Don’t forget about Derrius Guice during your fantasy football drafts

Though he was injured in the preseason last year and did not get to show off his talents during the regular season, Guice is healthy and could make a huge impact in fantasy leagues this year.

Derrius Guice is still only 21 years old. He was chosen in the 2018 NFL Draft with the 59th-overall pick, quite high for a running back, showing how much the Redskins thought of him. And not only is he young, but he has very little “tread” on his proverbial tires, with only 471 career carriers in college. Since he was behind Leonard Fournette on the depth chart for most of his college career, he should still be fresh.

Many fantasy football players only remember what happened most recently, and allow an injury or a recent bad game to negatively color a player in their minds. This devaluation is sometimes warranted, but particularly in instances of injury, it is not. Guice does not have a significant injury history, and his first significant injury occurred on a beautifully nasty 34-yard run against the Patriots in the preseason.

That run gave us our first glimpse of what he might be able to do in the pros, but when the Patriots defenders pulled Guice down from behind, it meant that would be our only glimpse of the year. Yes, he tore his ACL. And yes, he had some complications in the aftermath of that surgery.

But by all accounts Guice is now healthy, and told Clinton Portis in an interview last week that he will not be thinking about his injury when he’s on the field but will run angry like he always has. In addition, Redskins head coach Jay Gruden said Guice is coming along very well, and that they will hold him out until training camp just to make sure his leg muscles are back to full strength.

When it comes to fantasy football, Guice could explode this season. Last year at the Combine he ran the 40-yard dash in a ridiculous 4.49 seconds, at 224 pounds, similar to what Saquon Barkley did. He runs with power, is elite at changing directions, and has soft hands catching the ball. If the Redskins give him 15-20 touches per game, he should be a top 15 running back for fantasy.

Make sure when your draft comes around you are not sleeping on Guice. He is worthy of being chosen by the fourth round of fantasy drafts, whether dynasty or redraft.