Start free trial today. Fantasy football running back tiers: Ranking the best RBs from Jonathan Taylor to Saquon Barkley and more. College Alabama. He has more rushing touchdowns than Jonathan Taylor, Najee Harris, and James Conner combined. Tier 3 Mid RB1sDalvin Cook, VikingsJoe Mixon, BengalsAlvin Kamara, SaintsD'Andre Swift, LionsLeonard Fournette, Buccaneers. 2 rusher last season (Nick Chubb) and over 600 yards more than Joe Mixon at No. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see Henderson start in Week 1. The 27-year-old played just 10 games in 20 and has been dinged up countless times throughout his three prior years as a pro. No player came close to sniffing his amount of volume near paydirt. In his absence, Zack. So, if you miss out on a particular player you can see others on his tier. Taylor also scored 20 all-purpose TDs last season, while Henry maxed out at 17 in 20 and 18 three years ago. Najee Harris was focused on preparing to handle the type of workload he experienced last season, when he led all rookies in touches. Najee Harris, Pit (RB5) -- Karabell 8. That gives him an automatic edge over Henry, a workhorse back who suffered an injury to one of his most vital body parts. His average yards per carry sits at 5.1 and he has toted the ball 756 times. Damien Harris, PatriotsCam Akers, RamsMiles Sanders, EaglesDevin Singletary, BillsDarrell Henderson, Rams. Brian Robinson was already expected to play a significant role, potentially around the goal line, and if Gibson cannot hold onto the ball, hell potentially see his touches limited early. Michael Fabiano is an award-winning fantasy football analyst on Sports Illustrated and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) Hall of Fame. Check out the full list: Like we said this time last year, Henry will get the ball early and often, but he will really be turning on the afterburners as we get closer to fantasy playoff time. This week the 3-7 Pittsburgh Steelers go on the road to take on the 4-6-1 Indianapolis Colts. 2, well go with Harris by a nose-hair over Ekeler just because of volume and injury history. What troubles us, though, is that Harris only averaged 6.3 yards per reception and 3.9 yards per carry. Jonathan Taylor | Indianapolis Colts 2. . Even with Tony Pollard in the mix, I can still see Zeke having a productive 2022 campaign in the stat sheets. Don't let the fact he battled through injury in 2021 throw you off of what is the glaringly obvious: Henry remains atop the mountain of best running backs in the NFL. And he does all of his damage in the most buttoned-up manner possible, reminiscent of how Barry Sanders used to operate. This has been a common theme over the course of his career and certainly during his 2,000-yard rushing season. Najee Harris Is A Very Talented Player To be a first-round pick, it is obviously imperative that you produce at a high level in college, especially at a position that isn't valued significantly. Please check your email for a confirmation. Any one of this quartet could push into Tier 3, but each comes with risk, too. So, that worked out nicely for Jamey from the No. 1 PPR back. Derrick HenryDalvin CookJoe MixonNajee HarrisLeonard FournetteDAndre SwiftAlvin Kamara. But I'd expect a bounce-back effort from Taylor in 2023. 2022 FANTASY SLEEPERS:QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | One from each team. 1 pick. Harris was not an efficient back last year, averaging just 3.8 yards per carry and 5.5 yards receiving behind one a weak offensive line. McKissic, Cook, Hines and Carter will no doubt be used as a pass catcher for their their respective teams. Not everyone agrees on the exact order the top players should be going off the board in, but there's a pretty strong consensus, to the point where you rarely find yourself surprised by much. Alabama Running Back Najee Harris Career Alabama Highlights (so far)Najee Harris has all the qualities of being an incredibly entertaining running back to wa. Thats the main reason he has yet to make a Pro Bowl appearance or receive any high NFL honors. Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts 12. Ekeler finished second with 343.8 PPR points in 2021. Meanwhile, you should not underestimate the value of Patterson in PPR formats. Do Not Sell My Personal Information. After scoring a combined 33 TDs through his 1st two seasons, Taylor scored just four rushing TDs in 2022. The Chargers let Melvin Gordon walk because of their belief in Ekeler, and it was well-founded. Hes being drafted as a low RB2 or flex in most leagues. Captain: RB Jonathan Taylor, Colts ($17,400) He's earning heavy volume, finding the end zone, and securing targets. The RB5 last season, Conner will likely experience touchdown regression even though his role in Arizona projects to increase a bit without Chase Edmonds. The former two-time NFL rushing champ was off to a blazing start to the 2021 season that saw him as fast, quick and decisive as he's ever been, but he was slowed by injury in the back half of the season that made many forget what he was doing prior to that point. 1 standard RB, hes also the No. Singletary looks like the leader in the Bills backfield, making him a viable middle-round flex starter. Taylor also led the NFL in red-zone touches (92), which was not that surprising considering he ranked fifth in that category as a rookie. Christian McCaffrey, Najee Harris, . 5. Four of the Panthers 5 wins last season came when CMC was active and playing. Given Henrys importance to the Titans offense and Tennessees shot at contending it would be somewhat surprising to see him garner another touch count in the 330-370 range. He's also coming off a season where he scored just six times. He enters his . SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. However, he is still expected to be the Vikings featured back and should see some positive regression on just six touchdowns from last season. There are a number of ways to value players when deciding who to draft for fantasy football, but utilizing tiers has become a more common approach in the last 10 years. 2. Harris should dominate. If Jonathan Taylor were staring at me in the first round, I couldn't pass him up, but he might be the only one. While Taylor proved his ability as a pass catcher out of the backfield last season, it remains to be seen if Henry will ever truly materialize as a stud receiving back. Najee Harris. Singletary and Gibson are both in intriguing situations. He had higher grades on Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor and LSU's Clyde Edwards-Helaire last year than the 2021 class. Tier 11 High HandcuffsRaheem Mostert, DolphinsAlexander Mattison, VikingsJamaal Williams, LionsKenneth Gainwell, EaglesIsaih Pacheco, Chiefs Khalil Herbert, BearsRex Burkhead, TexansRachaad White, Buccaneers. The ultimate Jonathan Taylor 2019 HighlightsA two-time Doak Walker Award winner and two-time unanimous first-team All-American, Taylor will go down as one of. 2022 STANDARD RANKINGS:QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers | Top 200| Superflex. He caught just 19-of-31 targets in 2019 and averaged only six yards per reception. It is virtually impossible to take Chubb down on first contact, or second, and if he gets into the open field -- it's good night, Nancy. Ek could also be due for some touchdown regression his previous career high for TDs in a season was 11 in '19, a year in which he also scored eight receiving TDs. Austin Ekeler, D'Andre Swift, and Dalvin Cook all went ahead of Kupp, but then so did Justin Jefferson, making him, not Kupp, the No. However, health concerns combined with talented players around him limits his ceiling. NFL Preview Preview Week 10 Running Back Rankings for Fantasy Football: Nick Chubb, Travis Etienne, Jonathan Taylor, Najee Harris After a flurry of running back injuries early in the. At just 23, he was the focal point of the Steelers otherwise-dreadful offense, garnering 307 rushing attempts (second) and 94 targets (tied for first among all RBs). 3. At No. Hes rushed for 33 touchdowns with the longest carry being for 62 yds. 1 seems to be pretty concrete across the board, regardless of format, but PPR leagues have yielded vastly different results at No. Mixon averaged 18 ppg last year, but there is talk of a further reduction in his third-down role, which limits his ceiling. McCaffrey has hovered around a 90-percent catch rate over the past two seasons, and he averaged 4.5 yards per carry and 9.0 yards per catch over seven games last year. The problem is hes never finished a season with 20. In standard leagues, these two are the creme de la creme. Expectations are this will not be a direct split, but Gordon should still take enough of the pie to hurt Williams fantasy output. It feels like forever ago when everyone was wondering if Cook would live up to his potential. That 126.7 per-game average trails just 10 players total throughout the history of the NFL. Both of these teams went into the 2022 season hoping to be competitive in their respective divisions. The Colts celebrates Jonathan Taylor's touchdown against the Steelers on Dec. 27, 2020, at Heinz Field. If the Steelers can improve their offensive line and Kenny Pickett takes a step forward in his second year, Harris should be a low-end RB1. According to our friends at FantasyPros, Henry has a current ADP of No. Get insight into every teams' depth chart to see all the backups and sleepers you need to know with our 2022 RB . Some might even suggest hes the third-best or fourth-best option in PPRs despite a limited pass-catching history. If you're interested in more help while drafting, check outRotoBaller's premium "Who To Draft?" Ekeler will likely see touchdown regression, but hes a dual-threat back with a high points-per-touch average who plays in an explosive Chargers offense. It's easy to look at the success of the Bengals in 2021 and forget what it took for them to get there, which is to say what Mixon had to fight through to keep the team relevant and to ultimately still be around in Cincinnati for it. Jonathan Taylor or Najee Harris | Who Should I Draft? Jonathan Taylor started to take the lion's share of the Colts' backfield touches in Week 5 and from that point forward he averaged 26.1 PPR points per game. Edmonds' stock is on the rise after the Dolphins released Sony Michel. Only Jonathan Taylor of the Colts had more carries (332) than Harris (307) last season, and the Steelers sophomore is expected to carry a heavy workload again in 2022. Now both teams are just trying to be competitive every week. 1 RB in PPR and standard leagues. 2023 ABG-SI LLC. Lets examine our updated consensus tiers as managers enter their 2022 fantasy drafts. Matt RYa should only improve the stud RBs chances to duplicate his dominant run from a season ago. His average yds per carry is currently at 4.5 and he has carried it 192 different times this year. That requires careful analysis and tireless preparation, two things deeply woven into Sporting News Fantasys DNA. Watch the NFL all season long with fuboTV. Similarly, a back with elite pass-catching ability also has more opportunities to score TDs. Fantasy football draft season is upon us, and the predominant top-two picks in most standard drafts have been Jonathan Taylor and Derrick Henry. Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts. My highest-graded team was team 7, who took Jonathan Taylor in the first round and ended up with another potential RB1 in Rhamondre Stevenson, to go along with an elite bounce-back candidate in Mark Andrews. Andrew Erickson, After weekly for no fluke injuries: pic.twitter.com/DLw3CZlFW6. That makes it more important than ever to put your players into positional tiers. Unlike my regular player rankings, which you can also find on Sports Illustrated, tiers group players of similar value together. Michael Hickey/Getty Images. His sheer all-purpose yardage numbers and TD volume make him a cant-miss pick, especially considering his age (23) and his health (he played all 17 games last season). It feels like Montgomery doesn't get the praise he should on a national level, and that's very odd. . Already a premium subscriber? That said, there are enough obvious risks here to preclude Ekeler from going ahead of Taylor. Harris topped 20 rushing attempts for the third time in his. 6-keys: media/spln/nfl/reg/free/stories, By pressing sign up, I confirm that I have read and agree to the. That's a move you'll see a lot of this year, pairing upside with safety in that duo Derek Carr is another late-round QB target to consider pairing with Lance or Justin Fields. The hope is that new head coach Brian Daboll will be able to resurrect the Barkley we knew when he was a rookie. . Indeed, thats where the true question marks begin: who is the second-best PPR option in fantasy football? He played in four games in 2021 with at least a 50% snap share and his PPR fantasy finishes were RB1, RB3, RB4 and RB3. Regardless of format, you should be pretty pleased if you land Henry in the middle of the first round. I've compared him to Nick Chubb since he was a rookie, but Taylor has the backfield to himself. It's the reason the Dallas Cowboys awarded Ezekiel Elliott a historic contract not so long ago, and why you then saw Christian McCaffrey financially blow the roof off -- with Derrick Henry likely resetting the market in the near future. Despite being drafted in the first round of fantasy football, Jonathan Taylor, Alvin Kamara, Najee Harris, and Dalvin Cook have all struggled substantially. Head Coach Mike Tomlin. 2, get a good pair of noise-canceling headphones to block out the unlimited heckling your leaguemates will subject you with throughout the season. DOB Mar 9, 1998 Age 24.9. Tier 6 Mid RB2sTravis Etienne, JaguarsDavid Montgomery, BearsBreece Hall, JetsA.J. If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, be sure to check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. Copyright 2023 Sporting News Holdings Limited. A myriad of variables determine how successful a running back will be at the NFL level, and the bottom line is not all of them are created equal, with some being forced to produce with much less of a supporting cast for much of their career to this point, e.g., Joe Mixon. This game is going to come down to which team can run the football. Ranking NFL's top 10 RBs for 2022: Christian McCaffrey plummets with injury issues, Jonathan Taylor explodes. Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts . Drafted 2021 1.24 Exp 2. Biography. He is among the most talented backs in the league, but he needs to rebound from a fantasy season that saw him tally 861 rushing yards, 143 yards receiving, and 4 TDs. Besides Taylor, Ekeler was the only other back to average 21.0 PPR points between Week 1 and Week 17 last season. Montgomery could easily see one of the biggest workloads in the entire league, but the Bears offense is among the worst in the NFL, limiting his ceiling. 10, while FantasyPros grades Indys schedule as a three out of five. Alternatively, if you want to chat with our analysts, be sure to join our completely free Discord server. Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts 2. 98 RB Damien Harris NE 10 $12. That appears set to be the same situation this year, plus Jalen Hurts should take touches out of that backfield. The following 10 players have proven to be in a league of their own, in one way or several. ? Taylor also scored 59.3 more fantasy points on the season than the second-best fantasy RB, Austin Ekeler. 10 RB Najee Harris PIT 9 $29. His average yards per carry sits at 5.1 and he has toted the ball 756 times. Hall is also a very talented three-down back, but as a rookie in a team expected to struggle to win games, his touches could be controlled. Has played in 34 regular-season games (34 starts) Has recorded 2,234 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns on 579 attempts and added 115 catches for 696 yards and six receiving touchdowns. The debate is largely over whether he can stay healthy and remain efficient at this stage in his career. Elevating Ekeler to the starting role has paid off like gangbusters in tandem with the drafting of Justin Herbert, and his dual-threat ability that also allows him to be an effective receiver out of the backfield truly does take defensive pressure off of wide receiver Mike Williams. Considering the extent of CMCs injuries have not resulted in major surgeries or completely torn ligaments, I like him bouncing back to form in 2022. Start Over | Edit Players Summary Game Log Stats Projections Points Targets Notes See if your team wins or loses with this trade. Swift has big upside due to his receiving chops, but he needs to avoid nagging injuries to meet expectations. The fact the Colts laid an egg in a win-and-get-in against the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars last season was much more attributable to the ghastly play of the now-traded (again) Carson Wentz and not Taylor, who was the heart and soul of the team's offense the entire season. For any redraft strategy, a manager must maintain fluid rigidity. Yes, its an oxymoron. Davante Adams, WR, Green Bay Packers 13. He scored 10 touchdowns last season and averaged 4.4 yards per touch last season. Resigned to the fact that this team just doesnt have it. If he can do all of that on a bum knee, imagine what he can do on two good ones, as was the case early on last season. RBs perform a little better than their average vs HOU, This is a 4 star matchup. The biggest difference between Taylor and Henry, besides health and age lies in the passing game. Harris also improved drastically after the team's bye week operating as the RB7 in points per game over the last 9 weeks of the season. Running Backs: Derrick Henry, Austin Ekeler, Alvin Kamara, Ezekiel Elliott, Jonathan Taylor, Najee Harris, Cordarrelle Patterson, D'Andre Swift, Nick Chubb, James Robinson, Kareem Hunt, Darrell . Jonathan Taylor puts the @Colts ahead! All Rights Reserved. We also expect Jacobs to have a significant number of touches, but Kenyan Drake and Zamir White could just eat in enough to dampen his ceiling. However, he should see enough targets to mitigate efficiency concerns. Harris tallied 954 yards rushing, 219 yards receiving, and 9 TDs in the fantasy season. 2022 AUCTION VALUES (Standard & PPR):QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers | Overall. We dont doubt that Harris will enjoy another volume-heavy campaign we just remain skeptical of his ability to capitalize on his touches. section: | slug: 2022-fantasy-football-draft-prep-cooper-kupp-najee-harris-fall-unexpectedly-in-flex-league-12-team-ppr-draft | sport: football | route: article_single_fantasy | Fact is, while Jones took a step back in production in 2021, he's still every bit the dominant back he was when he delivered more than 3,000 yards from scrimmage and 30 touchdowns for the Packers in the two previous seasons. Jonathan Taylor is the alpha and omega, stunning the world if he is not the 1.01 in any 1QB league. Pollard carries increased value in a PPR format, especially with injuries to the Cowboys RB group. Are you looking to contact Customer Support about a subscription or account related question? Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Colts RB Jonathan Taylor can be a dynasty building block. That December, when the weather got colder and defenses started wearing down, he bumped up to 5.9 yards per carry. Hes young, healthy, super-skilled, and has very little competition for touches both on the ground and through the air. In his rookie season, Harris led the NFL with 381 touches, and his 1,667 scrimmage yards trailed only Taylor among RBs. He should lead the backfield in touches, but there are too many talented backs in that room, all of whom could steal touches, especially around the goal line. In his absence, Zack. Cuff options: Jonathan Taylor, Jordan Wilkins, Marlon Mack Review: The Colts' line is among the best when healthy, and early injuries worries have been somewhat abated. Facebook; Twitter; . Hes easily one of the best receiving backs in football, as evidenced by his 70 receptions for 647 yards and eight TDs through the air. Injuries are an inevitable part of fantasy football, especially at running back. Sloan Piva is a content producer at The Sporting News. This tier spans just over 10 spots in our overall PPR rankings. I like that the Panthers are already putting him in preseason bubble wrap to make sure hes full-go for Week 1. With each reception counting for a point or even just a half-point, a strong three-down receiving back jumps way up in value. Yet, we have limited knowledge of what this offense will look like or how Kamara will be utilized following Sean Paytons retirement. All Rights Reserved. Use this breakdown of the top fantasy running backs to make smart draft decisions. (2022) | FantasyPros By accessing this site you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use. CMC has played just 10 games total over the past two seasons. Despite having massive needs all over their . No, I'm a California resident looking for the California Consumer Privacy Act form. Jonathan Taylor Injury Update Taylor was diagnosed with a high-ankle sprain following Saturday's loss to the Vikings. In 2021, Taylor enjoyed a massive breakout. Kamara, who has looked great in camp, should be a top-10 fantasy runner as long as he isnt faced with an in-season suspension for an off-field issue. Jonathan TaylorChristian McCaffreyAustin Ekeler. Steelers 20, Buccaneers 18: Najee Harris wasn't overly impressive (with 49 total yards on 16 touches and a receiving TD), but consider the matchup. Moving forward, Harris is a dynasty running back who should keep the fantasy points coming in for years. McCaffrey lost time to hamstring and left-ankle injuries last year after suffering from a right high-ankle sprain, shoulder, and thigh injuries in '20. Taylors 2,171 yards from scrimmage in 21 bested Henrys total yardage from 20 by 30 yards thanks to JT netting 246 more receiving yards.