It has been a rocky NFL start for Bryce Love. At one point, Love seemed like a lock to be a first-round pick as a running back in the NFL. However, injuries during his senior year in college, caused him to not be drafted until round four. After not being able to play during his rookie season, he came into 2020 with his roster spot in jeopardy. However, the domino’s ended up falling in Love’s favor. He is still nowhere near a lock to be fantasy football relevant, but he is worth a late-round pick as a roster stash as his role with the team unveils itself.
Fantasy Football: Bryce Love Worth Drafting and Stashing
College Production and Early NFL Career
At one point during his NCAA career, Bryce Love looked like the top back in college. In 2016, he backed up Christian McCaffrey at Stanford, but still showed flashes of the talent he had. On just 111 carries, Love totaled 783 yards, good for 7.1 yards-per-carry (YPC).
He really showed what he could do the following year in 2017. Love cracked the 1,000-yard mark in just five games, totaling 2,118 on the year and 19 touchdowns. He also joined Reggie Bush as the only Pac-12 player to have back-to-back 250 yards rushing games. Love ended up returning for his senior season but was already being talked about as the top running back for the 2019 draft.
However, 2018 was not so kind to Love. He dealt with injuries throughout the year, ultimately tearing his ACL in the final play of his final college game. Unable to participate in any pro days or combines, and knowing he would not be ready for the start of the NFL season, Love’s draft stock plummeted. The Washington Football Team took a chance on him in the fourth round.
2020 Preview
The one positive about Love being drafted as a mid-round pick was that there was no pressure on him getting onto the field as a rookie. It was basically understood that he would spend his first NFL season rehabbing from the knee injury. He and the team planned for him to come back ready to go in 2020. However, with a new regime for Washington in 2020, rumors during the off-season were that his roster spot was far from a lock.
Derrius Guice finally looked healthy from his own injuries, and Adrian Peterson seemed hell-bent on winning the battle with father time. However, Guice found himself entangled in off-field issues that led to him getting cut. Then, the Redskins decided to move on from Peterson in favor of younger bodies. This basically secured Love’s roster spot.
However, he is far from out of the woods yet in terms of being fantasy relevant. The hype out of Washington’s camp has been Antonio Gibson. For Washington fans, he conjures images of Chris Thompson, a pass-catching specialist. For new head coach Ron Rivera, he hopes that he can become a guy like Christian McCaffrey, who he had during his time with the Carolina Panthers.
It looks like Gibson will get the first shot at locking down the job. However, Gibson’s college production is a huge red flag. It wasn’t that he wasn’t effective, but he never really got a shot. He only caught 44 passes his entire time at Memphis, and rushed even less, with just 33 attempts. He will still have to prove that he is durable enough for the NFL. If Washington is smart, they won’t give him too big a workload.
It is quite possible Gibson works solely as the pass-catching back, giving Love a shot at two-down, and potentially even goal-line work. The only other real competition for that is Peyton Barber. Barber played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season, and although he started in seven games for the them, he was not very good. His 470 yards on 154 only amounted to 3.1 YPC. If Love is really recovered from his injury, he should have no problem leapfrogging Barber on the roster.
Bryce Love ADP and Outlook
What makes Love so appetizing is that he costs basically nothing. Until Peterson was released, Love was often going undrafted in traditional redraft leagues. His ADP is now high enough where that is unlikely to happen. However, many players may have already finalized their rankings, or not even know who Love is considering the lack of preseason. FantasyPros still has him as the RB69, meaning people printing out cheat sheets may miss him completely.
For comparison, Gibson, who’s role is just as up in the air as Love’s is RB44 on FantasyPros. This put him in the backup role, along with guys like Duke Johnson and Tony Pollard, and ahead of Marlon Mack and Chris Thompson. The spot is reasonable, but it makes Love’s ADP look even better.
Love will probably not eat too much into passing work, considering he only caught 49 passes his entire four-year college career. But, on a depth chart with both lackluster and unproven talent, Love has the ceiling to reward those who draft with nicely if he gets a shot on the football field. Overall, Love is worth a pick in the double-digit rounds a stash.
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