Davis / Gallman : Fantasy Impact

Whoa! Let’s slow down for a minute here. I’m stunned by the amount of takes on social media regarding the recent signing of Wayne Gallman to the Atlanta Falcons. Gallman is a good football player, someone I was hoping that my hometown team (Jets) would sign during the free agency period back in March. The Jets obviously didn’t sign him, and neither did the Falcons or 30 other teams for that matter. Gallman was finally signed by the 49ers to a 1 year deal, a month into the free agency period, and only after losing Jeff Wilson to a torn meniscus. The Niners, who lost Tevin Coleman and Jerrick McKinnon to the Jets and Chiefs respectively, are a team that often uses multiple running backs throughout the season, and even throughout each game for that matter, so Gallman had a chance to see the field in that backfield. However, the team drafted Tre Sermon in the third , and Elijah Mitchell in the 6th round of the NFL draft, leaving Gallman as the odd man out, and ultimately leading to his release when teams had to get down to 53 players. Since it fits my narrative, I should also mention that the Niners also kept JaMycal Hasty, an undrafted free agent from a year ago.  

(via Atlanta Falcons)

So when news broke this past week that Gallman has agreed to a contract with the Falcons, immediately, social media broke out in “takes” that Gallman is going to upset Mike Davis as the primary ball carrier for the team. That isn’t true. If in fact that does come to fruition, it won’t be until mid to late in the season, if and when Davis breaks down like he did towards the end of last season. This isn’t just my take. This is based on clear evidence. For one, the Falcons could’ve had Gallman at any point in free agency if they coveted him so much, but they were quick to identify and sign Davis a week into the start of the free agency period. The team also brought in Cordarelle Patterson, while Gallman remained unsigned. The Falcons held Davis out of all preseason games, not because he wasn’t available, but because they wanted to preserve their “featured” back. Meanwhile, Qadree Ollison was not very impressive with the extended work he saw in the summer, which is the primary reason the Falcons signed Gallman. Oliison was expendable, and Gallman is a better football player than Ollison. Simple as that. Gallman can pass protect, while Ollison struggled in that department. 

Don’t make this seem like I’m saying that Davis is a far superior player to Gallman, because I don’t know that to be true. Both are good players, and the sample size isn’t great enough to make that claim, even though we saw what Davis can do with extended opportunities in 2020. This is more about your fantasy team, and how you should approach this situation. If you already drafted Mike Davis, there is no need to panic. Davis is still ranked as a mid-late RB2 for fantasy. Should you rush out to pick up Gallman? He is definitely worthy of a claim or low FAB bid, especially to those that are zero-running back truthers. If you roster Davis, and have the roster availability, go ahead and add Gallman, as he is now one of the top handcuffs to roster.