2020 Phillip Lindsay Fantasy Football Player Profile

As we gear up to the start of the NFL season, Football Absurdity is going to bring you a comprehensive breakdown of every notable player that will be available in fantasy football drafts. The Denver Broncos have never strongly tied themselves to Phillip Lindsay, deferring to Royce Freeman and Devontae Booker at every given opportunity. Now, they added Melvin Gordon this offseason, but should we abandon Phillip Lindsay entirely in our redraft fantasy football leagues?

Phillip Lindsay ADP and AAV:

Standard Scoring ADP: RB36, 96 overall
PPR Scoring ADP: RB39, 96 overall
Average Auction Value: $2

Phillip Lindsay Statistics:

Phillip Lindsay Overview:

Phillip Lindsay wasn’t particularly inspiring for any stretch of time in the 2019 campaign. But, he did enough to solidify the role before having it knocked out from underneath him. The summation of his second-half production was one 100-yard game and kicking Royce Freeman down the depth chart. After coming in hot down the stretch in 2018 (90 yards per game and touchdowns in seven-of-eight games in the second half), Lindsay mostly fell on his face in 2019, smattering useful games here-and-there and scoring just five touchdowns after week three. Thankfully, one of these touchdowns came with over 100 yards and was in week sixteen, so you may have some good Phillip Lindsay feelings if you forgot most of his season and just remembered him winning you a title.

Now, Lindsay is the short-end of a platoon at best with the addition of Melvin Gordon to the mix. While this proves to be an existential crisis to Royce Freeman’s touches, it does hurt Lindsay a ton. The Broncos didn’t fully turn over to him until week ten last season, and he underperformed even with those touches. It’s tough to say how he will turn out, as we’ve seen Lindsay produce with a split backfield in 2018. In 2019, however, he failed to produce both in and out of a committee. With Gordon taking the majority of the touches, it’s hard to see a path to a lot of viability with Lindsay that doesn’t start and end with a Melvin Gordon injury.

Phillip Lindsay Draft Strategy:

Phillip Lindsay Auction Value: $3
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet! (coming late June)

Phillip Lindsay in a snake draft constitutes too much of a risk for me to try to countenance taking him. In an auction, however, you could conceivably throw a buck at Lindsay just to see what happens in Denver. We all seem to think that it’s going to be at best 60/40 with Melvin Gordon as the big side of the platoon. We don’t know, at this point, how that will shake out. Throwing a buck at Lindsay and just waiting might not be the worst strategy in the world, but you should be ready to cut bait quickly if things don’t work out. Personally, I’m not all that excited about Lindsay, but if Denver’s coaches give him more run than he should get, then this could work out well for him in 2020.

Best Case Scenario:

Melvin Gordon fails to live up to expectations, and Lindsay starts to slowly eat into his touches, culminating in a week fifteen 17-carry, 89-yard effort. This is the high-water mark of Lindsay’s season.

Worst Case Scenario:

Melvin Gordon fails to live up to expectations, and Lindsay starts to slowly eat into his touches, culminating in a week fifteen 17-carry, 39-yard effort. This is the high-water mark of Lindsay’s season.

[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com and airyards.com]