Who Should I Start? Latavius Murray or Duke Johnson

Saturday, December 23, 12:23 AM

Buffalo Bills running back Latavius Murray remains somewhat in play for Week 16 against the Los Angeles Chargers. Murray vultured a short touchdown in last Sunday's easy win over the Dallas Cowboys, preventing featured back James Cook from an even bigger evening than his 221-yard outburst. Though Murray handled two red-zone touches in Week 15, he played his lowest rate of snaps (15.6%) and ran his fewest number of routes (one) for a mere 11 total yards. Murray is almost certainly going to need a touchdown and perhaps for the Bills to form a sizable lead to have any chance at a decent outcome in Round 2 of fantasy's postseason. It needs to be noted that Ty Johnson's (shoulder) snaps have ascended in each of Buffalo's prior three outings, out-snapping Murray altogether against Dallas. Murray is nothing more than an emergency RB4/flex if Johnson ends up missing Saturday with a shoulder injury.

Sunday, May 5, 1:51 PM

Running back Duke Johnson announced his retirement from professional football on Sunday. Johnson was originally taken in the third round (77th overall) by the Cleveland Browns in the 2015 NFL draft out of Miami. He spent the first four seasons of his NFL career with the Browns before spending two years with the Houston Texans. Johnson played for the Miami Dolphins in 2021 and the Buffalo Bills in the final year of his career in 2022. The 30-year-old wraps up his career having recorded 2,265 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on 532 carries, adding 311 catches on 405 targets for 2,870 yards and an additional 12 touchdowns in 97 games (21 starts) covering eight seasons. Johnson had a career-high 410 rushing yards on 83 attempts in his first year in Houston in 2019.