Justin Jackson is way Undervalued in Fantasy Football Drafts

With Melvin Gordon gone, now could be the time to grab Justin Jackson for your fantasy team

Fantasy football players that drafted Austin Ekeler in 2019 got a tremendous return on investment. The 25-year-old running back finished the year as the fourth highest point scorer in the PPR format. Now that Melvin Gordon has moved on to the Broncos, many fantasy players expect Ekeler to once again produce elite stats. But is teammate Justin Jackson being overlook in fantasy drafts? According to the latest Average Draft Position data, Ekeler is being drafted in the second round while Jackson is coming off the board in round 13 or later. Will the Chargers employ a running-back-by-committee or is Ekeler going to be the one and only feature back? If you believe Los Angeles will use a RBBC, then Jackson offers tremendous value based on his ADP.

Sports Illustrated’s fantasy football analyst Frank Taddeo and ChagerReport editor Jason B. Hirschhorn discuss the Chargers backfield and what to expect out of Ekeler and Jackson in 2020.

Read the transcript from their conversation to learn more:

Bill Enright: With Melvin Gordon out of the backfield for the Chargers, we're taking a look at Justin Jackson. Hey, we all know that Austin Ekeler is supposed to be the main guy, but Jackson could have some fantasy football value as well. Let's bring on Jason B. Hirschhorn from Charger Report and SI's fantasy football analyst Frank Taddeo. Jason, I'm going to start with you. I think a lot of fantasy football players are hoping that Austin Ekeler is just the main guy, right? There's no running back by committee here. But what do you thinking that, Justin Jackson, what do you think his role could be in 2020?

Jason B. Hirschhorn: Yeah, the Chargers for a long time have really prioritized using multiple running backs in their offense. Now, I don't think this is actually a concern for Austin Ekeler because of the way that they use him. He plays some wide receiver, not just catching passes out the backfield, and someone else can fill that between the tackles role. That can be Justin Jackson. We actually saw that early on last season when Melvin Gordon was having his hold out and Ekeler and Justin Jackson were really controlling that backfield. Jackson is extremely efficient when given the opportunity. He had some injury issues last year. That obviously is the major concern for him going forward. But if he's healthy, he can be very effective.

Bill Enright: Frankie, how are you approaching Jackson, do you think of him as just a handcuff?Currently his ADP, currently outside the top 50 for running backs outside the top 150 overall.

Frank Taddeo: Yeah, I'm strictly looking at him, you hit it right on the head, Bill, as a handcuff. And I'm also a little bit nervous about the arrival of Joshua Kelley, via the draft. So obviously, that's become an even more crowded backfield. And right now, he is a handcuff and a handcuff only for me. He's a late round flier, but I actually may even look to possibly step out and have several shares of Joshua Kelley as opposed to Jackson, should the depth chart actually see some shakeup there. But it's definitely just a handcuff.