Who Should I Start? Isiah Pacheco or Ray Davis


Week 1 Projections

Fant.
Pts.
Rush.
Yds.
Rush
TD
Rec. Rec.
Yds.
Rec
TD
6.3 31.2 0.2 0.9 6.4 0.0

Isiah Pacheco News

Isiah Pacheco Up in the Air for Week 1 With Back, Knee Injuries

Thursday, August 27, 8:37 AM

When asked about Detroit Lions running back Isiah Pacheco's (back, knee) status for the Week 1 regular-season opener against the New Orleans Saints, head coach Dan Campbell said, "I can't give you anything definitive." Campbell said that Pacheco picked up a back injury in training camp, in addition to his MCL sprain, according to Colton Pouncy of The Athletic. Right now, Pacheco's knee is not the concern. If the 27-year-old Pacheco is unavailable to play in the season opener in early September, Sione Vaki is likely to step up into the RB2 role in Detroit behind starter Jahmyr Gibbs. Pacheco ran for 1,765 yards and 12 touchdowns on 375 carries while adding 57 catches for 374 yards and two more TDs as a receiver in his first two years with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022 and 2023, but he combined for just 201 carries, 772 rushing yards, and two touchdowns in 20 games in the last two years while dealing with various injuries. When healthy, he's expected to be the backup in a change-of-pace role for Gibbs, but he is not selling himself as a handcuff target for fantasy managers with more injury issues before the start of the 2026 season. Right now, Pacheco is ranked as the RB54 at RotoBaller.


Week 1 Projections

Fant.
Pts.
Rush.
Yds.
Rush
TD
Rec. Rec.
Yds.
Rec
TD
3.0 13.8 0.1 0.5 4.2 0.0

Ray Davis News

Ray Davis Still Looks Like a Handcuff in Redraft

Wednesday, August 19, 11:27 AM

Buffalo Bills running back Ray Davis is easy to like in theory. The problem is James Cook III isn't going anywhere. Davis had only 58 carries last season, finishing with 275 rushing yards, while Cook ran for 1,621 yards on 309 carries and won the rushing title. That's a pretty wide gap. Davis did show what can happen when the door actually opens, though. In Week 18, with Buffalo easing off Cook, he ran 21 times for 151 yards and caught two passes for 23 yards and a touchdown. That was his only game all year with double-digit carries. Ty Johnson is still around to take passing-down work, so even the backup role isn't completely clean from a fantasy standpoint. RotoBaller has Davis 183rd overall in its Aug. 19 PPR rankings, which puts him in late-round territory. That's about right. Davis can handle a bigger workload if Buffalo ever needs him to, but until something happens to Cook, there probably isn't enough here for regular standalone value.


Isiah Pacheco vs. Ray Davis

Still trying to decide between Pacheco and Davis? Check on the latest news to make sure both players are active and healthy. Our PPR projections show that Isiah Pacheco is projected to score 6.3 points this week while Ray Davis is projected to score 3.0 points.