2020 Nyheim Hines 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 Indianapolis Colts added Jonathan Taylor to the backfield, which might have spelled the end of Nyheim Hines’ fantasy value, but the addition of Philip Rivers might just pump some life back into Hines’ value.

Nyheim Hines ADP and AAV:

Standard Scoring ADP: RB55, 171 overall
PPR Scoring ADP: RB51, 147 overall
Average Auction Value: $1

Nyheim Hines Statistics:

Nyheim Hines Overview:

Nyheim Hines, since he entered the league, has been incapable of being anything but a pass-catching running back. He’s not the biggest guy (5’9” and 196 pounds), so his relegation to part-time role player makes sense. That was most evident his rookie year, wherein he had 81 targets and just 85 rushes. Last year, the Colts moved away from Hines, but Philip Rivers’ addition should spell an increased workload for the third-year back.

Throughout his career, the #1 pass-catching running back for Philip Rivers gets about 14.1% of the targets. That’s propelled the fantasy football value in PPR of backs like Danny Woodhead and Darren Sproles. Last year, Austin Ekeler emerged as a dual-threat partially because of the high target volume he received from Rivers. Throwing to RBs is just part of Phil’s game. Now, Rivers has two guys who don’t really catch passes (Marlon Mack and Jonathan Taylor) and one guy who makes it his bread and butter (Hines). I guess… bread and ketchup? Ketchup and fries. There we go, we got there.

Nyheim Hines Draft Strategy:

Nyheim Hines Auction Value: $1
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet! (coming late June)

In any sort of PPR league, get Hines. He is in line for over 80 targets under Rivers and has shown that he can produce with that opportunity. He could be a mini-Austin Ekeler in 2020, or he could be a great fill-in glue guy at the thinnest of positions in fantasy football. Either way, you invest basically nothing in him. While he doesn’t have the dynamic playmaking of an Ekeler, Hines is all upside.

In non-PPR leagues, he’s rightly a non-factor. So much of his value will be locked up in the number of catches he receives and not his overall yardage, that he is a roster clog in a non-PPR league. He won’t be in line for a lot of carries behind Marlon Mack and Jonathan Taylor, but they also won’t stop him from catching passes out of the backfield.

Best Case Scenario:

2019 Austin Ekeler.

Worst Case Scenario:

2017 Austin Ekeler.

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