This is a little too assistant coachy, but it's an interesting conversation. I don't think there's a single answer here. Hyde , Peterson and carey have the highest upside and the lowest floor by far. If I had the luxury of waiting, I'd take one or even all three of them, but I'd need some current production to balance it out. If I had to rank them, I'd put Hyde, then Peterson, then carey, because Hyde had two paths to the job - gore could get hurt, or he could simply earn more carries in the second half of the season.
Randle had the same upside, but he's done so many stupid things recently that the team might lean towards Dunbar if Murray got hurt. Seems like your gambling on two things here, a Murray injury and the team actually picking him as the backup.
Blue and Polk have value if their starter greys hurry, and even if he doesn't, but both of them play behind elite talents. I'm not sute either would be on the same level as the other guys here if the starters all got hurt tomorrow. Of the two, blue has a little more value because foster is already dinged up.
Starks and Blount are in good situations because they already have some fantasy value even if their starters stay healthy. If you don't have any other backs on your team, their value is a little higher. If you do, then they're just backups, and you're waiting for their starter to gets hurt.
Gray seems like a low upside flex play right now. He could get you 100 yards any week. Or 10. It's hard to get excited about him, but if you need a warm body, he's got to be on the list.
Montee ball could step back into the starting role when he gets back. I know Hillman owners don't like it, but Hillman whiffed on a couple blocks layweek, and the team really likes ball for some reason.
CJ Anderson appears to be fools gold - he kind of got carries at the end of a blowout but he's clearly behind Hillman and probably behind ball and Juwan Thompson. Pass.
On this list I probably go ball, Peterson, Starks, Blount, Hyde. I can see swapping Peterson out if you don't think he'll play again this year or you just don't want to root for him. But are blue, polk or gray going to give you that upside?
