This is easily the most important week on the waiver wire so far this season. So let's break it down right now talking about the five running backs that you need to add before your friends do. And we'll start with a guy who I know already in the comment section. People are going to say, this guy's not available in my league. And that's fine. But Trey Benson is still available in over 50% of Yahoo Leagues. That's what I'm currently using for this right now just to kind of get a gauge on who's still out there. And honestly, so far through two weeks, we told you last week, Tray Benson, if he's not available in your league, go trade for him because he's been highly efficient and the usage is only continuing to increase each and every week. Now that each and every week was just two weeks, but you could see right here, Tray Benson quietly led this backfield with a 12% target share through the first two weeks of the season and saw career high usage through a two game stretch with James Connor healthy during that time. 40% of the snaps. In week two, he had a career high, six targets. Only had six targets all of last year. In week one, he saw the second most usage that he's ever seen. Then week two, he sees the most usage he's ever seen. And on this usage, Trey Bension was producing 5.6 yards per carry. Led the NFL in yards per touch.

Oh, let's go down even more.

Yards created was averaging over seven yards created per touch. Again, it's a small sample and you have a 50 yard run in week one that's going to skew this, but still number one there. So they gave him even more and more opportunities. And then we go into week three and we see a big shift happened because obviously, if you're watching this, James Connor suffered a bad injury. Trey Benson led the backfield, 10 carries 42 yards. And then you scroll down here, Trey Benson also picks up three more receptions. This is a guy who last year, three receptions would have been the most he had all season long, just got that in week three alone. And that was after having four receptions in week two

right but the big news here is what happened to his teammate the veteran running back who has always

been so good one healthy with arizona and james connor went down in the second half early in the

second half with it looked like an ankle injury some people said knee you could see right here

according to sports empty analysis high concern for season ending injury it was a ankle, both at risk. Basically what he was saying there is that both of them were twisting when this happened, which is when that normally happens, a good chance that something is happening with either both the knee and the ankle, or at least, or very least, the ankle is going to have a severe injury with it. So prayer is up for James Connor, but you could See right here, once he leaves the game, according to Ryan Heath on Twitter, Trey Bension saw 75% of the backfield carries and the goal only goal line touch, including a nearly 7% target share. Amari D. Mercado sees 25% of the carries, nearly a 7% target share. Now, in past seasons, Amari D. Mercado was basically the third down back. He operated in passing downs. So we'll see moving forward, does Trey Benson get that usage? It looks like Benson is now easily, as you can see right here in really just the last couple of weeks, going to get the early down usage, 75% of the carries once Connor left the game. But what's going to happen on those third downs? And the real reason why is, Trey Benson is a must add no matter what.

We're heading into week before. If you have like $60 left in your fab, put all 60 of it on Trey Benson because he's literally the best player out there on the waivers, probably for the rest of the season. But if we could get that third down two-minute offense passing down usage out of Trey Benson and he goes from being like an early down grinder to also getting this target share as well all season long he's going to be an absolute smash moving forward

easily a top 20s. and he goes from being like an early down grinder to also getting this target share as well all season long

he's going to be an absolute smash moving forward easily a top 20 running back in fantasy because we

already know what james connor was doing in that role right james connor never even really had like

the full overall overall workload from a target share perspective but he was getting 200 230 carries

last year in this role you scroll over to his receptions 47 receptions in this role last year is kind of the workhorse in this offense that contributed to him being a top 20 running back and back to back seasons. He was on his way to being a top 20 running back again this year. Unfortunately, he does suffer that injury. So now you're going to slide Trey Benson, who we already showed you, is very efficient this year, has been seeing more targets at least through the first two to three weeks of the season. And in general, as the younger, more explosive back than James Connor at this stage in his career, good things can happen. It basically will just come down to what is Amari Di Mercado's role to the point is, is Tray Benson just going to be like a top 25, top 30 running back, right, the rest of the season,

or is he going to be like a top 15 back? That's going to depend on how much Amari DiMercato is involved. But now that we have biweeks approaching in week five and for the weeks after that, Trey Benson is somebody that right now deserves the rest of your fab. I don't care if you've been sashing all your fab and you have $97 left put all 97 of that onre benson right now if you

look ahead to the rest of season schedule or at least the upcoming schedule it's a pretty tough one for sure Seahawks look like maybe the best defense in the NFL Titans defenses look good Packers defenses look good they get the Seahawks again but then they have matchups against the Colts and the Cowboys so overall it's going to be a tough sledding for the Arizona Cardinals who at this point,

their secondaries banged up, their offense doesn't look all that great. They're probably going to be trailing in games. So we probably do need Benson to keep seeing three, four, five catches a game to get that value in half PPR and PPR formats if they're going to be playing from behind. I'm fine spending on the talented second year player now that he's going to get more opportunities. and I'm also fine spending on Woody Marks.

And there's a pretty good chance that this fourth round rookie for the Houston Texans,

you don't have to spend. on the talented second year player now that he's going to get more opportunities. And I'm also fine spending on Woody Marks. There's a pretty good chance that this fourth round rookie for the

Houston Texans, you don't have to spend a lot of money on because everybody's going to be unloading their wallets on Trey Benson. So if you're somebody who maybe he's not available in your league or you want everybody else to spend all the money, you can probably get Woody Marks for a couple bucks. If you're not familiar last year at USC, Woody Marks goes for over 1100 yards.

He goes for nine touchdowns with the thing that he was most known for in college football

between Miss. for a couple bucks. If you're not familiar last year at USC, Woody Marks goes for over 1100 yards. He goes for nine touchdowns. But the thing that he was most known for in college football between Mississippi State and USC, one of the best past catching running backs we've probably ever seen in college. Look at these receptions per year. 83 is insane, 48, 23, and then another 27 last year, despite tougher competition at USC. Woody Marks is somebody that he has all the skill sets. He's able to run the ball in early downs. He's obviously a pass catching running back. And in the preseason and so far in the NFL, we've seen glimpses of solid pass protection, which is somewhat rare for a fourth round rookie. Basically, he has the versatility that really nobody else in this backfield has. Like if we're talking about this backfield right now, Nick Chub, we already know, and by the way, there's a reason why I like Woody Marks. It's not just

because of this college stats. I'm just giving you a little bit of a refresher here. It's because

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