The New Orleans Saints lost a major part of their offense today as running back Mark Ingram was put on injured reserve (IR) following a reportedly serious shoulder injury. While this is bad news for some fantasy owners, it could be a good thing for others because now two running backs -- who are available on many waiver wires -- in C.J. Spiller and Tim Hightower. So what is their outlook moving forward as we get into the fantasy football playoffs?
Spiller has been with the Saints all year. Many would suspect he'd have the upper-hand for gaining touches considering Hightower wasn't even signed to the team until Nov. 2 of this season after Khiry Robinson suffered a season-ending leg fracture. However, Hightower spent the preseason with the Saints and knows the offense.
Both of these guys are going to have roles in a 1-2 punch kind of deal.
Hightower is built a bit more like Ingram, and is more of a downhill, physical runner. Odds are, he's going to handle a lot of the between the tackles work, but he also has skills in the passing game. He once had the third-down back role for the Arizona Cardinals and even caught 63 passes for them in 2009. It's noteworthy to point out that Hightower hasn't seen much action since 2011 with any team, but has looked decent in limited action with 12 carries for 48 yards; he also had 29 carries for 96 to go with three receptions for 19 yards in the preseason.
Perhaps the biggest factor that needs to be looked at with how these two will be used for the remainder of the season is what Spiller's role has been with the team so far. We have an entire season of numbers to look at, and, well, they aren't too pretty.
Spiller has just 31 carries for 108 yards this year, a 3.5 YPC average. He has caught 29 balls for 216 yards and two touchdowns, but that's about the only capacity that the Saints are comfortable using him. The former Buffalo Bill has been criticized for his lack of north-south running, and he truly just hasn't looked all that great at any point in his career other than one season, 2012.
In all likelihood, Spiller's usage in the offense isn't going to change much. He'll get a few carries every game to go along with a handful of targets out of the backfield or split out wide. All in all, his value remains mostly the same as it has been all year.
Meanwhile, Hightower has the highest ceiling in this offense as he's going to take Ingram's carries. Also keep in mind that Ingram had 50 receptions on the year and Hightower has the skills mentioned earlier. Expect him to be getting 15-20 carries per game, as well as a handful of targets as well in the passing game. In the high-volume offense that the Saints run, he has a great chance to excel and could help any team in the playoffs.
