The New York Jets have not been a very good team the last
few years. A great run defense and marginal pass defense have been the best
units on their team. Lacking talent on offense has been an issue. An unproven,
and at times bad, quarterback and lack of depth at receiver have hamstrung the
Jets offense. With a regime change and the addition of Brandon Marshall you
might think that the passing game will get a better look. And it may. But with
Todd Bowles installed as the head man and a hugely upgraded secondary, look for
the jets to win by controlling the ball and shutting down the opponents
offense.
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| Image source: nypost.com |
Enter Chris Ivory.
Chris Ivory, RB, New York Jets currently sits atop the depth
chart. Over the last few seasons he has not been the most consistent of running
backs, but its tough to be great when they know you are running and stack the
box. Ivory only had 44% quality games last season using the consistency guide of Bob Lung. His late season run was
pretty bad as teams realized that the Jets lacked a passing attack.
Over the last two seasons Ivory’s splits for both home vs
road and rank of defense have not been great. His best category is against bad
defenses at home, where he was a perfect four for four. At home against good
defenses he was four of seven quality games, 57%. On the road overall he is
only four of 15, 27%.
The schedule for the Jets this year is the seventh best
schedule against run defenses.
With an average ranking of 18.31, the jets will
only face four of the Top 10 run defenses from last season. To open the season
Ivory and the Jets will not face a Top 10 run defense. In games six through 10, the schedule gets much tougher. Three Top 11
run defenses await during this period. Weeks 11 to 13 have great match ups
against teams that are no better than 24th in run defense last
season. The playoff run is difficult for Ivory and his Jets counterparts. The Week
14 game is in Ivory’s favor, facing the second worst run defense of last season
in the Titans. After that it gets much more difficult. Week 15 sees the Jets
travel to the eighth ranked run defense of the Cowboys. The Week 16 match up
doesn’t get much easier, facing the ninth ranked run defense of the Patriots.
If your league plays through week 17 you won’t find a reprieve either. The 11th
ranked Bills will host the Jets in the finale.
Ivory is not historically a big pass catcher out of the
backfield.
Having a career high 18 receptions on 27 targets in 2014 means that
in a PPR league you will not get many extra points from his activity in the
passing game. Ivory also must win the job during training camp. The Jets signed
Stevan Ridley and traded for Zac Stacy in the off season. This isn’t Ivory’s job
without earning it. The good news is that if one of the other guys in the
competition wins the job, my advice will be the same.
Ivory, or the winner of the competition, is at best a RB2 or
a flex. If you draft them, look to trade them after four or five weeks for a
player that has a better looking second half or playoff schedule. He is a
player you could platoon throughout the season based on match ups. Ivory is
currently RB 44 at 106th overall pick in the ADP on fantasypros.com. As late round depth that has
potential trade value, Ivory is a target of mine in round nine to ten.
