Week 11 vs. Oakland Raiders (game in Mexico City)
Hola fanáticos del fútbol americano! Sexy Rexy esta muy caliente, after back-to-back double-digit PPR games. Get this: only three times has a Patriots running back played more than 50% of snaps in a game this season, and Burkhead did that last week. He's a solid RB2 starter or FLEX play this week against a Raiders defense ranked a lowly 28th against opposing RBs in our aFPA rankings.
Week 10 at Denver Broncos
Want to play fantasy football Russian Roulette? Because that's what figuring out which Patriots RB to start each week and whether to start them at all is like. Plus, the Broncos are fifth in our aFPA vs. RB rankings. Rex Burkhead is an interesting deep bench stash, but this situation is too murky to trust in Week 10.
Week 8 vs. Los Angeles Chargers
For now, Rex Burkhead is fourth in the Patriots' RB pecking order. He's not a viable fantasy starter.
Week 3 vs. Houston Texans
The Patriots are double-digit home favorites against the Texans and have the highest Vegas implied team total for the second week in a row at 29 points. Burkhead is looking unlikely to play (ribs) after not practicing this week. Even if he does play, he's only received 9 touches on the season; therefore, if you were to start him, you're just hoping for a touchdown, and we can't recommend a start like that.
Week 2 at New Orleans Saints
So much for all that pre-game Twitter hype for Rex Burkhead in Week 1, huh? However, now there are reports he could play more in the slot in Week 2 with Danny Amendola banged up. Are we really going to fall for this two weeks in a row? Sexy Rexy only played 10 snaps last week...not so sexy. You have to leave him on your bench in Week 2.
Week 1 vs. Chiefs
Rex Burkhead was described as a four-down back in training camp by Bill Belichick, making us wonder if he meant Burkhead will be in a special teams role to start the season with Mike Gillislee as the early-down/goal-line back. It's possible Burkhead could emerge and take the coveted goal-line role, but with the pecking order going into Week 1 for New England's re-tooled backfield still unclear, it's likely best to keep Burkhead on your bench to start the season.
Fantasy Upside
There was some initial excitement from the fantasy community when the Patriots signed Rex Burkhead, but then the Patriots traded for Mike Gillislee. However, you never know with Bill Belichick. All signs point to Gillislee winning the early-down work and goal-line duties, but this battle will be important to monitor leading up to Week 1. Evidenced by LeGarrette Blount's top-10 RB finish last season, there's massive upside for whichever back wins the job.
Fantasy Downside
In all likelihood, Burkhead will function more as a special teams specialist and depth for the Patriots. That would render him as nothing more than a handcuff to Gillislee.
2017 Bottom Line
Unless you are in a league with a deep bench, Burkhead is no more than just a waiver wire name to monitor. If anything were to happen to GIllislee though, Burkhead would have instant fantasy relevance.
Week 17 vs Baltimore
Rex Burkhead has picked up the slack with Gio Bernard out and Jeremy Hill banged up. However, he is still not getting as many touches as you might think (although he did have 16 last week because of Hill's issues).
Burkhead will face the No. 1 run defense this week, so we don't expect much from him unless it is in the passing game. Either way, he's not a fantasy option for Week 17.
Week 16 at Houston
Rex Burkhead has averaged about 10 touches per game since Giovani Bernard's season ended. It has put him on the fantasy radar, although there hasn't been enough quality numbers to make him significant.
It's a good matchup this week against the Texans run defense, but the touches aren't there to consider him for your lineup for Week 16.
Week 15 vs Pittsburgh
Rex Burkhead has 22 touches over the last two games and has slid nicely into the secondary running back role behind Jeremy Hill. He's played 46% of the snaps since Giovani Bernard went down, so Burkhead is oficially part of the Cincinnati game plan.
However, even with a favorable matchup against Pittsburgh, we don't see Rex putting up enough production to warrant a fantasy start. Keep him on the bench for Week 15.
