Week 7 Running Back Results

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Byes: Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, San Diego Chargers

The Actual Rankings are based my scoring primer. It basically follows ESPNs standard scoring but uses fractional points and slightly devalues passing touchdowns.

Is Chris Johnson back to being a top 15 running back again? No, but he’s knocking on the doorstep. Christoper Harris mentioned on the Fantasy Underground Podcast 90% of his struggles came from poor offensive line play, which I agree with. I think there is still an opportunity to buy low on him. If I were offered Johnson for Doug Martin I would think long and hard (insert joke here) about it. If my team consisted of stable players I do the deal because Johnson’s upside is so much higher right now. The most important tidbit going overlooked about Johnson is his durability. A common perception about smaller agile running backs is they tend to get hurt a lot, not Johnson.

Doug Martin is a consistent fantasy player, which makes him an ugly Betty, my kind of player. If Martin started to receive more goaline carries he would be a top 10 running back. It’s easy to blame the Bucs for not giving him goaline carries; LeGarrette Blount has the physical makeup of a goaline back, but has the instincts of a 14 year old looking for a girl to dance with at the first dance of the year.

I have no idea what to make of Darren McFadden. He’s had a lousy year and he’s been 100% healthy too. There were a few glimpses where his raw physical ability came through, but they were far to rare of an occurrence. If you’re a McFadden owner all you can do is hold on to him and play him. Unless you get offered a trade for his full draft day value, I don’t recommend trading him.

Jonathan Dwyer has looked the best of all the Steeler running backs this year. However, it’s a toss up if he he’ll be fantasy relevant on Sunday with Mendenhall and Redman possibly coming back. This year, Dwyer has 192 yards on 41 attempts (4.7 YPA), Redman has 127 yards on 50 attempts (2.5 YPA) and Mendenhall has 74 yards on 18 attempts (3.9 YPA). I would give Dwyer another opportunity to start. If Mendenhall and Redman are out, Dwyer is a top 20 running back.