With great joy, I’m here to introduce our newest FREE fantasy football data tools that will post to our site in the coming days. Like our award-winning (well, they should be award-winning…) Defensive and WR Slot vs. Wide receiving tools, we now have a similar one to account for what RBs do best. As the name implies, this tool looks at designed rushing attempts for zone blocking and gap blocking schemes – which make up the vast majority of (in some cases, ALL) RB carries. As a bonus, the tool also provides undesigned QB scrambling but we’ll get to that later.
The two tools complement each other by providing data quantifying how defenses stop (or not) designed rushing attempts and RB volume and success for those designed rushing schemes.
I’m so excited to release this tool, I can barely control myself. As the kids tend to say, “I need to lock it in!”
As the season progresses, I expect we’ll be able to track rushing trends and become better at predicting RB plays with the potential to surpass expectations and those that we should temper expectations.
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Now, a preview of the rushing tools:
Defensive Zone vs. Gap Tool
| Defense Rushing Allowed | Offense Rushing | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Total Designed Rush Yds/Gm | Designed Zone Yds/Gm | Designed Gap Yds/Gm | Designed Zone% | Designed Gap % | Undesigned Scr Yds/Gm | Next Opp | Yds/Gm | Zone % | Gap % | Scr % |
| ARZ | 86.0 | 43.0 | 35.2 | 50% | 41% | 21.0 | CAR | 72.0 | 52% | 28% | 14% |
| ATL | 61.0 | 8.0 | 37.1 | 13% | 61% | 40.0 | MIN | 109.0 | 42% | 42% | 4% |
| BLT | 81.0 | 20.9 | 23.5 | 26% | 29% | 27.0 | CLV | 45.0 | 42% | 46% | 4% |
| BUF | 219.0 | 135.9 | 75.5 | 62% | 34% | 19.0 | NYJ | 171.0 | 74% | 10% | 5% |
| CAR | 186.0 | 87.2 | 52.3 | 47% | 28% | 14.0 | ARZ | 115.0 | 11% | 70% | 13% |
| CHI | 109.0 | 46.1 | 46.1 | 42% | 42% | 11.0 | DET | 46.0 | 55% | 32% | 0% |
| CIN | 45.0 | 18.8 | 20.6 | 42% | 46% | 4.0 | JAX | 186.0 | 47% | 28% | 6% |
| CLV | 43.0 | 9.3 | 20.6 | 22% | 48% | 3.0 | BLT | 219.0 | 62% | 34% | 3% |
| DAL | 95.0 | 32.5 | 22.5 | 34% | 24% | 63.0 | NYG | 34.0 | 30% | 35% | 21% |
| DEN | 71.0 | 21.3 | 47.3 | 30% | 67% | 0.0 | IND | 136.0 | 45% | 33% | 7% |
| DET | 75.0 | 30.0 | 33.0 | 40% | 44% | 3.0 | CHI | 61.0 | 65% | 8% | 19% |
At first look, this may look intimidating but don’t get discouraged. Sure, there’s a lot to look at here, but we’ll break it down.
As you’ll note, the majority of the columns are attributed to Defensive metrics. Starting on the left:
- Team: Team Defense (self explanatory)
- Total Designated Rush Yds/Gm: The key here is “Designated Rush” and represents the total average yardage (per game) given up by the defense against either a zone or gap blocking scheme.
- Designated Zone Yds/Gm: You guessed it, this is the portion of the total attributed to an opponent’s yards gained from zone blocking schemes.
- Designated Gap Yds/Gm: The same, but for gap blocking scheme.
- Designed Zone and Gap %: The next two columns just provide the percentage of total yards attributed to each.
- Undesigned Scramble Yards/Gm: This one is a bonus of sorts. We know some teams have QBs who like to scramble. We also know this provides an advantage in most fantasy formats. By including undesigned scramble yards in this tool, we look to paint the wider picture on the ability of a Defense to stop the rush in the most likely of forms.
The Offensive metrics on the right side of the table allow us to make the macro-level comparisons to identify game situations we want to target and those we want to avoid.
- Next Opp: Each week, the table will be updated to reflect the upcoming NFL schedule.
- Yds/Gm: Similar to the other side of the table, this represents the total average yardage (per game) achieved by that offense under either a zone or gap blocking scheme.
- Zone and Gap %: I omitted the “Designed” in the title but I figured everyone would understand by now that those two columns provide the percentage of total yards attributed to each designed run scheme.
- Scr %: This one is the percentage of QB scramble attempts compared to the total rushing attempts. We know who the mobile and non-mobile QBs are, but it’s the ones in the middle where we can likely find some extra fantasy gold.
Now that we have the Defensive side covered, let’s shift to the RB Zone vs. Gap tool.
RB Zone vs. Gap Tool
| Player | Team | Games Played | Zone Attempts | Zone % | Gap Attempts | Gap % | Other | Other % | Total Attempts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian McCaffrey | SF | 1 | 16 | 73% | 5 | 23% | 1 | 5% | 22 |
| Chase Brown | CIN | 1 | 5 | 24% | 11 | 52% | 5 | 24% | 21 |
| Ashton Jeanty | LV | 1 | 12 | 63% | 6 | 32% | 1 | 5% | 19 |
| Josh Jacobs | GB | 1 | 9 | 47% | 10 | 53% | 0 | 0% | 19 |
| Breece Hall | NYJ | 1 | 18 | 95% | 1 | 5% | 0 | 0% | 19 |
| Kyren Williams | LA | 1 | 4 | 22% | 13 | 72% | 1 | 6% | 18 |
| Jonathan Taylor | IND | 1 | 11 | 61% | 7 | 39% | 0 | 0% | 18 |
| Tony Pollard | TEN | 1 | 5 | 28% | 12 | 67% | 1 | 6% | 18 |
| Derrick Henry | BLT | 1 | 12 | 67% | 6 | 33% | 0 | 0% | 18 |
| Saquon Barkley | PHI | 1 | 12 | 67% | 5 | 28% | 1 | 6% | 18 |
| D’Andre Swift | CHI | 1 | 15 | 88% | 2 | 12% | 0 | 0% | 17 |
| Travis Etienne Jr. | JAX | 1 | 9 | 56% | 7 | 44% | 0 | 0% | 16 |
I probably don’t need to go through this one column by column. As you can see, this tool tallies the rushing attempts by the RBs in a way that complements the Defensive Zone vs. Gap tool.
Putting It All Together
Let’s go through an example of how these tools will be useful for your roster management.
Starting with the Defensive tool, we see that the Bills Defense gave up a shit-ton of designed rushing yards to the Ravens last week. Of those, zone rushing outpaced gap rushing almost 2:1.
Caveat: I might argue that more of those rushing yards should be attributed to undesigned QB scrambling but HEY, I’m not the official scorer here. I’m just working with the data I’ve got.
Now look across and see that the upcoming opponent, NYJ, achieved 74% of their designed rushing yards through a zone blocking scheme. Therefore, we may assume that the NYJ RBs could be in line for a successful afternoon. (Yes, I know it is only based on one game, just work with me here. It’ll normalize over the next couple weeks…).
Now, hop over to the RB Zone vs. Gap tool. We see that Breece Hall had 95% of his designed rushes, and Braelon Allen had 100% of his, behind a zone blocking scheme. You think the Jets primarily employ zone blocking?
If you roster Breece Hall, you’re probably starting him without question in all but the shallowest leagues regardless. Braelon Allen, on the other hand, may be a Flex option. This tool suggests he might also be a good play for you, depending on your other options of course.
There, that’s how the tool works. Look for situations to exploit and those to consider avoiding.
Week 2 Analysis
Zone Matchups to Exploit
- Carolina (vs. Arizona): Overall, the Panthers favored the zone scheme over 50% of the time in Week 1. Chuba Hubbard led the way with 16 rushing attempts, leaning zone at a 2:1 rate. For their part, the Cardinals defense allowed a majority of the total designed rushing yards against to the zone scheme. The tool suggests there should be plenty of space for Chuba to rack up fantasy points.
- Seattle vs. Pittsburgh: Instead of splitting these up into two entries, I’ll just write them up together. Both offenses favor a zone blocking scheme. In Week 1, those tallies were 54% (Seattle) and 70% (Pittsburgh). Respectively, both defenses gave up 100+ total rushing yards, with 64% (Seattle) and 74% (Pittsburgh) attributed to zone rushing.
Gap Matchups to Exploit
- Tampa Bay (vs. Houston): Tampa employs the gap blocking scheme almost two-thirds of all scheduled rushing attempts. Houston defense allowed over half of their rushing yards against gap blocking. Unleash Bucky!
- Tennessee (vs. Los Angeles Rams): I see the same trend for the Titans and Tony Pollard, both averaging over 60% in gap rushing. The Rams surrendered over 50% of their ground yards to the gap.
Zone Matchups to Avoid
- San Francisco (vs. New Orleans): Sure, the 49ers have Christian McCaffrey in the backfield so there’s an edge here no matter what. The data though suggests we may want to temper expectations. San Francisco offense favored zone rushing for 70% of their designed rushing plays. On the flip side, the New Orleans defense limited zone rushing to just 12.8 yards (11%). Something is bound to give.
- Las Vegas (vs. Los Angeles Chargers): In his first start, Ashton Jeanty averaged over 60% of his rushes behind zone blocking. In Week 1, the Chargers limited the Chiefs gap rushing to just 12 yards. Ouch! Will the rookie find running room? I’m tempering expectations here too.
Gap Matchups to Avoid
- Washington (vs. Green Bay): Washington ran all over the Giants last week to the tune of 220 yards, with 72% of designed runs coming behind a gap blocking scheme. The Packers did a great job limiting the Lions to 46 total yards, with less than 15 attributed to gap runs. The Commanders rushing strength meets the Packers defensive strength. My bet is on the latter.
- Arizona (vs. Carolina): The Cardinals employed the gap scheme 70% of their rushing attempts last week while the Panthers defense “limited” the Saints to “just” 28% of their rushing yards. That resulted in 52 gap rushing yards. So rather than an avoid recommendation, I’ll mark this one down to tempering James Conner’s expectations. He did run 83% of his rushing attempts behind gap blocking.
That’s All Folks
What do you think? I’ve been wanting to put a tool like this together for some time and I’m so excited to roll it out here. Of course, as I said in the article, the data will start to normalize over the coming weeks. I anticipate that the peaks and valleys will smooth out, but the keys will remain at our fingertips – you just need to know where to look. Don’t worry, I’m here to help along the way.
In fact, all the RazzballNFL staff is here to help. Be sure to read our daily articles and especially join us on gameday morning for the Razzball Sunday Start/Sit show. We had a great turnout and in hindsight, provided some excellent suggestions to your questions.
The show airs LIVE on the Razzball YouTube channel this Sunday from 11:00 am EDT (8:00 PDT) right up right up to gametime. Join @SkyGuasco, @Stiles08, @Crewser128, @Jefferson__21 and myself as we answer all your fantasy football questions. Don’t miss it.
As always, look for my articles right here each week and be sure to follow me on Twitter/X @Derek_Favret. I’m also on BlueSky as well (@dfavret.bsky.social).
Until next time, my friends.
