or beat a mismatched ‘backer’ downfield running circle routes, posts and even fly patterns.

Handoffs are dwindling but that doesn’t mean the running back is dead in fantasy football. Today, a running back doesn’t have to ‘carry’ your fantasy team to winning productivity, he just has to ‘touch’ his way to points prosperity.

Effective fantasy football backfield utilization calls for a focus on touches as a hot read for running back values. That leads fanballers to ultimately key in on what a running back does with his touches by charting or noting Yards Per Touch (YPT). If in the past Yards Per Carry (YPC) was a defining indicator of a ball carriers effectiveness, then today, with touches being the new indicator of a ‘feature back’, YPT must be an important factor in figuring fantasy football ‘rusher’ effectiveness. For years I have been touting the use of the RBBC (running back by committee) and encouraging fanballers to embrace it rather than avoid the practice. There is no avoiding it now as NFL coaches are literally saddled with the RBBC due to the circumstances of the position and the position’s market today. RBBC is the way of the NFL now and going forward. To make it work for fantasy coaches, a slight alteration in fantasy running back perspective needs to be applied, pushing carries and Yards Per Carry (YPC) to the background, setting touches and YPT front-and-center.

On the real field handoffs are often used more to set up the next play, which tends to be a ball in the air of some sort. Coaches have made the commitment to limit backfield pony abuse by cutting down overall carries. From 2000 to 2004 the NFL offered fantasy coaches 50 individual 300-plus carry performances; FIFTY! Tennessee’s Eddie George had the highest carry total in that span, logging 403 handoffs (he added 50 catches that year, too). The breakdown from 2000-2004:

2000, 9 (403, Eddie George)

2001, 10

2002, 9

2003, 13

2004, 9

Skipping over to the last seven seasons, the carry draw-down becomes quite evident as fanballers experienced just 25 such efforts. In that seven-season block DeMarco Murray, with Dallas, established the high water mark at 392 carries. In 2015 Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson was the only back to break 300 (327). The 300-plus performance totals of the last seven seasons are:

2009, 6

2010, 7

2011, 2

2012, 5

2013, 2

2014, 2 (392, DeMarco Murray)

2015, 1

Gang, forget the carry and go for the touch, focusing on what the ball-handler does with his chances on offense, however they come. The beauty of the touch is that more can be done with less. In 2016 a fantasy-effective running back doesn’t need to rock-em-sock em on the ground 20-25 times, plowing through a wall of big nasties that are looking to lay down a ‘remember me’ smack. Yes, any running back needs the football under his arm to be a viable FFB weapon, but an athlete with sporty wheels, slick moves and sticky hands placed in potentially more explosive positions on the field can create the same amount of point-getting hay as a plodder needing the rock stuck in his gut 20 times. Actually, in today’s style of play fantasy owners have a wide variety of draft day and game day choices coming out of the backfield.

From a grinder perspective a ‘good’ fantasy rusher is historically measured by gaining 1000 yards on the ground. That breaks downs to a per-game average of 62.5 rushing yards. A ground-based tailback gaining 4.0 YPC needs almost 16 carries a game (16.6) just to reach 62.5 yards. Fantasy coaches tied to heavily valuing YPC are likely leaving valuable points on the bench. Even if that ground-pounder averaged 4.4 YPC he still has to plow through an angry defensive front 14 times. However, a nifty rusher/receiver netting an effective 5.5 YPT has to touch the football just 11.3 times to hit 62.5 yards. His individual game breakdown in handling the ball may be 7 runs and 4 receptions. Over the course of a full 16-game slate a dual threat back netting 5.5 YPT needs 181 touches to hit that 1000-yard watermark; a ground-gainer at 4.0 YPC has to bang out 250 carries for 1000 yards.

You get the point, so let’s take a quick break and get the big picture. Sit back, grab a cup of Joe and look over the chart of Yards Per Touch for every running back in 2015.

KEY:

AGE = age in 2015 season

2015 TM = team played for in 2015

GP = games played

GS = games started

TCH = touches

YFS = yards from scrimmage for 2015

YPT = yards per touch

Rushers are ranked by TOUCHES, to show a touch/YPT comparison.

PLAYER	Age	2015 TM	G	GS	Touch	YFS	YPT
Adrian Peterson	30	MIN	16	16	357	1707	4.78
Devonta Freeman	23	ATL	15	13	338	1634	4.83
Doug Martin	26	TB	16	16	321	1673	5.21
Latavius Murray	25	OAK	16	16	307	1298	4.23
Frank Gore	32	IND	16	16	294	1234	4.2
Darren McFadden	28	DAL	16	10	279	1417	5.08
Chris Ivory	27	NYJ	15	14	277	1287	4.65
Matt Forte	30	CHI	13	13	262	1287	4.91
Jonathan Stewart	28	CAR	13	13	258	1088	4.22
Todd Gurley	21	STL	13	12	250	1294	5.18
Lamar Miller	24	MIA	16	16	241	1269	5.27
DeAngelo Williams	32	PIT	16	10	240	1274	5.31
Jeremy Hill	23	CIN	16	15	238	873	3.67
DeMarco Murray	27	PHL	15	8	237	1024	4.32
LeSean McCoy	27	BUF	12	12	235	1187	5.05
Ronnie Hillman	24	DEN	16	11	231	974	4.22
Rashad Jennings	30	NYG	16	16	224	1159	5.17
T.J. Yeldon	22	JAX	12	12	218	1019	4.67
Melvin Gordon	22	SD	14	13	217	833	3.84
Mark Ingram	26	NO	12	10	216	1174	5.44
Alfred Morris	27	WSH	16	16	212	806	3.8
Eddie Lacy	25	GB	15	12	207	946	4.57
Isaiah Crowell	22	CLV	16	9	204	888	4.35
Giovani Bernard	24	CIN	16	1	203	1202	5.92
Chris Johnson	30	ARZ	11	9	202	872	4.32
Alfred Blue	24	HOU	15	9	198	807	4.08
James Starks	29	GB	16	4	191	993	5.2
Javorius Allen	24	BAL	16	6	182	867	4.76
Justin Forsett	30	BAL	10	10	182	794	4.36
Charcandrick West	24	KC	15	9	180	848	4.71
Danny Woodhead	30	SD	16	1	178	1091	6.13
C.J. Anderson	24	DEN	15	5	177	903	5.1
LeGarrette Blount	29	NE	12	6	171	746	4.36
Jeremy Langford	24	CHI	16	2	170	816	4.8
Ameer Abdullah	22	DET	16	9	168	780	4.64
Duke Johnson	22	CLV	16	7	165	913	5.53
Antonio Andrews	24	TEN	14	10	164	694	4.23
Matt Jones	22	WSH	13	0	163	794	4.87
David Johnson	24	ARZ	16	5	161	1038	6.45
Charles Sims	25	TB	16	0	158	1090	6.9
Thomas Rawls	22	SEA	13	7	156	906	5.81
Darren Sproles	32	PHL	16	4	138	705	5.11
Le’Veon Bell	23	PIT	6	6	137	692	5.05
Ryan Mathews	28	PHL	13	6	127	685	5.39
Carlos Hyde	24	SF	7	7	126	523	4.15
Marshawn Lynch	29	SEA	7	6	124	497	4.01
Theo Riddick	24	DET	16	1	123	830	6.75
Shane Vereen	26	NYG	16	0	120	755	6.29
Bilal Powell	27	NYJ	11	2	117	701	5.99
Chris Polk	26	HOU	15	2	115	443	3.85
Joique Bell	29	DET	13	5	112	597	5.33
Tim Hightower	29	NO	8	3	108	504	4.67
Shaun Draughn	28	CLV-SF	11	6	105	449	4.28
Tavon Austin (WR)	24	STL	16	14	104	907	8.72
Karlos Williams	22	BUF	11	3	104	613	5.89
Tre Mason	22	STL	13	3	93	295	3.17
Jamaal Charles	29	KC	5	5	92	541	5.88
Tevin Coleman	22	ATL	12	3	89	406	4.56
Andre Williams	23	NYG	16	0	89	264	2.97
Denard Robinson	25	JAX	13	3	88	430	4.89
Dexter McCluster	27	TEN	11	2	86	507	5.9
Joseph Randle	24	DAL	6	6	86	400	4.65
Dion Lewis	25	NE	7	6	85	622	7.32
Arian Foster	29	HOU	4	4	85	390	4.59
Jonathan Grimes	26	HOU	14	0	82	455	5.55
Brandon Bolden	25	NE	15	2	82	387	4.72
Mike Tolbert	30	CAR	16	3	80	410	5.13
Spencer Ware	24	KC	11	2	78	408	5.23
Jerick McKinnon	23	MIN	16	0	73	444	6.08
Khiry Robinson	26	NO	8	0	73	295	4.04
Chris Thompson	25	WSH	13	0	70	456	6.51
C.J. Spiller	28	NO	13	2	70	351	5.01
Donald Brown	28	SD	9	2	67	317	4.73
Terrance West	24	CLV-BAL	8	0	66	252	3.82
Benny Cunningham	25	STL	16	1	63	390	6.19
James White	23	NE	14	1	62	466	7.52
Bishop Sankey	23	TEN	13	3	61	332	5.44
Andre Ellington	26	ARZ	10	3	60	437	7.28
Fred Jackson	34	SEA	16	0	58	357	6.16
DuJuan Harris	27	GB-SF	4	1	57	286	5.02
Christine Michael	25	DAL-SEA	8	2	57	259	4.54
Robert Turbin	26	SEA-DAL	10	0	57	222	3.89
Jay Ajayi	22	MIA	9	0	55	277	5.04
Mike Gillislee	25	BUF	5	1	53	296	5.58
David Cobb	22	TEN	7	1	53	144	2.72
Jonas Gray	25	NE-MIA	8	0	52	252	4.85
Cameron Artis-Payne	25	CAR	7	0	50	241	4.82
Matt Asiata	28	MIN	16	0	48	244	5.08
Ka’Deem Carey	23	CHI	10	1	46	178	3.87
Branden Oliver	24	SD	8	1	44	220	5
Kyle Juszczyk	24	BAL	16	11	43	324	7.53
Mike Davis	22	SF	6	0	42	96	2.29
Ahmad Bradshaw	29	IND	6	0	41	149	3.63
Marcel Reece	30	OAK	15	7	40	305	7.63
Zac Stacy	24	NYJ	8	0	40	154	3.85
Stevan Ridley	26	NYJ	9	1	40	88	2.2
Orleans Darkwa	23	NYG	16	0	39	184	4.72
Terron Ward	23	ATL	13	0	38	168	4.42
Kenjon Barner	26	PHL	11	0	38	146	3.84
Damien Williams	23	MIA	16	0	37	201	5.43
Fozzy Whittaker	26	CAR	15	1	37	172	4.65
Dan Herron	26	BUF-IND	10	0	34	126	3.71
Jamize Olawale	26	OAK	14	3	33	194	5.88
Jarryd Hayne	27	SF	8	1	31	79	2.55
Knile Davis	24	KC	14	0	30	96	3.2
Kerwynn Williams	24	ARZ	6	0	29	158	5.45
Travaris Cadet	26	NO-SF-NE	7	1	28	242	8.64
Anthony Dixon	28	BUF	16	1	27	88	3.26
Lance Dunbar	25	DAL	4	0	26	282	10.85
Roy Helu	27	OAK	9	0	26	114	4.38
Bryce Brown	24	SEA	3	0	25	72	2.88
Pierre Thomas	31	NO-WSH	5	0	24	148	6.17
Kendall Gaskins	25	SF	9	0	24	107	4.46
Juwan Thompson	23	DEN	15	1	24	99	4.13
Taiwan Jones	27	OAK	12	0	23	180	7.83
Akeem Hunt	22	HOU	7	1	23	135	5.87
Josh Robinson	23	IND	5	0	23	72	3.13
Toby Gerhart	28	JAX	7	1	23	67	2.91
Steven Jackson	32	NE	2	1	22	70	3.18
Zach Zenner	24	DET	6	1	19	71	3.74
Lorenzo Taliaferro	24	BAL	3	0	18	76	4.22
Stepfan Taylor	24	ARZ	16	0	18	62	3.44
Fitzgerald Toussaint	25	PIT	5	0	18	42	2.33
Bruce Miller	28	SF	16	5	16	149	9.31
John Kuhn	33	GB	16	6	15	84	5.6
Jacquizz Rodgers	25	CHI	5	0	15	51	3.4
Joey Iosefa	24	NE	2	0	15	51	3.4
Patrick DiMarco	26	ATL	16	8	14	110	7.86
Rex Burkhead	25	CIN	16	0	14	98	7
Reggie Bush	30	SF	5	1	13	47	3.62
Zach Line	25	MIN	16	5	12	105	8.75
Jalston Fowler	25	TEN	16	0	12	57	4.75
Darrel Young	28	WSH	16	3	12	32	2.67
Zurlon Tipton	25	IND	10	0	10	77	7.7
Michael Burton	23	DET	16	7	10	41	4.1
Austin Johnson	26	NO	10	1	9	39	4.33
Derrick Coleman	25	SEA	14	3	9	32	3.56
John Crockett	23	GB	2	0	9	21	2.33
Bernard Pierce	24	JAX	7	0	9	18	2
Ryan Hewitt	24	CIN	15	12	8	99	12.38
Bobby Rainey	28	TB	16	0	8	34	4.25
Corey Grant	24	JAX	6	0	8	15	1.88
Tommy Bohanon	25	NYJ	16	4	6	58	9.67
Jay Prosch	23	HOU	16	2	6	33	5.5
Will Johnson	26	PIT	16	4	6	23	3.83
Anthony Sherman	27	KC	16	2	5	34	6.8
Malcolm Brown	22	STL	1	0	5	15	3
Will Tukuafu	31	SEA	14	1	5	8	1.6
Jordan Todman	25	PIT	11	0	4	22	5.5
Alonzo Harris	23	GB	6	0	4	19	4.75
Malcolm Johnson	23	CLV	12	5	4	15	3.75
Terrance Magee	22	BAL	3	0	4	7	1.75
George Winn	25	DET	7	0	4	1	0.25
Jorvorskie Lane	28	TB	16	6	3	13	4.33
Rod Smith	23	SEA-DAL	11	0	3	11	3.67
Cierre Wood	24	BUF	2	0	3	-3	-1
Tyler Varga	22	IND	3	0	2	20	10
Roosevelt Nix	23	PIT	15	3	2	16	8
Jerome Felton	29	BUF	16	8	2	14	7
Trey Williams	23	IND	2	0	2	12	6
Isaiah Pead	26	STL	2	0	2	3	1.5
Jake Fisher	22	CIN	14	1	1	31	31
Aaron Ripkowski	23	GB	15	0	1	18	18
Antone Smith	30	CHI	5	0	1	11	11
Tyler Clutts	31	DAL	16	5	1	4	4
Kendall Hunter	27	NO	2	0	1	2	2
Marcus Murphy	24	NO	13	0	1	0	0
Glenn Winston	26	CLV	3	0	1	-8	-8

NOTE: A special inclusion here is Rams’ wide receiver Tavon Austin. Austin was quietly and uncannily effective both as a receiver and a rusher. The nifty playmaker saw as many plays as a runner (52) as a pass-catcher, darting to an amazing 8.72 YPT in his 104 touches.

Okay, time for the straight and plain talk. To squeeze the most out of any running back today a serious fantasy competitor has to key in on total yards from scrimmage, touches and yards per touch, with YPT being the driving force in decision-making and evaluations. This is not rocket science; just a change in perspective. In the recent past fanballers ranked halfback effectiveness by rushing yards, carries and yards per carry. The way NFL general managers and personnel types are stocking their teams’ backfields, and the manner in which pro coaches are devising game plans these days, those favorite rushing stats are far too narrow in evaluating fantasy potential. Narrow stats lead to slim tailback options. Touches, total yards and YPT expand the talent field for fantasy coaches at the running back spot. We need versatility and depth to work WITH the RBBC rather than fight it?

YPT utilization creates a very versatile and interchangeable fantasy backfield. It also means a fantasy coach is going to have to follow a sound Strength Of Schedule (SOS) and play the matchups weekly; that takes some work and conviction but it is well worth the invested effort. Some might say approaching the season in this manner relies on a bucket full of luck but in reality ‘luck’ happens when one is in position to experience it. Having a stable of running backs that do not require a ‘bucket’ full of carries in order to bring points to a starting lineup is a great advantage over other franchise owners who lean heavily on one or two ‘workhorse’ backs and manage iffy bench strength behind them. Running backs break down, plain and simple!

Owning productive, interchangeable running backs on a fantasy roster allows for lineup versatility and backfield insurance.

This off-season, as you prepare for your drafts, auctions or however your league assembles rosters… at the very least add YPT to your evaluation process for running backs. Will it take some extra effort to manage a potential fantasy RBBC? Yes.

However, isn’t that part of the fun of fantasy football? Why YPC when you can YPT?

YARDS PER TOUCH… valuing running backs, fantasy football style.