Who Should I Start? Ty Chandler or Kimani Vidal

Thursday, September 11, 7:54 PM

The Minnesota Vikings announced on Thursday that they placed running back Ty Chandler (knee) on Injured Reserve, which means he will be forced to sit out beyond the team's Week 6 bye. Chandler was active for the Week 1 win over the Chicago Bears on Monday night but only played on special teams as a return man. With Chandler's injury, the Vikings are now pretty thin in the backfield behind their top two options, Aaron Jones Sr. and Jordan Mason. Zavier Scott is currently listed as their No. 3. Myles Price (knee) and Tai Felton are the candidates to replace Chandler on kickoff-return duties moving forward, starting in Week 2 on Sunday night against the Atlanta Falcons. In three seasons with the Vikes, Chandler has 164 rushing attempts for 663 yards (4.0 yards per carry) and three rushing touchdowns in 38 games (four starts).

Wednesday, October 15, 9:53 AM

Los Angeles Chargers running back Kimani Vidal exploded in Week 6 with 124 rushing yards on 18 carries (6.89 YPC) and three receptions for 14 yards and a touchdown through the air. The reason for his opportunity is that rookie Omarion Hampton (ankle) landed on the injured reserve in Week 5, which opened up the door for Vidal, and he made the most of it. At this point, Vidal should not be on your waiver wire and should be picked up immediately if he is. The most encouraging thing for Vidal is that he outsnapped, out-touched, and outplayed other Chargers running back Hassan Haskins by a landslide, saw 67% of the snaps to Haskins' 31%, out-touched him 22 to seven, and outgained him 138 to 23 in all-purpose yards. While fantasy managers may want to temper expectations, considering the Chargers faced the Miami Dolphins, who have allowed the seventh most points to running backs on the season, it was encouraging to see one of the two running backs get a majority of the touches, as coming into the matchup on Sunday, it was unclear who the lead back was going to be. Vidal can be viewed as a low-end RB2 moving forward until Hampton returns.