Past Production
| Year | Games | Carries | Rushing Yards | YPC | Rushing TDs | Fantasy Rank | Fantasy PPG | PPG Rank |
| 2019 | 5 | 42 | 245 | 5.8 | 2 | RB69 | 11.5 | 27th |
At this point, Derrius Guice’s dynasty profile has little to do with his production. Even so, let’s look at what he’s done as a prospect and in the NFL. Guice played college football at LSU, where he led the backfield in 2016 and 2017. Dynasty owners saw Guice as the clear second-best running back in the 2018 class, behind stud prospect Saquon Barkley.
Even though dynasty owners loved Guice, NFL teams had some character concerns around him that later proved prudent. Eventually, Washington drafted Guice as the seventh running back off the board with the 59th overall pick to be their new workhorse running back. They used Robert Kelley, Samaje Perine, and Chris Thompson in a nasty committee in 2017, and they saw Guice as their solution to their backfield issues.
Unfortunately, Guice tore his ACL in the preseason, forcing him to miss the entire 2018 season. Washington then signed Adrian Peterson, who dominated carries in a 1,042-yard season. Even though Guice missed his full rookie year, Washington still saw him as their running back of the future. They brought back Peterson and Thompson as complementary pieces, but they remained confident in Guice.
Despite multiple offseason setbacks, Guice finally seemed healthy by the 2019 season. He became Washington’s Week 1 starter, relegating Peterson to a healthy scratch in that contest. However, Guice tore his meniscus in that game, and he landed on injured reserve. He returned in Week 11 and played in four games, but then he suffered an MCL injury. Guice missed the rest of 2019 with that injury, and he had managed to play only five out of 32 games in his first two NFL seasons.
Even though Guice had barely played by Year 3, Washington still planned to use Guice as their starter in 2020. They signed Peyton Barber and J.D. McKissic in free agency and drafted Antonio Gibson as a pass-catching back in the third round. Even with the new signings, Guice was still the favorite to lead Washington in touches until he was arrested on multiple domestic violence charges.
Washington’s new head coach Ron Rivera decided to release Guice immediately based on the news. Since this report came out, multiple sources have indicated that the charges against Guice are severe, and he likely will face a serious NFL suspension and possible jail time. There’s a good chance Guice’s NFL career is over.
2020 Outlook
Guice has no 2020 outlook. He’s not a proven star player like Kareem Hunt was, so no team will take a chance on Guice until his legal situation resolves. That’s not going to happen before the end of the 2020 NFL season.
Dynasty Analysis
Unfortunately, part of playing dynasty fantasy football is dealing with dynasty transactions based on off-field issues. Since dynasty is a year-round game, I can’t just tell you not to draft Guice in 2020, as he’s undoubtedly on someone’s roster in your league. At this point, I think it’s more likely than not that Guice has already played his final NFL snap. He struggled with multiple injuries before his arrest, and he never demonstrated the talent he showed at LSU.
If I had Guice on my dynasty team, I would sell for any third-round pick. If I couldn’t get that, I would hold onto him in hopes that he’s somehow cleared of these charges and eventually signs with a team for 2021. I wouldn’t consider flat-out dropping Guice at this time unless it’s a super shallow league.
Thanks for reading this article. You can find me on Twitter at @DFF_Karp. I love to interact with anyone in the community, so reach out at any time! I take fantasy questions and help with all formats, so keep sending those questions my way.
Be sure to check out the rest of our Dynasty Profile series!
