Rank the RBs going forward (1 Viewer)

[Sabertooth]

Ravens are a horrible matchup for RBs

Held CJ Anderson to 8.8 - shocking at the time but not now because his average is 7.92

Lataivius Murray had his second best outing of the year on them at 17.7. Only the Browns were worse. Heck even San Diego held him to fewer points.

Gio Bernard 11.3. Almost exactly his weekly average. Hill was held to 2.1 points - not exactly unusual for him either.

Leveon went off for 28 -

The Crowell/Duke RBBC hung 30 on them.

Carlos and Bruce Miller scored a combined 20 on them. Not exactly Thunder and Lightning out there though.

Mevlin Gordon had his second best game of the season on them.

 

[JuniorNB]

How would y'all rank the handcuffs?

That's tough because do you consider one of Gio/Hill to be a handcuff to the other? Same with Hillman/CJA, Woodhead/Gordon, Lacy/Starks

Outside of those 50/50 split situations, I'd rank them like this (combination of situation and talent):

1. Mathews - probably top talent, one of top situations

2. Ellington - as seen above, CJ has been bad but still producing great FF stats

3. Coleman - not sold on talent, but situation is great

4. Bradshaw - maybe a little high, but he always seems to produce while healthy

5. ever controversial C. Michael - what can be said here that hasn't been said?

6. K. Williams - shown flashes

7. Spiller - would be much higher if not for bizarre usage

8. Tre Mason - looked decent last year

9. Langford - mediocre runner

10. Duke Johnson - has looked good in passing game

11. Ajayi - unknown

12. Sims - poor runner, good pass catcher

Most of the other situations are too murky to rank, like New England and the Jets (Stacy, Powell, or Ridley?).

I'd put Langford at #1. Because of Forte's knee and contract situations. Plus, he looked good as a runner and great as a receiving back Monday night. Also did a great job picking up the blitz. 140+ overall yards.

Karlos Williams at #2. McCoy seems to always be nicked up and Williams has shown he can produce.

Mathews at #3. Although Murray has been very durable the past two years. Mathews may be the most talented of all of these guys, but Chip signed Murray to a huge contract and he's not going to reduce his workload.

Meh, Langford faced a cake matchup and only managed 72 yards on 18 carries. If he was playing Denver I'd be more impressed, but SD ranks dead last in the league in yards per carry (4.9). I think he's a flash in the pan. As for Forte's contract, I've been viewing this thread as a hypothetical redraft ranking.

Karlos is ok, but you aren't worried about his concussions?

Mathews is the most talented out of all these guys and is probably in the best situation for him (>6.0 ypc). He'd probably be a top 3 RB if Murray went down.

To the guy earlier who doesn't consider him a handcuff, Mathews played only 25% of the RB snaps last week. He's a handcuff.

I think you're way off on Langford, although I don't think you'll realize that until next season when he's the Bears full time back. I've heard more than one Michigan State fan say that he was a better back than Leveon Bell at the school. And he looked fantastic Monday night. Yes, I realize San Diego has a bad rush defense, but he was making great catches, picking up blitzes, great at the goal line... I was impressed.

 

[FF Ninja]

As a pure handcuff, give me Thomas Rawls. He scored the highest points total for a Seattle running back this season.....at Cincinatti....in a loss. 169 yards.

More than Woodhead, DeAngelo, Jamaal Charles , and Lesean McCoy. In fact it's the most Cincy has given up all season.

If Lynch were to go down, you'd have 4 of 6 at home and no top 10 running back defenses. Cake games the first two weeks of the playoffs too with Ravens and Browns in weeks 14 and 15 before welcoming the Rams in fantasy championship weekend.

Oh man, good call. I totally missed him in my rankings. However, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Rawls crapped the bed against a soft Detroit defense. I think he belongs somewhere in the middle of my rankings above. Probably above Spiller and below Williams. The offensive line is bad in Seattle, but they were opening up gaping holes for him against Cincy. I saw his elusive rating was actually really low and his yards before contact was really high - which points to his stats being a product of circumstance rather than talent. His situation would still be above average should Lynch go down, but I think he's on the lower end of the skill spectrum.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

Here are the top RB ranked by total yards/game

Devonta Freeman 126.78
Todd Gurley 125.33
Adrian Peterson 110.38
Matt Forte 109.57
Mark Ingram 100.00
Doug Martin 98.88
Chris Ivory 94.86
Lamar Miller 93.38
Latavius Murray 91.75
Chris Johnson 91.50
LeSean McCoy 91.00
Justin Forsett 88.00
DeMarco Murray 85.71
T.J. Yeldon 84.14
Danny Woodhead 83.44
Giovani Bernard 83.25
Frank Gore 81.56
Darren McFadden 78.50
Jonathan Stewart 75.50
Marshawn Lynch 74.50
Carlos Hyde 74.71
DeAngelo Williams 66.89
LeGarrette Blount 67.71
Charles Sims 65.25
Ryan Mathews 63.25
James Starks 62.63
Duke Johnson 60.89
Melvin Gordon 59.00
Rashad Jennings 58.44
Isaiah Crowell 54.78
Shane Vereen 53.67
C.J. Anderson 53.00
Theo Riddick 51.38

Giovani Bernard and DeAngelo Williams are players I expect to rise on this list over the second half of the season.

Thanks.

Before you try plotting a course on any map you have to know where you ARE. Starting point is crucial so right now the starting point is this objective list noting what these backs have done so-far. This list that shows production to date is the place to start before trying to project top backs going forward.

Cream rises to the top and right now their is separation of elite RBs who are at the top of this list. Then to make better projections start with other objective factors like injuries and competition or how the backfield work has been shared.

After you clearly define that starting point then you can subjectively break down the list into levels before trying to project how these backs will produce going forward because I'm sure we'd all like a clearer picture of how these RBs will matchup for the fantasy playoffs.

 

[Biabreakable]

I figured the total yards/game would be a good place to start. Then as you mention Bracie, the remaining schedule for each of these RB would be a way to take this list further.

The yards from scrimmage is something I consider to be more repeatable than TD or receptions are. Players who produce yards and therefore 1st downs are likely to get the opportunity to repeat those numbers as long as they are healthy and they continue playing at a similar level of efficiency. Most of these players have played 8 games now, which is a large enough sample to use as a basis for their performance moving forward.

James Starks and Frank Gore are another two players besides Bernard and DeW who may see their opportunities increase over the next four weeks.

 

[FF Ninja]

How would y'all rank the handcuffs?

That's tough because do you consider one of Gio/Hill to be a handcuff to the other? Same with Hillman/CJA, Woodhead/Gordon, Lacy/Starks

Outside of those 50/50 split situations, I'd rank them like this (combination of situation and talent):

1. Mathews - probably top talent, one of top situations

2. Ellington - as seen above, CJ has been bad but still producing great FF stats

3. Coleman - not sold on talent, but situation is great

4. Bradshaw - maybe a little high, but he always seems to produce while healthy

5. ever controversial C. Michael - what can be said here that hasn't been said?

6. K. Williams - shown flashes

7. Spiller - would be much higher if not for bizarre usage

8. Tre Mason - looked decent last year

9. Langford - mediocre runner

10. Duke Johnson - has looked good in passing game

11. Ajayi - unknown

12. Sims - poor runner, good pass catcher

Most of the other situations are too murky to rank, like New England and the Jets (Stacy, Powell, or Ridley?).

I'd put Langford at #1. Because of Forte's knee and contract situations. Plus, he looked good as a runner and great as a receiving back Monday night. Also did a great job picking up the blitz. 140+ overall yards.

Karlos Williams at #2. McCoy seems to always be nicked up and Williams has shown he can produce.

Mathews at #3. Although Murray has been very durable the past two years. Mathews may be the most talented of all of these guys, but Chip signed Murray to a huge contract and he's not going to reduce his workload.

Meh, Langford faced a cake matchup and only managed 72 yards on 18 carries. If he was playing Denver I'd be more impressed, but SD ranks dead last in the league in yards per carry (4.9). I think he's a flash in the pan. As for Forte's contract, I've been viewing this thread as a hypothetical redraft ranking.

Karlos is ok, but you aren't worried about his concussions?

Mathews is the most talented out of all these guys and is probably in the best situation for him (>6.0 ypc). He'd probably be a top 3 RB if Murray went down.

To the guy earlier who doesn't consider him a handcuff, Mathews played only 25% of the RB snaps last week. He's a handcuff.

I think you're way off on Langford, although I don't think you'll realize that until next season when he's the Bears full time back. I've heard more than one Michigan State fan say that he was a better back than Leveon Bell at the school. And he looked fantastic Monday night. Yes, I realize San Diego has a bad rush defense, but he was making great catches, picking up blitzes, great at the goal line... I was impressed.

I mean no snark, but a couple random Michigan State fans' eyeball tests don't really factor into my rankings/expectations. FWIW, Langford wasn't even mentioned in Waldman's dynasty RB tiers: http://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=gutcheckdynastyRB

His work in the passing game is duly noted (sounds a lot like Charles Sims), but it won't earn him 15+ carries per game next year if Forte is gone. Much like Ajayi fans, I think Langford owners are overly optimistic (as is common on the board). I'll be shocked if either guy is in more than a 50/50 RBBC next year, which is realistically very good for a late round 2nd year guy.

 

[Biabreakable]

I took a look at team rushing defense per game. The average rushing yards per game is 110. A difference of 10 yards per game is 9% of the average. 14 teams are within that range 100-120 rushing yards per game. So I will consider this the no modifier teams.

The other teams will get a +/-% modifier based on the rushing yards per game difference from 110 yards +/- 9%

The favorable match ups


Cleveland Browns 0.25
Miami Dolphins 0.20
Detroit Lions 0.13
Washington Redskins 0.11
Green Bay Packers 0.05
Houston Texans 0.03
San Diego Chargers 0.03
New Orleans Saints 0.02
Chicago Bears 0.02


The difficult match ups


Seattle Seahawks 0.01
Oakland Raiders 0.03
Jacksonville Jaguars 0.05
Buffalo Bills 0.06
Denver Broncos 0.06
Arizona Cardinals 0.09
New England Patriots 0.10
Atlanta Falcons 0.10
New York Jets 0.18

 

[Ilov80s]

How would y'all rank the handcuffs?

That's tough because do you consider one of Gio/Hill to be a handcuff to the other? Same with Hillman/CJA, Woodhead/Gordon, Lacy/Starks

Outside of those 50/50 split situations, I'd rank them like this (combination of situation and talent):

1. Mathews - probably top talent, one of top situations

2. Ellington - as seen above, CJ has been bad but still producing great FF stats

3. Coleman - not sold on talent, but situation is great

4. Bradshaw - maybe a little high, but he always seems to produce while healthy

5. ever controversial C. Michael - what can be said here that hasn't been said?

6. K. Williams - shown flashes

7. Spiller - would be much higher if not for bizarre usage

8. Tre Mason - looked decent last year

9. Langford - mediocre runner

10. Duke Johnson - has looked good in passing game

11. Ajayi - unknown

12. Sims - poor runner, good pass catcher

Most of the other situations are too murky to rank, like New England and the Jets (Stacy, Powell, or Ridley?).

Jordan Todman should be #1 on this list and I dont consider Mathews a handcuff.

D.Williams does have a history of injuries and a current potential foot issue. Who's the backup? Todman or Pead?

Deangelo has a history of injuries? Any RB in the league for 10 years is going to have some injuries, but Williams has been durable. Of 150 potential NFL games, Deangelo has missed 27 games.

 

[Sabertooth]

How would y'all rank the handcuffs?

That's tough because do you consider one of Gio/Hill to be a handcuff to the other? Same with Hillman/CJA, Woodhead/Gordon, Lacy/Starks

Outside of those 50/50 split situations, I'd rank them like this (combination of situation and talent):

1. Mathews - probably top talent, one of top situations

2. Ellington - as seen above, CJ has been bad but still producing great FF stats

3. Coleman - not sold on talent, but situation is great

4. Bradshaw - maybe a little high, but he always seems to produce while healthy

5. ever controversial C. Michael - what can be said here that hasn't been said?

6. K. Williams - shown flashes

7. Spiller - would be much higher if not for bizarre usage

8. Tre Mason - looked decent last year

9. Langford - mediocre runner

10. Duke Johnson - has looked good in passing game

11. Ajayi - unknown

12. Sims - poor runner, good pass catcher

Most of the other situations are too murky to rank, like New England and the Jets (Stacy, Powell, or Ridley?).

Jordan Todman should be #1 on this list and I dont consider Mathews a handcuff.

D.Williams does have a history of injuries and a current potential foot issue. Who's the backup? Todman or Pead?

Deangelo has a history of injuries? Any RB in the league for 10 years is going to have some injuries, but Williams has been durable. Of 150 potential NFL games, Deangelo has missed 27 games.

By that metric, he's due to miss a game soon.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Complete history of DeAngelo Williams injuries NFL & NCAA

http://sportsinjurypredictor.com/injury-predictor/player/7776

 

[JuniorNB]

How would y'all rank the handcuffs?

That's tough because do you consider one of Gio/Hill to be a handcuff to the other? Same with Hillman/CJA, Woodhead/Gordon, Lacy/Starks

Outside of those 50/50 split situations, I'd rank them like this (combination of situation and talent):

1. Mathews - probably top talent, one of top situations

2. Ellington - as seen above, CJ has been bad but still producing great FF stats

3. Coleman - not sold on talent, but situation is great

4. Bradshaw - maybe a little high, but he always seems to produce while healthy

5. ever controversial C. Michael - what can be said here that hasn't been said?

6. K. Williams - shown flashes

7. Spiller - would be much higher if not for bizarre usage

8. Tre Mason - looked decent last year

9. Langford - mediocre runner

10. Duke Johnson - has looked good in passing game

11. Ajayi - unknown

12. Sims - poor runner, good pass catcher

Most of the other situations are too murky to rank, like New England and the Jets (Stacy, Powell, or Ridley?).

Jordan Todman should be #1 on this list and I dont consider Mathews a handcuff.

D.Williams does have a history of injuries and a current potential foot issue. Who's the backup? Todman or Pead?

Deangelo has a history of injuries? Any RB in the league for 10 years is going to have some injuries, but Williams has been durable. Of 150 potential NFL games, Deangelo has missed 27 games.

That's like three games a season.

 

[Ilov80s]

How would y'all rank the handcuffs?

That's tough because do you consider one of Gio/Hill to be a handcuff to the other? Same with Hillman/CJA, Woodhead/Gordon, Lacy/Starks

Outside of those 50/50 split situations, I'd rank them like this (combination of situation and talent):

1. Mathews - probably top talent, one of top situations

2. Ellington - as seen above, CJ has been bad but still producing great FF stats

3. Coleman - not sold on talent, but situation is great

4. Bradshaw - maybe a little high, but he always seems to produce while healthy

5. ever controversial C. Michael - what can be said here that hasn't been said?

6. K. Williams - shown flashes

7. Spiller - would be much higher if not for bizarre usage

8. Tre Mason - looked decent last year

9. Langford - mediocre runner

10. Duke Johnson - has looked good in passing game

11. Ajayi - unknown

12. Sims - poor runner, good pass catcher

Most of the other situations are too murky to rank, like New England and the Jets (Stacy, Powell, or Ridley?).

Jordan Todman should be #1 on this list and I dont consider Mathews a handcuff.

D.Williams does have a history of injuries and a current potential foot issue. Who's the backup? Todman or Pead?

Deangelo has a history of injuries? Any RB in the league for 10 years is going to have some injuries, but Williams has been durable. Of 150 potential NFL games, Deangelo has missed 27 games.

That's like three games a season.

Yeah? Look at lots of RBs, it's not good.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

How would y'all rank the handcuffs?

That's tough because do you consider one of Gio/Hill to be a handcuff to the other? Same with Hillman/CJA, Woodhead/Gordon, Lacy/Starks

Outside of those 50/50 split situations, I'd rank them like this (combination of situation and talent):

1. Mathews - probably top talent, one of top situations

2. Ellington - as seen above, CJ has been bad but still producing great FF stats

3. Coleman - not sold on talent, but situation is great

4. Bradshaw - maybe a little high, but he always seems to produce while healthy

5. ever controversial C. Michael - what can be said here that hasn't been said?

6. K. Williams - shown flashes

7. Spiller - would be much higher if not for bizarre usage

8. Tre Mason - looked decent last year

9. Langford - mediocre runner

10. Duke Johnson - has looked good in passing game

11. Ajayi - unknown

12. Sims - poor runner, good pass catcher

Most of the other situations are too murky to rank, like New England and the Jets (Stacy, Powell, or Ridley?).

I'd put Langford at #1. Because of Forte's knee and contract situations. Plus, he looked good as a runner and great as a receiving back Monday night. Also did a great job picking up the blitz. 140+ overall yards.

Karlos Williams at #2. McCoy seems to always be nicked up and Williams has shown he can produce.

Mathews at #3. Although Murray has been very durable the past two years. Mathews may be the most talented of all of these guys, but Chip signed Murray to a huge contract and he's not going to reduce his workload.

Meh, Langford faced a cake matchup and only managed 72 yards on 18 carries. If he was playing Denver I'd be more impressed, but SD ranks dead last in the league in yards per carry (4.9). I think he's a flash in the pan. As for Forte's contract, I've been viewing this thread as a hypothetical redraft ranking.

Karlos is ok, but you aren't worried about his concussions?

Mathews is the most talented out of all these guys and is probably in the best situation for him (>6.0 ypc). He'd probably be a top 3 RB if Murray went down.

To the guy earlier who doesn't consider him a handcuff, Mathews played only 25% of the RB snaps last week. He's a handcuff.

I think you're way off on Langford, although I don't think you'll realize that until next season when he's the Bears full time back. I've heard more than one Michigan State fan say that he was a better back than Leveon Bell at the school. And he looked fantastic Monday night. Yes, I realize San Diego has a bad rush defense, but he was making great catches, picking up blitzes, great at the goal line... I was impressed.

I mean no snark, but a couple random Michigan State fans' eyeball tests don't really factor into my rankings/expectations. FWIW, Langford wasn't even mentioned in Waldman's dynasty RB tiers: http://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=gutcheckdynastyRB

His work in the passing game is duly noted (sounds a lot like Charles Sims), but it won't earn him 15+ carries per game next year if Forte is gone. Much like Ajayi fans, I think Langford owners are overly optimistic (as is common on the board). I'll be shocked if either guy is in more than a 50/50 RBBC next year, which is realistically very good for a late round 2nd year guy.

Article was written November 2nd.

Also if you look at the QB rankings for dynasty, it's like they just gave up half way through and started randomly listing Brock Osweiler.

 

[Ladsud]

Its doubtful the run game will get totally bottled up with the receiving weapons they have, but Chris Johnson has a total of 1 catch in the last 4 games. If for whatever reason they get off to a bad start in a game its possible he will give you squat.