0:00It is a great day to break down my week seven fantasy football running back rankings. We're going RB1 to RB48 and
0:06goodness gracious guys by the time we get to about RB15, we're already going to be in dire straits, but that's even
0:12more reason to wrap our minds around the ever-evolving backfield landscape here in the NFL. In between though, we're going to be going through some of the
0:19best and worst schedule stretches for the next six weeks and at the end, I have a waiver wire pick up for you guys
0:25who is available in 99% of Yahoo leagues who is simply one move that honestly is looking more and more likely away from being a darling on your
0:34bench to someone that everyone is going to be trying to hype up in the waiver wire articles around the industry, but
0:39we'll save that for later instead start off with Mr. RB1 in tier one the big A here. It's Jahmyr Gibbs guys, all right.
0:4630.7 PPR points per game to start this season. That only trails 2000 Marshall Faulk in 20 that 2002 I should say
0:54Priest Holmes in NFL history. Absolutely ridiculous start for Jahmyr Gibbs.
0:58Bijan's been good too, but let's face it after six weeks Gibbs easily cementing and validating his status as Mr. 101 back in August. As my RB2, I got Kenneth
1:08Walker going up against the Seahawks in a revenge game Sunday night special and yeah, that same list again of best running back seasons ever. Jahmyr Gibbs
1:15might be number three, but Kenneth Walker RB10 in PPR points per game. More motivated than ever. Get your popcorn ready for that one. RB3 is Bijan
1:24Robinson. Just 7.3 PPR points last week.
1:27That was actually good for his fifth fewest uh in 57 career games. The one issue here cuz it's Bijan, all right.
1:33We're not going to be freaking out.
1:34Maybe finishes RB4 instead of RB2 this season. All right, you're still not going to be exactly crying about it.
1:40He's averaging almost 107 rushing yards per game. The receiving stuff though has looked a bit more like what we saw prior
1:47to last season than actually building on it, okay? Last year 10.8 PPR points per game for Bijan as a pure receiver.
1:55This year he's only at 6.7, okay? He was at 6.5 in 2024, 7.7 in 2023, but yeah man, we're talking about a legit four
2:03point nearly gap between what we saw Bijan as a receiver last year compared to this season. So, still obviously in one's idea of one of the best running
2:10backs in the world going up against the 49ers, maybe they do face more negative game script and have to get him the
2:15ball, but yeah, that is the one sort of thorn in what otherwise has been a very, very rosy 2026 season for Bijan.
2:23RB4, I got Derrick Henry going against the Bengals, guys. He hasn't exactly been operating with the world-class efficiency we've been used to ever since
2:30week one. In fact, we have not seen a gain of 30-plus yards from our one true King Henry since week one.
2:37That said, he's been stopped at the one-yard line and not scored a touchdown in the same drive four separate times this season, so they've been getting so
2:43close to punching him across. Hey, still eight touchdowns, not like he's been going scoreless or anything like that.
2:49And guys, winter is coming. This is one of my favorite stats year over year for Derrick Henry's career, all right?
2:55September, he averages 4.3 yards per carry. October, 4.7. November, 4.9.
3:01December, 5.3. And January, including the playoffs, 5.5. Sooner rather than later, we'll be getting the fireworks.
3:09Maybe it's going to be hopefully with the return of Lamar Jackson this Sunday against the Bengals seeing that we certainly seen our fair share of
3:14shootouts between over the years. RB5, I got Christian McCaffrey going up against the Falcons. Hasn't maybe looked like prime CMC out there, but guess what? You
3:22take Mike Evans away from the equation and all of a sudden we're getting 10 targets going our our man's way again.
3:27So, still one of only four RBs this year averaging 20-plus PPR points per game.
3:31The big thing for CMC, too, is just been they're force-feeding him inside the five-yard line. Only Josh Allen has more rushing touchdowns inside the five than
3:39CMC this year. As much as Ke'Shawn Black might be a you know, a hammer, like he runs really freaking hard. They like
3:45getting away from some of the CMC carries in the teeth in the teeth the defense, you know, between the 20s, not
3:50at the goal line. 11 to zero in favor of Christian McCaffrey, guys, in terms of carries between him and Raheem Blackshear inside the 5-yard line. So, I
3:58think with all the injuries, we're probably getting back to the days of 20 to 25 combined carries and targets for CMC weekly. That is a PPR cheat code,
4:06and accordingly, he's a top five running back.
4:08RB6, this is where things start getting a little bit interesting, but hey, give the man his due. Chuba Hubbard, guys, going up against the Tampa Bay
4:15Buccaneers. Tougher match up. Tampa Bay's done a pretty good job both against the run and the pass, but how can you not just start Chuba and say,
4:21"Well, worry about that match up thing later?" This season, he has finished as a PPR RB10, RB10, RB12, and then back-to-back RB7 finishes over his last
4:30two games. 94% snap rate last week, guys. That is beyond elite, and honestly, something that we couldn't, maybe even shouldn't want moving forward
4:39because, you know, just let our man be healthy and get through the rest of the season. But, Chuba Hubbard is a very,
4:44very good pick for fantasy MVP at this point when considering ADP and everything that goes into that. Hats off to Chuba Hubbard.
4:52RB7, I'm going with Kyren Williams, guys. He has the 10th most touches in the league. I know he only got 13 last
4:58week, and I guess that's why he felt the need to complain.
5:01It is what it is. I mean, on the one hand, I don't know. I first heard about Kyren being like, "Oh, I
5:07wasn't out there. I couldn't tell." I was like, "Come on, man. Like, you're getting force-fed the football more weeks than not anyway." But, hey, he's a
5:13starting NFL running back. He wants the ball more. He wants to help his team more. Who should be criticizing that?
5:18Certainly not me. So, Cam Akers has been averaging slightly more yards per touch this season, but they're both top eight.
5:24Moral of the story, it's Kyren Williams who should be the lead back here far more weeks than not. It's still a Rams
5:29offense that, albeit, hasn't been quite as great as we were hoping for, but it still does possess weekly 30-plus scoring point upside, particularly
5:36against the Raiders here. So, again, best case for Kyren would be him just getting going even more as a receiver without Davante Adams in the picture.
5:44Terrance Ferguson still sidelined for another week as well. But, yeah, Kyren Williams RB7. If we didn't have to worry about Blake Corum as much, he'd be in
5:51the top five.
5:53RB8, I'm going with Jonathan Taylor, guys, going up against the Vikings.
5:56Toughest matchup in the league in terms of fantasy points per game allowed to RBs. And just with the way Daniel Jones
6:01and everyone are going, it is looking dicey in Indy. Some of the trade rumors are starting to pick up. Would be
6:07interesting to see JT find his way to contender. Maybe the one standing on the other sideline from him. But, anyway, hasn't been super pretty this year.
6:15Averaging a career four low career low four yards per carry, but still finding the end zone far more weeks than not out
6:21there. And he is Jonathan Taylor, after all. Would like to get some big plays coming eventually. Again, that's just kind of been the missing piece for both
6:27him and Derrick Henry to start this season. But, again, still looking at 20-plus touches far more weeks than not.
6:33And still looking at someone that, again, if there is going to be a touchdown from the Colts, pretty decent chance that it's going to be JT the one
6:39crossing the plane. Key question though for this tier, guys, I just want to go ahead and reassess things and look at
6:44week six and just ask a simple question, who are the biggest workhorses in fantasy football right now? And at least based on week six numbers, we do have a
6:52handful of guys, specifically 10 running backs, who played at least 75% of their offensive snaps. Specifically, Dameon Pierce all the way up there at 97% after
7:01Carson Steel suffered a shoulder injury very early on in that one. I mentioned Chuba Hubbard being north of 90 as well.
7:07Breylon Allen, who we'll talk about here in a second, sitting pretty at 87% with Breece Hall still sidelined. Christian McCaffrey 85%, Bucky Irving 85% with Ty
7:15Chandler and De'Von Achane and Roschon Johnson out there. Jonathan Taylor, Woody Marks, Bijan Robinson, Tony Pollard, and Kenneth Walker more running
7:21backs in that 75% snap club. Also, wouldn't exactly sweat Jaylen Warren, Javonte Williams, Kyren Williams, or James Cook, all playing at least
7:29two-thirds of their offensive snaps.
7:31Obviously, guys like Derrick Henry are just fine as well. But, yeah, situation where, again, always rare to see running backs actually out there in the year
7:382026 in a true three-down role. But, at least for a time being, we actually have double-digit running backs that are doing just that.
7:45Tier two guys, I got RBs that we mostly feel good about, right? We're not getting too gross right now, but maybe
7:50by the end of this tier, we will be.
7:52Leading off with RB9 D'Andre Swift, RB11 in PPR points per game this season.
7:57Would it be cooler for Swift fantasy managers if he was getting a true workhorse role with Jamaal Williams on the sideline? Yes, but Roshan Johnson
8:03making the most out of his opportunities as well. And ultimately, 15 to 20 touches per game for Swift in this usually high-flying Ben Johnson, Caleb
8:11Williams-led attack. Tough to complain about that too much. Low-end RB1 for me, just like he's been all season. RB10, I'm going with Jaylen Warren against the
8:19Saints in Paris. This is the league's worst rush defense in terms of fantasy points per game allowed at the position.
8:25And again, we didn't get the massive 90% snap share with Rico Dowdle back in the picture last week, but 74% 18 combined
8:32carries and targets. I know the latter volume came a little bit with help from overtime, but I just think that again, let's not get too freaked
8:39out here. Jaylen Warren has been playing great. They've been feeding him the football. And no, they're not going to make him this 90% plus snap guy as long
8:45as Rico is healthy, but that's so rare to see anyway across the NFL. Usually only happens because again, a lot of
8:51injuries pile up. Hopefully, the Steelers are doing what they need to do to keep their running backs, specifically their lead running back
8:57Jaylen Warren, healthy for the rest of the year. So, again, great running back and a solid offense. We can probably almost get close to saying good at this
9:04point in an awesome matchup. Feeling good about Jaylen Warren as a top 10 running back here in week seven.
9:10RB11, I'm going with Braelon Allen against the Miami Dolphins, guys. Breece Hall still hasn't managed to get back to practice, and the longer he stays out,
9:17the longer I think we have to start asking the question, is Braelon Allen the best option the Jets have as a true rusher of the
9:24football? Breece is very good in his own right, man, particularly everything he does as a receiver, but more and more whenever I go to this stat, it's just
9:31becoming more clear that my eyes are not lying to me. Percentage of carries this year that have gained at least 3 yards
9:37after contact. We now have Breece Hall sitting as a seventh best running back, 48.6% mark there. Breece Hall, among 54 qualified running backs, dead last at
9:4721.6%.
9:48So, I'm trying to not so much put down Breece as I am trying to elevate Breece Hall Allen who, look again, is playing a
9:54near every down role with Breece sidelined. This has helped get him a lot of touches week in and week out. We
10:00should continue to feel very good about treating him as an RB1 in Breece's absence. I'm just saying, if Breece does come back this week, even in a great
10:07match-up against the Dolphins second worst defense in the league only behind the Saints in terms of PPR points per game allowed at the position,
10:15I would not be crossing out Breece and just putting Breece there. I wouldn't be ranking Breece outside the top 20 or
10:20anything like that, but RB15, RB16, I would not be quite as confident in Breece pushing for 20 plus carries as I
10:28was a few short weeks ago. So, again, it's a testament to Breece Hall Allen.
10:32Get better soon, Breece. We want to see you healthy out there and the Jets offense does still have more scoring upside than in past years, but Breece
10:38Hall Allen, man, just 22 years young, really making a nice name for himself this year and now he's staying healthy.
10:44Funny how that works.
10:46RB12, I'm going with Javonte Williams against the Eagles on Monday night football. Obviously, been very touchdown dependent this year, but he's in an
10:52offense that despite their struggles, still I mean, I would say relative struggles, right? We're not dealing with the Dolphins here, but not the
10:58high-flying Cowboys that we necessarily expected, still has helped Javonte Williams, you know, find the end zone all sorts of times and be one of the
11:04very few running backs averaging north of 18 PPR points per game. So, not exactly expecting a boom in the efficiency, you know, department against
11:12Jalen Carter and this Eagles front seven that has remained feisty throughout the season, but end of the day, Javonte Williams is someone who if he falls into
11:19the end zone two or three times during any given week, it would not surprise us. RB13 is someone who I also thought
11:25that wouldn't be surprising us, but it has not been happening so far. Chase Brown, guys.
11:30Ooh, man. Bengals offense still, by and large, looking very good this year, and Chase Brown has been their featured running back. 21, 23, 15, 20, and 16
11:39touches this season, and RB19 production in PPR points per game.
11:44It has been rough, man. And here's the crazy part. Speedy Chase Brown, big play Chase Brown, 95 touches without a gain of 15-plus
11:54yards this season.
11:5595.
11:57The next closest running back is Kendre Miller at 55.
12:01I would like to think better days are going to be ahead. It's a Ravens defense that is solid, but considering the
12:07potential for this one to be a shootout, especially if Lamar Jackson returns, isn't a matchup that we're scared of.
12:13I do worry about how much of that week five slip in usage was game script, and how much of it was a fumble from Chase
12:20Brown {slash} the coaching staff getting tired of seeing Samaje Perine make more with his opportunities. So, we're holding firm, but man, if there
12:29was ever a team to give Indy or give Philly a call, because they're looking at their backfield saying, "We're not so
12:33sure we got a guy." It's probably the Bengals. As things stand right now, borderline RB1, but if you would have told me a month ago that we'd be ranking
12:41Chase Brown outside the top 12 in a week with four teams on bye, would have called you a liar. That's all
12:47I'm saying.
12:48RB14, I'm going Bucky Irving, and this hurts because he's playing so freaking well this year.
12:55He's third in yards after contact per carry. He's seventh in tackles avoided per carry. He just had an 85% snap rate.
13:00As I'm saying this, I want to move him up more, but he killed the Cowboys. Who hasn't? Join the club, get in line, I get it.
13:08And his other three of his his last four games, guys, 58, 61, and 49 scrimmage yards.
13:14It's not you, Bucky, it's your offense.
13:1725th in scoring. Jaylen Daniels, he's impressed, I think, relative to undrafted rookie quarterbacks. We're still getting a several knucklehead throws per game.
13:26And maybe Baker Mayfield comes back. Are you guys excited about Baker coming back?
13:31After he did not look good to start the year and is now coming back from a right throwing hand dislocated thumb that
13:37happened less than a month ago.
13:40Again, Bucky's making the most out of his opportunities, but the problem is we're still not getting a ton of targets even with Kenneth Gainwell not being
13:46quite as involved as expected. And yeah, Sean Tucker's out of the picture, but when your offense isn't moving the ball hardly as well as we would be hoping
13:53for, then all of a sudden we're not getting many goal line touches to begin with. So, reasonable enough magic against the Panthers. You know, this is
13:58a bottom five defense in fantasy points allowed to running backs, but yeah, Bucky Irving, RB 14, who I am getting into every lineup that I have him with,
14:07but again, unfortunate that we can't be firing this guy up as a top 10 running back that he certainly looked like he
14:12has been in real life this year.
14:14RB 15, give me all Raheem Mostert guys going against New York Jets, all right?
14:19Top 15 treatment for Raheem Mostert, the guy that we were all Drake and Josh-ing around about being the waiver wire darling couple weeks ago.
14:27Don't look now, he's playing some pretty damn good football. 55 188 total yards in the last three weeks. He's scored a
14:33touchdown each and every time out. Is he pretty much a zero as a receiver? Yes.
14:37Should we be expecting the Dolphins to be constantly, you know, in a position to give him a bunch of goal line
14:41carries? Absolutely not.
14:43But put on the film and watch Raheem Mostert go. This is a big dude with quick feet and big play ability.
14:51Raheem Mostert and Salvon Ahmed, man, as much as we did not give them any benefit of doubt in the preseason as these
14:57handcuffs we were going out of our way for for good reason. We didn't necessarily know they were going to be dominating over Jalen Wright and Isaiah
15:03Davis respectively, but man, I really liked what I was seeing from both these young running backs in offensive situations that have hardly made it easy
15:10for them. So, Jets gang green defense has been better than expected this year, but I'm going out on a little bit of a
15:15limb here. I think Raheem Mostert can provide top 15 production based on being a really freaking good football player in a Dolphins offense that wants to
15:22continue running the football pretty much regardless of what that scoreboard says. So, I would just really hope that the offense can look at their team at
15:29this point and conclude that the Malik Willis, Ally Gordon rushing tandem is their most realistic and best path to maybe getting a victory at some point
15:38this season.
15:39Ally Gordon, doing good things, and I wouldn't be surprised if No, it doesn't finish as a top 10 running back, but
15:45down the stretch, consistent treatment as an upside RB2, let's do it.
15:50RB16, I'm going to Ramondre Stevenson against the Bears on Thursday night football, okay? 6% snaps, 14 carries last week. That was good, but Corey
15:59freaking Kiner, 11 carries, are you kidding me?
16:03Relax for a second, all right? I'm willing to remember last season after a game where we had a surprising amount of
16:08usage from one Terrell Jennings down the stretch, and we got this video of Vrabel in the tunnel or coming off the field
16:13throwing his arm around Terrell Jennings saying, "Oh man, we got our 5-minute back. Someone who can help ice the game away." Similar to what Kiner did last
16:21week. And to Kiner's credit, he's had over 50 yards in each of last two games on six and 11 carries.
16:27But relax, guys, because in that, you know, situation with Terrell Jennings last year, we saw him completely phased out of the offense down the stretch.
16:34We're talking about less than 20 total carries in his next five games. Someone who again was not a factor pretty much
16:40at all the rest of the season. So, with Mondre, he's still leaps and bounds ahead of Travion Henderson who fumbled again in week six. Maybe the Patriots
16:48were in a situation where they had a controlled lead last week anyway for most of the game, and they just wanted
16:52to go ahead and get Ramondre a little bit more rest than usual ahead of the short week turnaround.
16:57RB16, all right? So, I am at least a little bit concerned about Kiner/Travion being out here and preventing Ramondre from getting this featured three-down
17:05role, but still someone that should be in fringe lineups of most shapes and sizes, especially against the Bears, guys. Third-worst defense in RB rushing
17:11yards before contact per carry.
17:14RB17, I'm going with Ashton Jeanty against the Rams. It's a tough one for me. I see the Trent Richardson comparisons everywhere and yeah, the
17:21numbers are shockingly close, all right?
17:24And I'm not exactly someone who's been pounding the drums, you know, banging the drums I guess would be the better words for it, but
17:30wasn't exactly all in on Gentry this year. Liked him as a prospect coming out, wouldn't exactly use the generational label or anything like
17:37that, but I just think the truth is probably somewhere in between him not being as good as people thought {slash} being injured {slash} playing behind an
17:47offensive line that still sucks, man.
17:50Bottom five in our RB rushing yards before contact per carry stuff. It has not been good. Clint Kubiak's done a lot
17:56of good things for Kirk Cousins, for Brock Bowers, Michael Mayer, Trey Tucker, but we just haven't been able to see this run game really get going at
18:04all. So, I understand behind the same group we see Mike Washington be a bit more effective. And my eyes do tell me
18:10that Mike Washington looks like the more explosive player out there, but you know, we're still talking 34 carries, 4.9 yards per pop. That's good. It's
18:18better than Gentry. I'm not trying to deny that. I just do look at Gentry as someone who we've heard from Kubiak
18:24himself say is actively playing through injuries and concluding that, man, he really can't be this bad, right? But the problem with all that is that we're
18:32looking at a Rams defense that more more weeks than not this year has resembled a juggernaut, let's face it, except against the Bills, but you know what it
18:40is the Bills.
18:41It's a tough match up. I highly doubt Gentry has just magically healed between last week and now. And 58 and 53% snaps these last two weeks,
18:50we no longer have that true workhorse role to hang our hat on and just say, "Hey, Gentry is getting enough volume,
18:55who cares how efficient he is?" So, RB 17 for me, man. Did not think I'd be ranking Gentry this low as well on a
19:01week with four byes out there behind guys like Breion Allen and Ali Gordon, but at some point you do need to react
19:07to what we're seeing and the numbers that are out there and conclude that it's probably not going to be getting better, at least here ahead of week
19:13seven.
19:15Quick one here, guys. I did want to ask a question. What offensive lines have been the best at consistently creating bunches of yards before contact? This is
19:21a stat I like to throw around a lot cuz I do think it does generally a good job of helping quantify running back play.
19:27However, running back play I should say run blocking performance from the offensive line. However, just like with yards after contact, I talk about the
19:34percentage of carries to get at least 3 yards after contact to help remove some of those outliers. I want to do the same
19:40thing for yards before right cuz if someone rushes 70 yards, you know, untouched up the middle of the defense, that's great and all and the a team
19:47should be praised for it, but that is going to be skewing numbers if they're getting stuffed on their other 19 carries of the game. So,
19:53got the results up here now. The best offenses this year are creating at least 3 yards before contact per carry for
19:58their running backs. Number one, still the Bills, but not exactly the biggest gap as we would see if we just look at
20:03the raw numbers, followed up by the Rams, Lions, Bears, Ravens, Dolphins, surprisingly, and also the 49ers, Colts, and Chargers even rounding out the top
20:1310. So, I do think that we're seeing a mix of offenses with very good play callers and teams like the Lions have
20:19been up here over the years, the 49ers as well with the Shanahans, and also just the impact of mobile dual-threat quarterbacks. Not always a positive for
20:26our running backs in fantasy land cuz they factor into the equation near the goal line and also tend to scramble more
20:31than checking down, but guys like Malik Willis, guys like Lamar Jackson, even Tyler Huntley, that gravity they have in the read option game really can help
20:39make things nicer for their running backs. Meanwhile, the bottom offenses, guys, dead last of New York Football Giants, followed by the Browns, the
20:47Commanders, the Falcons, the Seahawks, the Raiders, Broncos, also seeing the Saints, Texans, and Packers simply not consistently opening up rushing lanes
20:54for their involved RBs. So, was surprised to see the Atlanta Falcons down here given all the success of Bijan to a lesser extent Brian Robinson, but
21:03then again, you do look at the yards after contact stats and both those guys very high up. Would like to see a little
21:09bit more in the way of getting some open lanes for these dudes and accordingly getting some more monster production particularly for our guy Bijan.
21:16Tier three guys, this gets ugly pretty fast at this point, all right? RB 18, I'm going with Woody Marks, all right?
21:21He handled 18 combined carries and a target last week on 78% snaps. In the game before that with Monty out early
21:27with the groin injury, we saw an even higher mark at 85% and 19 opportunities.
21:31So, yes, Raheem Jordan was the one that had a nice cutback touchdown run, but it's a Giants defense that we should not
21:37be respecting particularly in their ability to handle the run. And with C.J.
21:41Stroud playing the best football of his career, there's actually more scoring upside here than I would have otherwise anticipated. So, Woody Marks for me, as
21:48I was starting to go through this tier, I actually moved him up a couple spots because I think I could be overthinking
21:52the potential offensive line issues given the matchup and also given the potential for more scoring opportunities. Again, with C.J. and company killing it for the time being.
22:01RB 19, I'm going Josh Jacobs for now. I would have him ahead of Jamaal Williams if it was just regular, hey, Josh Jacobs
22:08in his normal role in this high-flying Packers offense in a great matchup here against the Lions, highest game total of week seven at 53 and a half points in
22:16this one.
22:18The problem is, we just don't exactly know what it's going to be yet. It could be a situation where he's eased in. It
22:22could be a situation where he's just not quite at 100% yet cuz he hasn't played in a football game in God knows how
22:27long.
22:29It's still tough to move Jacobs too much lower. He has scored 30 touchdowns in 32 regular season games with the Packers.
22:35Right now, I'm sort of hedging with it.
22:37I will continue to be updating these ranks over rotowire.com as more information comes to fruition.
22:43RB 20, I'm going J.K. Dobbins against the Cardinals. Guys, 18 carries, 68 yards and a tud followed up by 17 for
22:50just 41 yards and another tud in two games with Sean Payton calling plays.
22:54So, it has not been pretty here, all right? Career worst, 3.3 yards per carry, but it's been a tough schedule.
23:02It has. And I know this is a team that we thought highly enough of to believe I mean a little just Super Bowl contender,
23:08you know? Lost in the AFC Championship last year in a fairly close game with their backup quarterback.
23:13I would have expected better performance regardless of who was lining up on the other side of the football from this entire offense. I'm just saying though,
23:20Chiefs, Jaguars, Rams, Niners, Chargers, and Seahawks to start the season. I don't think anyone's going to be confusing the Cardinals defense as being
23:28part of that. So, if there is ever ever a time for Bo Nix, Payton, Dobbins, the whole freaking Broncos roster to truly
23:36get right, this is that week.
23:39RB 21, I'm going with Dameon Pierce against the Cowboys on Monday Night Football. Hopefully Saquon Barkley is back so we don't have to go along with
23:45this charade anymore. I mean, seriously, man. 97% snaps for Dameon Pierce in Week 6. He's averaging 2.1 yards per carry this year. And I don't even think that's
23:55fully on him on him. This Eagles offensive line has been banged up all season long and obviously you have Tanner McKee under center. Not like
24:02defenses are giving a ton of respect in the passing game in that situation. But, man oh man, Carson Steel hurt his
24:08shoulder, probably uh going to be a multi-week injury I would assume. They also just signed Elijah Mitchell because guess what? They waived a Jaden Blue
24:16before a revenge game. Our guy Jaden can't even get a freaking snap when he's active last week and now he's cut before
24:23he even has a chance to make the Cowboys feel bad about that. So, rough run out there.
24:28My issue with Pierce and the reason why I'm not ranking him higher is I just don't have the confidence in even
24:35a bad Cowboys defense being bad enough for this Philadelphia Eagles rushing attack to go over back-to-back weeks, guys. Nick Sirianni and the Eagles since he's been there
24:46since 2021, they have posted their lowest rushing yards under his, you know, tutelage, air quotes. Yeah.
24:54The Cowboys this year through the air, again, they've been blasted by pretty much anybody and everybody. They've given up north of 150
25:01rushing yards though to the Giants, Commanders, Ravens, and Buccaneers cuz they're not good, all right? I admit that. But, the Texans only had 62
25:09rushing yards against Quinnen Williams and the Cowboys and the Packers last week, just 57. So, it is a situation where it's a movable force meeting a
25:16stoppable object. I just struggle to get Pierce any higher than RB21. If you're more optimistic and just want to trust the volume, I guess you
25:26could move him up to RB16 area. I can't get him ahead of Gordon or Bucky or those guys. I just can't do it. If you did really just want
25:37to say Eagles versus the Cowboys, I'm ranking him ahead of Ollie.
25:42I see where you're coming from there.
25:44I'm a little more bearish on it. Damien Pierce, RB21.
25:48RB22, I'm going with Aaron Jones senior going up against the Indianapolis Colts.
25:52It's a great match-up and we've seen him rack up at least 22 touches for an average of 111 yards per game over the
25:57course of these last four games, but we are expecting Jordan Mason to return to the equation. In the one game we saw
26:03from them last year, it was Aaron Jones at 46% snaps and Jordan Mason at 45% snaps. So, again, winnable match-up. I
26:10do think having Kyler Murray now under center for this duo to be attacking defenses is going to help the yards per
26:16carry going back to that gravity point I made earlier.
26:19I'm giving Jones the benefit of the doubt now because he has played well and I could see them coming off a fractured
26:24thumb somewhat easing Jordan Mason into action, but I also wouldn't be surprised if we're sitting here in week eight with them back to being back-to-back in the
26:31ranks.
26:32RB23, I'm going with Tony Pollard, guys.
26:3415, 21, 18, 14, and 19 touches in his last five games. And he has one finish better than the RB24 in PPR points.
26:43That's not I don't think necessarily a huge indictment on Tony Pollard, but it's also just a Titans offense that runs fewer plays than any other offense
26:49in the league cuz they can't sustain drives and also just has nothing good going for him. So, 31st ranked scoring offense going up against a Browns
26:56defense that's been solid and should be getting their stud defensive tackle Mason Gram back this week. No, thanks.
27:02RB 24, I'm going with R.J. Harvey. Got the wildcat goal line touchdown last week. Not sure how sustainable that is, but again, it is a good matchup and
27:09eight to 10 combined carries and targets should go a decent way in a more improved version of this Broncos offense that again is not guaranteed, but if you
27:18were going to expect an improvement, this would be the week to do so.
27:22RB 25, I got Emmanuel Wilson going up against the Chiefs on Sunday Night Football. Not a good matchup, and we saw
27:27George Salani get annoyingly involved last week. And hey, good for George Salani, man. He turned into beast mode for about two carries of that Thursday
27:34night game. Wound up pounding his way to the one yard line, and then got to stay on the field and go ahead and score that
27:39touchdown instead of Emmanuel Wilson. If we do see Zach Charbonnet make his return and all of a sudden get elevated and turns into a three-back committee, I
27:47would have all three running backs outside my top 30 alongside guys like the New Orleans Saints running backs who we just really don't want to be putting
27:55in the fantasy lineups if you can at all help it.
27:58RB 26, I'm going with Blake Corum.
28:00Again, sixth most yards per touch this year, guys, among 57 qualified running backs. I feel like I've seen a lot of
28:05pushback on social media, maybe because I'm too online always, but just the idea that Kyren needs to be out on the field
28:11way more than Blake Corum, and I don't know, man. I think the Rams largely know what they're doing. They used both these
28:16guys down the stretch of last year when they were looking a lot like the very best offense in the entire NFL. So, I
28:21don't see anything out there where Corum has done anything to really not deserve a few touches per game, and accordingly, he's got nine plus opportunities in all
28:29but one game this season. So, if we do see the Rams actually start beating up teams the way we were told they were
28:34going to all the way back in August, I do think Corum could all of a sudden be putting some better boom games on paper.
28:40For now though, I am going to have to rank him as the RB 26, just outside the top 24 with the uncertainty that sadly
28:46goes with Matthew Stafford and the entire offense right now.
28:50RB 27, I'm going with Roschon Johnson against the Patriots. This is assuming that Cam Akers is going to continue to be sidelined with that turf toe injury.
28:56And hey, when he was last week, 15 opportunities on a 40% snap share. They really are treating Roschon as the second banana to De'Andre Swift right
29:04now. So, I don't think it's a smash spot against the Patriots or anything like that. And last week was a game where we
29:09did see the Bears carry a 28-7 lead into the fourth quarter. But hey, Roschon Johnson, believe me, guys, I have plenty
29:16of fantasy teams out there where you could do a lot worse than sliding this dude in as your flex.
29:21RB 28, I'm going with Jerome Ford McLaughlin, Browns running back going up against the Titans. Browns RB1 for now, but again, recording this on Tuesday
29:28does have its perils. Always want to get you guys the information early in the week. I know you have lives to live on
29:33the weekend and everything, but just hey, Quishon Judkins, Dontrell Sampson could be back in the picture. And depending on who it is, it could make
29:39Jerome Ford McLaughlin anywhere from more of a, you know, low-end RB3, RB4 type to someone who's not even active on game day. So, we'll come back to it, but
29:47again, it is a situation where I don't really want to go out of my way to play any of these guys if I can help it. It's
29:53the worst offensive line in the league by most run blocking metrics. And Deshaun Watson has very much turned back into a pumpkin over these last 2 weeks.
30:00So, again, Browns join some backfields like the Saints and potentially the Seahawks where I think the most likely answer for who you want to play is
30:07probably just no.
30:09RB 29, I got Trey Sermon Henderson against the Bears, guys. Trey Sermon Henderson ranking him behind Jerome Ford McLaughlin, and I don't feel really bad
30:17about it. That's how bad things have gotten here. So, playing through an ankle injury that he keeps telling us was severe enough for doctors to think
30:24he couldn't play through it. I'm not a doctor. Maybe he shouldn't be playing through it. So, had the fumble last week, had eight
30:31touches, wasn't horrible, but just we haven't seen the big plays here. And as we know, Trey Sermon Henderson is a home
30:38run hitter. But when you're a home run hitter, you're going to strike out a lot. And when the home run cease to
30:43really be happening, you're just kind of left with someone striking out a lot.
30:46So, I'm not trying to be the guy who just says, "Hey, take away a player's good plays and what has he done for you?"
30:54I will say, since that one really, really good play from Trevion, 39-yard John on his third carry of the season, all the way back in week two,
31:03we've only seen 3.2 yards per carry, zero touchdowns, and a long run of 11 yards on 46 carries. That's not the
31:11smallest sample in the world. And similar to our Asim Janity conversation, I know Trevion is playing through some pain right now. When he came back in
31:18week two, he was coming off an injury as well. I just struggle to think that's going to be meaningfully improved after
31:24a short week of action. So, I cannot believe that we're in a situation on a short week with four teams on bye, where
31:31Trevion Henderson is probably someone I'm still going to be benching in more fantasy lineups tonight in a good matchup against the Bears. Sadly, that's
31:38where we're at. And even more sadly, guys, I did my preseason handcuff rankings, like, all right, if every RB1 goes on
31:45vacation, where would we be ranking these RB2s? Trevion Henderson was number one.
31:50And it was Trevion, Blake Corum, Tank Bigsby, and Ray Davis. That was my top four.
31:56Are we confident that Trevion would be leading the backfield in a meaningful way at this point if Rhamondre Stevenson missed time?
32:02I know I'm not actively worried about Corey Clement becoming too big of an issue for Rhamondre Stevenson, but they really seem to like him as an in-between
32:09the tackles runner.
32:11I could see it looking far more like what it does for De'Andre Swift right now, versus the 80% snaps that we were
32:17usually seeing down the stretch of last season.
32:20Tough, tough runout for Trevion. Get healthy. Would love to see some more big plays. Right now, tough to assume they're really all that imminent.
32:29Key question for this tier, guys. I went ahead and took the strength of schedule analysis, all right, for best and worst
32:35upcoming stretches, week 7 through 12, every back fields opponents average rank in terms of the PPR points per game allowed to running backs by the
32:43opponent. So, blue is good and red is bad as always. By the way, I do blue is good and red is bad. Everyone always
32:48says, "Why don't you do green and red?"
32:49That's because green and red is very, very difficult for color blind people.
32:53So, for them, we're going with blue as good. And accordingly, the best running back match-ups here over the course of next 6 weeks, we got the Jets, Vikings,
33:01Chiefs, Rams, Dolphins, and Patriots especially standing out. So, of course you're playing Kyren Williams even if there's a fire and we're feeling pretty
33:09good about guys like Ramondre Stevenson and obviously Kenneth Walker as well.
33:13But, I do wonder if we could see waiver wire darlings Braelon Allen, my guy Ollie Gordon, also Jordan Mason making the most out of their opportunities here
33:21for the future. Obviously, in Braelon's case, that is going to be dependent on Breece Hall remaining sidelined.
33:26Meanwhile, the toughest upcoming schedules, guys, again, match-ups more of a rule of thumb as opposed to a rule of thumb that we should be using to
33:31change everything we freaking think we know about the position. Toughest match-ups though, we have the Bills, Giants, Chargers, Saints, Falcons, and Titans
33:41going from 27th to the worst in that one. So, again, not worried about Bijan or James Cook here, but the Giants, the
33:47Chargers, and even the uh Saints, when we have three running backs involved anyway, you add tough match-ups on top of that, very, very tough to be
33:55enthused. And also for Tony Pollard, who again, outside of forces that he can control, just simply not looking like someone we can be putting in the fantasy
34:02lineups and feeling good about in the year 2026.
34:06Tier 4, I titled this one Yikes, guys, because Yikes. RB 30, Jordan Mason, maybe we do see more of a split
34:13situation. I'm just trying to again, hedge a little bit against the Vikings saying, "Hey, Aaron Jones, you've been playing well. We're going to continue to
34:20make you our lead back." And also, Mason, "Hey, you just broke your thumb, dude. Go ahead and take five touches.
34:24Let's chill and then unleash you in week eight." RB 31, I got Tyron Tracy going up against the Texans, scored a
34:30touchdown as a rusher and receiver last week. Najee Harris criticized the coaches overall dealing with the backfield. Najee Harris is no longer a
34:37member of the New York Giants. So, man, I think that Cam Akers got a boot has been the best running back on the Giants
34:43this year, but you know, he did fumble four times in the first five weeks and it was enough to piss off Har Ball to
34:49give Akers a boot. Last time I checked, zero touches in week six. So, I don't know, man, between Tracy and Devin
34:55Singletary and Akers a boot, would it be that shocking if they do decide to turn the backfield over to Tracy? And believe
35:00me, it's not lost on me that we've seen him have his own ball security issues literally earlier this year into the
35:05preseason and everything, but man, Tyrod Tracy, I don't know if he's going to be taking over, but no one else really does
35:12and he's available in an awful lot of leagues. At some point, I do think we're going to see the Giants really lean in
35:18and trust a running back. Why not Tyrod Tracy? But this week, really tough to F around and find out particularly with
35:23the Giants implied to score a week low 16.5 points against the Texans.
35:29RB 32, I got Kendre Miller going up against the Steelers and Paris.
35:33I think he's been running hard and like my eyes tell me the last two weeks that Kendre's been the best running back in
35:37this backfield, but the problem is that it's still only produced 3.1 yards per carry. Not the best run blocking there.
35:44We've also seen Tyler Allgeier start to turn a little bit in the bad side. Not really getting efficiency going on as
35:49well recently. When they get to the goal line, we could see C.J. Donaldson or Tyler Allgeier with the tush push take
35:54over there and then Alvin Kamara still someone that's handling a lot of the pass down work. So, Kendre is my preferred Saints running back, but
36:01again, not someone I'm going to my way to really be playing in any leagues. RB 33, I got Tyler Allgeier. RB 34, I got
36:07Bam Knight. Shockingly, we did see Bam Knight take a ton of work from Tyler Allgeier last week, but can you blame
36:13him?
36:14He's looked better, man. He's averaging 6.2 yards per pop this year on not the smallest sample size.
36:21If you take Tyler Allgeier and Jeremiah Love combined, we're at 6.4 yards per carry. So, look, I know Love's been banged up, but I don't know what the
36:29excuse would be for Tyler Allgeier.
36:31Not good, man. He's someone where I think given the fact that they signed him and had him listed as the RB1 on the
36:37preseason depth chart, for me, I was always skeptical of Tyler Allgeier's handcuff value because I thought James Conner would be back at
36:45some point. Can you hold up a picture of a newspaper, bro? Would love to hear from you.
36:49The fact Bam Knight's coming in, pretty much snatching Allgeier's chain, shocking stuff. So, it's an offense implied for bottom-five points, tough matchup against the
36:58Broncos. Try not to start a Cardinals running back if you can help it. If Jeremiah Love were to be active, I would probably get him right up there
37:07alongside Gentry, maybe a spot or two below. Jeremiah Love versus Woody Marks, that would be a tough one for me. If we
37:14did get some level of certainty, maybe there's no injury designation, Jeremiah Love's feeling healthier than ever, I'd try to trust the talent at
37:21that point.
37:23RB35, Rico Dowdle, guys, look, 13, 9, and 11 opportunities in his three games this year, so it's not like it's been a
37:29bad run off for him in terms of touches, but clue at number two behind Jaylen Warren. Maybe again against the league's
37:35worst defense in fantasy points allowed to running backs, we could see Rico make more out of his opportunities. I'm not going out of my way to say to play Rico
37:42Dowdle, but I will say, if you got room on the bench, he continues to be a great stash. We just saw what they did with
37:48Jaylen Warren, 90% plus of the snaps.
37:51They love Rico Dowdle enough to eat into Jaylen Warren's stuff. do think if Jaylen Warren were to miss any time, we'd be seeing Rico having that same
37:58big-time role himself. So, something to keep in mind, disappointing Rico Dowdle, I get it for him in terms of what we
38:03were hoping for as a potential flex benefits, but still very much has sky-high handcuff upside.
38:09Uh most of these other guys we already talked about their backfields, so I'll go a little bit faster, but yeah, RB36,
38:13George Kittle, good job running hard, still it's a tough matchup against the Chiefs. RB37, Alvin Kamara, three touchdowns in his past three weeks, you
38:20know, combined, had the cool vintage, you know, 31-yard screen he took for a house took the house last week. Also, third in his own backfield and snaps.
38:27Just tough to feel good about anyone ahead of a tough match up against the Steelers.
38:31RB 38 Samaje Perine, sees nice 16 touches before the team's bye. I think that was probably a little more due to
38:37the game script and the Chase Brown fumble and a complete turnover of the backfield, but hey, you never know and even if Chase Brown is still the lead
38:44back, we are one injury away from that job going to Samaje Perine. Something to again keep in mind particularly as guys
38:50have to deal with, you know, waiver deal with bye weeks on the waiver wire. So, you start seeing more low owned
38:55handcuffs like Samaje Perine available more leagues than not. Then RB 39 guys, Cam Akers, I would like to think he can win out
39:03down the stretch because how ineffective every other running back has been there, but clearly Harbaugh doesn't exactly have the best What's the what's the best word?
39:12Harbaugh isn't exactly thinking too highly of Akers these days. You can say he didn't bench him, but he gave him zero touches dude. Like we all saw that,
39:18so yeah, Cam Akers.
39:21I would like to think better days are going to be ahead, but certainly not this Sunday. Cannot start this dude even
39:26if there's a fire. Key question for this tier guys, wanted to go through the best match ups in terms of combined RB yards
39:31before contact per carry. One way metrics, one way street offense versus defense. Blue is good, red is bad. So, with that in mind, best match ups in the
39:40trenches, Rams, Texans, Vikings, Dolphins and the Ravens. Again, more reason to feel good about my guy Ali Gordon having a boom week. Otherwise
39:48feeling pretty again really good about the Rams, the Ravens and hey, maybe even Woody Marks and the Texans. On the other
39:55side of things, Giants, Browns, Cardinals and Raiders stand out as the four offenses with the roughest on paper match ups here. Again, other national
40:02gents who I'm still not feeling great about, we'll be trying to stay away from those backfields if at all possible.
40:09Tier five, mostly just handcuffs here guys. RB 40, we got Mike Washington going up against the Rams. He's slowly but surely eating at the gents overall
40:16touches, but still not seeing more than 10 during any given week. With a tough match-up, just not expecting much here, but certainly a good handcuff stash. RB
40:2441, I got Keilan Black. Had nine touches in week six, that was his most since week one, but again, 11 to 0 CMC rush
40:31attempts inside the 5-yard line really makes Keilan Black, you know, someone who's just not getting any fantasy friendly touches behind our king CMC. RB
40:3942, Justice Hill. RB 43, Tajae Spears.
40:42Basically the same person, but one plays for the Ravens plays for the Titans. RB 44, Zamir White Jordan. It is against
40:48the Giants. Maybe you could talk about moving him up a few spots. I do think that Woody though is someone that's
40:53still going to be seeing 80% or more of the snaps, so that is why he's still quite buried. RB 45, Brian Robinson. We
40:59have nine rushes for 17 scoreless yards since that fever dream of a three-touchdown game. RB 46, Emmit Johnson. He's looked great with his
41:06opportunities, still only averaging about five of them per game, unfortunately. RB 47, Isaiah Davis and RB 48, Tyler Goodson. Two guys who again
41:14are clearly the next man up in their respective backfields. But, key question here, guys, dirt cheap handcuffs that you, a scholar, could look and add into your
41:23bench.
41:25Talked about it in the intro. Haven't mentioned his game yet.
41:29Ray Davis at 6% rostered on Yahoo. He's a great injury contingency stash, okay?
41:33That's not the guy. Bear with me.
41:36Roschon Johnson. Still only 5% on Yahoo.
41:38I'm sure I'm recording this on Tuesday.
41:40I'm sure that's going to go up as all the waivers get filled on Tuesday, but I don't know, man.
41:45He's the Kalen guy in that guy's offense right now, and even 90% of Kalen guys work. He was a top freaking 10 rusher in
41:51the NFL before he got injured. So, if you really need help this week for a flex, I think Roschon Johnson makes a
41:57ton of sense. To a lesser extent, Samaje Perine and Tyron Tracy. These are still guys at 5% 4% rostered.
42:05Deep stash handcuff is Tyler Goodson at 1%. But, the main event, the guy I really do think we should all be trying
42:13to stash on as many fantasy teams as possible because he is available to Colts number two running back Seth McGowan, guys. He is available in 99% of
42:23Yahoo leagues and yet we have seen McGowan actually look pretty good with his opportunities. Not better than Jonathan Taylor, but better than you
42:31would expect to see from a late round rookie. And we've also seen Seth McGowan be literally not just the only Colts
42:37running back to handle a touch this year, the only Colts running back to play a snap on offense this year. And by
42:42the way, what's going on with the Colts?
42:44They just fired their general manager.
42:46Their offense looks like an absolute train wreck. They also could be in a position to perhaps have a fire sale going on.
42:54I know they don't have the first round pick next year. That's a very effed up thing to have to go through as a Colts
42:59fan. I get it, but man we've already had the contract talks going on with Jonathan Taylor over the years. They've usually gotten something
43:06done. I do wonder if the right team came calling with a high price. I believe JT only would have about a $10 million cap
43:13hit.
43:14Could we see Jonathan Taylor shipped off before November 10th trade deadline?
43:18We're talking about a matter of three weeks away, okay?
43:21If Jonathan Taylor is traded before the trade deadline, Seth McGowan is going to become the most popular pick up in all
43:27of fantasy football. So what would be cooler than picking him up then? Already having him on your bench now. 99% available, guys. And I'm not saying we'd
43:37be crossing off Jonathan Taylor's name and slotting in McGowan as his weekly top eight running back or anything like that. You just heard the ranks. We got
43:45Ali Gordon inside the top 15. We got Breon Allen as a weekly RB1 at this point. The Colts have been one of these
43:51teams wanting to leave one running back on the field for pretty much the entire game. And guess what? Behind Jonathan Taylor, they've only had one running
43:58back touch the field this season. Go get Seth McGowan now before it's cool. He has not only injury contention upside, but a possible trade contention upside
44:07that's looking more and more real by the day.
44:10Anyway, guys, that's going to do it for me. If you like the video, please like the video. Hit that subscribe button
44:14always helps as well. I'll be back with wide receiver and tight end ranks and then we're closing out the week as
44:18always with injuries and hopefully some more winning bets for you all. So, appreciate you as always. Enjoy the rest of the week. I'm Me and Hardison. Till
44:25next time, take care everybody.
