Week 9 Running Back Injury Tracker: Breece Hall Nears a Return, Bhayshul Tuten Is a Game-Time Call and Jeremiyah Love Lands on IR

Three backfields that fantasy managers depend on are in flux heading into Week 9. The Jets expect Breece Hall back from a five-week quad injury for Sunday's trip to Kansas City, the Jaguars say Bhayshul Tuten (ankle/foot) will be a game-time decision for Thursday night in Baltimore, and the Cardinals placed rookie Jeremiyah Love on injured reserve with a high-ankle sprain. Each situation moves a starter in or out of lineups, and each creates a waiver or bench decision for managers who have been leaning on the backups.

Here is where the three situations stand as of Wednesday.

Breece Hall: back, but not on a full workload

Hall has been sidelined since hurting his right quad in the Week 3 loss to Detroit. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported early this week that Hall is good to go and should play against the Chiefs, and offensive coordinator Frank Reich said he assumes Hall remains the lead back once he is active. Head coach Aaron Glenn has also pushed back on the idea that the Jets would move Hall before the November 10 trade deadline.

The caution is history. Hall was reported as close to returning before Week 8 too, and he did not play. Until he is off the final injury report on Friday, treat the return as likely rather than locked in.

The bigger question is volume. Braelon Allen has been one of the better stories of the fantasy season, averaging more than 114 scrimmage yards per game over the five games Hall missed and posting a career-high 147 rushing yards in the 38-33 loss to the Raiders. Analysts covering the Jets expect something close to a split in Hall's first game back, with Hall getting roughly half the work and the Jets easing toward a 60/40 share in his favor once he is fully healthy.

The matchup does not help either back. The Chiefs are favored by roughly 9.5 to 10 points across the market, with a total in the 45.5 to 46.5 range. A Jets team playing from behind tends to lean on the pass, which favors whichever back earns the third-down and two-minute snaps.

What to do with Hall and Allen

Hall is a low-end RB2 or flex this week, not a must-start. His talent wins out over the rest of the season, so he stays in lineups in deeper formats, but a first game back after five weeks on the road against a double-digit favorite caps the ceiling.

Allen is the harder call. He is a flex in 12-team leagues this week and should be held everywhere. If Hall's quad flares again, Allen goes straight back to RB2 value, and his early-down work is unlikely to vanish entirely given how well he has played.

Bhayshul Tuten: the Thursday trap

Tuten missed the first two practice reports of the short week. Jaguars coach Liam Coen said Wednesday that his back is feeling better, but the decision is expected to come down to kickoff, which is the worst possible outcome for fantasy managers on a Thursday night game.

When healthy, Tuten has been one of the most reliable volume backs in the league. He had at least 15 touches in each of Jacksonville's first seven games and posted his best game of the year against Indianapolis with 104 rushing yards and a touchdown. Even if he plays, beat coverage suggests a lighter workload than normal, and some Jaguars observers have argued the team would be better served resting him against a Ravens club starting undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano at quarterback.

If Tuten sits, Chris Rodriguez is in line for most of the carries. Rodriguez ran for 41 yards and a touchdown on six carries last week and fits the profile of a short-yardage grinder in a game script that should favor the Jaguars. Jacksonville is favored by nearly 10 points on the road.

What to do with Tuten and Rodriguez

Managers with a Sunday backup who can cover the Tuten slot should consider making that move before Thursday rather than risking a late inactive. If a Tuten roster has no alternative, starting him is defensible because the Jaguars will likely protect a lead with the run game, but expect something closer to RB2 output than his early-season RB1 pace.

Rodriguez is the priority handcuff this week and a viable flex if Tuten is ruled out before kickoff. In DFS, Rodriguez becomes one of the slate's best showdown values if the news breaks early on Thursday.

Jeremiyah Love to IR: Tyler Allgeier's audition continues

The Cardinals placed Love on injured reserve on Tuesday with a right high-ankle sprain suffered in the overtime win in Dallas. Rapoport reported a four-to-five-week recovery window, which means at least four missed games. It is the rookie's third separate ankle injury since August, and head coach Mike LaFleur said this one is unrelated to the previous two.

Tyler Allgeier was the last healthy back standing in Dallas after Bam Knight left with a concussion. He ran for 147 yards on 11 carries, caught all five of his targets for 44 yards and scored twice on 48 offensive snaps. Behind him the depth is thin: Knight is in the concussion protocol, James Conner is not ready to come off injured reserve this week, and Arizona may need Evan Hull or a practice squad elevation for depth.

That points to a bell-cow role for Allgeier while Love is out. The matchup is the problem. Arizona visits Seattle, which is laying double digits and opened as the biggest favorite of the week, with a total around 42. A heavy underdog script does not usually feed a two-down runner.

The Verdexed angle

The theme across all three backfields is that volume beats efficiency this time of year. Allgeier's 13.4 yards per carry in Dallas will not repeat, but a near-monopoly on Arizona's backfield touches will hold for a month, which makes him an RB2 this week and the most valuable of the three backups over the next four weeks. Allen is the best talent of the group but the most likely to see his role shrink. Rodriguez is a one-week play tied entirely to Thursday's news.

For the model's view of each game, including Jaguars at Ravens and Jets at Chiefs, see the Week 9 board at /nfl/predictions and the weekly picks page at /blog/nfl-week-9-picks-2026.

What's next

Watch three things: Tuten's Thursday status, Hall's Friday designation and whether Arizona adds a veteran back before the deadline. Final inactives for Thursday's game post 90 minutes before kickoff, so managers should have a Sunday pivot ready now rather than scrambling then.