We’re moving through October and it’s time to give the running backs their day in the sun, a Shuffle Up of fantasy football’s most critical position. What’s happened to this point is merely an audition. The ranks and tiers you find below are what I’d use if I were entering a fresh fantasy football draft starting now. Use these tiers to self-scout your roster or as a sounding board when you’re considering trades and pickups.
The salaries are unscientific and meant to be a tool to show where the talent clusters. Players with the same salary are considered even. Remember the golden rule: no player gains (or loses) extra value simply because you roster him.
Players who are currently hurt get their own provisional rank at the bottom. They are not for debate. Everyone has their own ideas about injuries and comebacks.
The Big Tickets
$44 Saquon Barkley
$43 Derrick Henry
$42 Kyren Williams
$40 Breece Hall
$38 Bijan Robinson
$35 Kenneth Walker III
$32 Jahmyr Gibbs
It’s a shame Barkley’s next New York revenge game is tucked into Week 18 (irrelevant for fantasy), but he’s capable of going off against anyone; his weekly finishes are RB1, RB1, RB20, RB33 and RB3 last week. He’s averaging a robust 6.1 yards per carry and his yards per target has also increased slightly. It’s the best Barkley has played in six seasons.
Henry has a tricky playoff schedule, but he also has a steady career trend of getting better as seasons move along. With Baltimore’s line starting to play better — and Lamar Jackson a boost for rushing lanes — I’m not going to sweat Henry’s opponents. He’s going to get home more often than not.
The offensive line play hasn’t been good with the Rams, but Williams is a decisive back with sneaky power, allowing him to become one of the best goal-line converters in the league. He’s seen a league-high 10 rushes from inside the five-yard line, and he’s punched seven of them into the end zone. The offensive buoyancy should rise, too, with Cooper Kupp coming back this week and…
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