One of the biggest disappointments in the 2018 NFL season is Miami Dolphins running back Kenyan Drake. Drake showed promise as a dual-threat his rookie year and was expected to shine in the Dolphins backfield. So far, that hasn’t happened. On the season, Drake has 107 rushing yards and a touchdown on 33 attempts. He hasn’t added much in the receiving game, as Drake has just 10 receptions for 55 yards. This is more than just a slow start to the season. All the underlying peripherals suggest Drake’s sluggish start is here to stay, so fantasy owners should trade Drake while they can still get something for him.
Fantasy Football: Trade Kenyan Drake While You Can
Drake entered the season as Miami’s top running back, but he’s underperformed in the role. Per sharpfootballstats.com, Drake hasn’t recorded a successful run over the past two weeks. A successful run is defined as a play which picks up “at least 40% of yards-to-go on first down, 60% of yards-to-go on second down and 100% of yards-to-go on third or fourth down.” Drake has simply been unable to do that in the past two weeks.
Fellow Dolphins running back Frank Gore, meanwhile, has been more successful. Over that same timeframe, Gore has a 17% success rate, including 30% on first down. While 17% isn’t good by any means, it’s significantly better than 0%.
Gore is still outpacing Drake in the more traditional statistics as well. The 35-year old running back currently has 139 rushing yards on 35 attempts, good for a 4.0 average. Surprisingly, Gore and his 35 receiving yards and one touchdown have more receiving fantasy points than Drake on the season. While that is entirely due to his touchdown, the fact that Gore is ahead of Drake in this category speaks volumes about how much Drake has underperformed in the running game.
Kenyan Drake Snap Breakdown
Snap count is one of the best indicators of how a coaching staff views a player. With more snaps comes more volume, and thus more production. On the season, Drake has taken 61.86% of the snaps, while Gore has taken just 38.6%. While on paper this would make Drake the lead back, looking at snap totals on a game-by-game basis tells a different story.
Drake played in 74.2% of the snaps during the Dolphins season-opening win against the Tennessee Titans. Since then, his snap percentage has started to decrease. Drake played in 60% of Week Two snaps, 65.9% of Week Three snaps, and just 44.9% of Week Four snaps against the New England Patriots.
Frank Gore, meanwhile, has seen his snap percentage steadily increase. After seeing just 29.0% of snaps in the season opener, Gore’s snap percentage has increased to 40% in Week Two, 36.4% in Week Three, and 51.0% in Week Four. While Gore may not continue to see more snaps than Drake, he’s certainly earned a right to eat into his total percentage.
Additionally, Drake’s red zone opportunities have decreased over the season. During Week One, Drake saw the three opportunities in the red zone. That number decreased to two in Week Two, one in Week Three, and zero in Week Four. Obviously, it’s easier to score when in the red zone, and the Dolphins simply do not trust Drake in that part of the field.
Last Word on Kenyan Drake
Kenyan Drake has had a terrible start to the season and it doesn’t look like his production will improve any time soon. He’s been outplayed by Frank Gore and his snap count has steadily decreased since Week One. Additionally, Drake is seeing less red zone opportunities, which naturally limits his likelihood of scoring touchdowns.
There is literally no source of optimism with Drake. Busts are a natural part of fantasy football, and Kenyan Drake is a bust. The key to a successful fantasy football season is realizing a mistake and promptly dealing with it, instead of hoping for the player in question to magically improve.
Fantasy football owners would be wise to trade Drake as soon as possible to obtain whatever value they can get. Drake is still a somewhat big name in fantasy, and somebody in your league will probably give up more than they should for Drake. While it isn’t easy to give up on someone like Drake, there’s no reason to hold on to him. Trade Kenyan Drake while you can still get something valuable in return.
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