J.D. McKissic

Fantasy Upside
J.D. McKissic came seemingly out of nowhere last year and ended up leading all running backs in targets with 110. He finished the year with 80 receptions for 589 receiving yards. He especially came on late in the season after Washington’s bye week, averaging 8.6 targets and 6.1 receptions in the final nine games of the season. He wasn’t just a third-down type back either as he averaged 65% of the offensive snaps in those final nine games. He ended the year as the 17th-highest scoring back in full PPR, which is solid production from someone who is second on the depth chart.

Fantasy Downside
While we still expect to see McKissic in a receiving role, we don’t expect him to top 100 targets again. For starters, Antonio Gibson is expected to run more routes and become more involved in the passing game. Washington also added Curtis Samuel in the offseason and had a change at quarterback in Ryan Fitzpatrick. We’re likely to see fewer checkdowns from Fitzpatrick compared to Alex Smith, meaning fewer targets for McKissic. And since McKissic has such a small role as an actual running back (five carries per game last year), and doesn’t find the endzone much (three touchdowns last year), he’s really reliant on those receptions to have value in fantasy.

2021 Bottom Line
Washington underwent many changes in the offseason, and most of them are bad for McKissic. We’d be shocked if he saw the volume he saw last year again in 2021. We’re projecting a massive drop in receptions from his five per game average a year ago to 2.2 this year. McKissic will still be involved, but in a much smaller role that makes him a fringe fantasy candidate. He’s best as a bench stash or a handcuff to Gibson.

Week 16 vs. Carolina Panthers

Washington realized Peyton Barber wasn't any good and decided to give J.D. McKissic some more touches last week. He finished with 13 carries for 51 yards and added nine receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown as a receiver. Antonio Gibson could return this week, which would limit some of McKissic's touches. But McKissic has been valuable even with Gibson active, mostly because of his role as a receiver. He has four games with 10+ targets over his last seven games. McKissic is a solid RB2 play this week, even if Gibson is active. It's also worth noting that Terry McLaurin is doubtful to play, so McKissic should see a slight boost in targets this week.

Week 14 at San Francisco 49ers

J.D. McKissic was back to being his catch-happy self again last week as Washington turned to him more after Antonio Gibson's toe injury. McKissic saw 10 targets, catching all of them for 70 yards. Since Week 4 (when McKissic really started getting involved), McKissic has averaged 5.8 receptions per game. We're projecting him to hit that 5+ reception mark this week, especially with Gibson's likely inactive tag. McKissic jumps to an RB2 play in PPR formats and more of an RB3/flex play in standard.