Fantasy Football Week 7 running back rankings: Here’s how to survive the worst RB week in history

Based on NFC Average Draft Position data from the preseason, just four of the preseason top-12 at running back are even available to play this week: Derrick Henry, Alvin Kamara, Jonathan Taylor, and Aaron Jones. Extend it to the top 24 in ADP, and you only add seven more names, and not all of those are must-start players at this point. It’s the combination of injuries and a bye week featuring the Bills, Cowboys, Chargers, Vikings, Steelers and Jaguars all off at the same time that makes this week so tough. 

It gets worse than all that. If you narrow it down to players I would actually feel OK starting in Week 7, I can only get to maybe 19 of the top 36 in ADP, and that’s really stretching it with guys like Javonte Williams, Chase Edmonds, Melvin Gordon, Michael Carter, A.J. Dillon, and Myles Gaskin being included in the “feeling OK” category. It might actually be as few as 14 of the top 36. 

I think this has to be one of the worst weeks for the running back position in a long time in Fantasy football. Maybe not ever, though I genuinely cannot remember a week in my 21 years playing and 11 seasons working for CBS Fantasy where I felt confident in so few players. And things will look even worse than my rankings do if Alex Collins doesn’t end up not playing — though I’ll also add that I may be too low on Antonio Gibson right now if the MRI comes back clean on his lingering shin injury. We’ll see there, though if Gibson does end up having to miss time, Jaret Patterson might find himself moving into the top-30 range, so consider adding him as a low-cost FAB bid when waivers run. 

Also, as we found out Tuesday, Nick Chubb has already been ruled out for Thursday’s game against the Broncos, meaning one of the NFL‘s most run-heavy teams will be without their two top backs this week. That could lead to more passing, but it’ll almost certainly lead to a pretty heavy workload for D’Ernest Johnson, who should be viewed as the top waiver-wire target for RB-needy teams this week. Demetric Felton could also see a role that might make him Fantasy relevant, though he has lined up in the backfield just twice all season, so I’m not sure the Browns actually view him as a running back. this could be all Johnson Thursday. 

Get your first look at the running back rankings for Week 7 from yours truly, including thoughts on some of the most interesting players for this week. To see Jamey Eisenberg, Dave Richard, and Heath Cummings’ rankings, make sure you head here. We’ll be updating this throughout the week with new notes and rankings as we get news and the rankings get tweaked, so make sure you bookmark the page.    

Week 7 RB Rankings

1. Derrick Henry vs. KC
2. Alvin Kamara @ SEA — We’d love to see another eight-target game like Kamara’s last, wouldn’t we folks?
3. Aaron Jones vs. WAS
4. Leonard Fournette vs. CHI — Oh boy. I do not feel good about this one one bit, but it’s hard to make a case against it at this point. Fournette has 54 carries and 16 targets over the past three weeks while playing at least 62% of the snaps in each game. As much as you might prefer to not rely on a Bruce Arians running back, Fournette looks about as locked into a big role as anyone else. 
5. Darrell Henderson vs. DET — Henderson played 82% of the snaps in Week 6, and at this point, that should be the expectation. Maybe he has a little more injury risk than most running backs based on his history and workload, but he’s a must-start option as long as he is healthy. 
6. D’Andre Swift @ LAR — You know what might help the Lions win a game someday? Getting Swift involved in the offense earlier! He has just 12 first-half targets in six games, compared to 30 in the second half. In fact, he has more targets in the fourth quarter of games (22) than the first three combined (20). I recognize that this is largely because they are trailing so often, but have they considered they might be trailing because they don’t use their best offensive player nearly enough early on? It probably wouldn’t do much to change their chances of beating the Rams this week, but it would be nice if they actually committed to Swift in a real way. 
7. Joe Mixon @ BAL — With Samaje Perine inactive, Mixon had his best receiving game of the season, catching five of six passes for 59 yards, including a sweet 40-yard touchdown. The need to get Mixon involved is less acute than it is for the Lions with Swift — the Bengals aren’t hurting for playmakers, exactly — but it would be great for his value if they threw it to him four to five times per game moving forward. He’s clearly competent enough to justify it, though the history here suggests you should be pretty skeptical. 
8. Cordarrelle Patterson @ MIA — It’s going to be interesting to see what Patterson’s passing game role looks like with Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage expected back in Week 7. He’s spent increasingly more time at wide receiver in the past two games, and deploying him as a true hybrid is probably the best way to use him, rather than trying to use him primarily as a backup running back — he has gone from lining up in the backfield on 70% of his snaps the first three games to 53% in Weeks 4 and 5. That’s also probably the best way to maximize his Fantasy value, which is a nice coincidence. Obviously, I’m expecting a lot from one of the league’s biggest surprises to date. 
9. Mike Davis @ MIA
10. Jonathan Taylor @ SF — Even in a massive game, Taylor had just 14 carries in Week 6. His usage remains suboptimal, but his big-play ability and red zone role — he has an incredible 28 red zone touches and 14 in the green zone (inside the 10-yard line) — make him a must-start RB every week. 
11. Chuba Hubbard @ NYG
12. Darrel Williams @ TEN — I’m not expecting 24 touches again from Williams — the Chiefs ran 82 plays and won pretty easily, inflating his totals — but Williams played 72% of the snaps and was involved in the passing game and at the goal line, which is exactly what you want to see. 
13. Josh Jacobs vs. PHI — Jacobs isn’t going to average 3.2 yards per carry forever, which means you can assume he’s going to be better than he has been moving forward. Hopefully, his usage will increase moving forward as well, because the 13.5 carries per game he’s averaging are well below his career norms. 
14. Devontae Booker vs. CAR
15. J.D. McKissic @ GB — This could be setting up for another big McKissic game after he had 19 PPR points in Week 6. Washington will probably be chasing points for much of the game yet again, and if Antonio Gibson is out or limited, McKissic should be the lead back here. 
16. Alex Collins vs. NO — Pete Carroll expressed optimism about Collins’ chances of playing Monday, which means we don’t really have any sense of how good Collins’ chances of playing are at this point. If he plays, he’ll rank around here against a very tough matchup. 
17. Miles Sanders @ LV — The schedule is easing up for Sanders, so hopefully, he’s due for more work than he’s gotten so far. He has just three double-digit carry games so far, including just one with more than 13, which makes it awfully hard to get into a rhythm. He’s not coming off the field much at all despite concerns/predictions that Kenny Gainwell was coming for his job, and it wouldn’t be a surprise at all if Sanders had his best game of the season. Who knows, maybe he’ll even score a touchdown. 
18. D’Ernest Johnson vs. DEN — Johnson figures to be the lead back for the Browns this week, which automatically makes him Fantasy relevant. When it comes to questions of his upside, it really comes down to how much he’ll be used in the passing game and whether he can find the end zone. Johnson was a pretty good receiver in college, and they won’t be using Demetric Felton in short-yardage spots, I would guess, so Johnson is in a pretty good spot if the Browns offense can create enough opportunities for him. Don’t be surprised if we get a Khalil Herbert-in-Week-6 type of performance from Johnson. 
19. Damien Harris vs. NYJ — Rhamondre Stevenson did play a bigger role in Week 6, but it didn’t come at Harris’ expense, as Harris still had 18 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown. We should see a similar usage against the Jets, and while Harris probably needs to find the end zone to have a good Fantasy game, the chances of that should be pretty good in this one. 
20. Chase Edmonds vs. HOU — You’ve gotta wonder how much Edmonds’ shoulder injury is bothering him after he played his smallest snap share of the season in Week 6. The Cardinals should be able to win against the Texans pretty easily before two tough tests against the Packers and 49ers in Weeks 8 and 9, so it wouldn’t be shocking if he was a little limited again in this one. Still, I’d probably have to start him, given *gestures wildly at everything*. 
21. Elijah Mitchell vs. IND — It seems fair to assume Mitchell is going to be the lead back for the 49ers, and with Jimmy Garoppolo expected to return as the starter after missing Week 5, that should mean more than the nine carries he got in the last game. 
22. James Conner vs. HOU
23. Damien Williams @ TB — With how good Herbert was in Week 6, you have to assume Williams is going to be returning from the COVID list to a time share. I’ll give him the edge because of his likely passing game role, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this was pretty close to a 50-50 split. Unfortunately, against arguably the worst matchup for running backs, it’s hard to get too excited about either. 
24. Michael Carter @ NE — Carter is healthy and gets touches, so he’s a top-24 running back this week, I guess. Things have seriously thinned out already at this point in the rankings, and you’re mostly throwing darts at this point. Might as well throw one on the guy who is likely to get double-digit carries and three or more targets, even in a tough matchup. 
25. Melvin Gordon @ CLE
26. Javonte Williams @ CLE
27. AJ Dillon vs. WAS — Should Dillon be higher? He’s had at least 11 touches in three straight games, including the occasional target. However, he really hasn’t cut into Aaron Jones’ goal-line role yet, and the passing game work has been inconsistent — four targets in Week 5, none in Week 6. 
28. Jamaal Williams @ LAR
29. Khalil Herbert @ TB
30. Myles Gaskin vs. ATL — Gaskin still had six targets in Week 6, but turned them into just two catches for 5 yards to go with nine whole yards on five carries. He could still have a good game at any time thanks to his receiving role, but you can’t feel confident in Gaskin now that he’s been below 40% of the snaps in two of three games. 
31. Mark Ingram @ ARI — I mean, sure, why not? He’ll probably get double-digit carries, at least. You can read my lack of enthusiasm here, yes? 
32. Nyheim Hines @ SF
33. Antonio Gibson @ GB — I’m not expecting Gibson to play a full role if he does play through his lingering shin injury, and if he doesn’t play, I’ll probably just rank Jaret Patterson right around this spot. Simple enough. If it sounds like Gibson is going to be a full-go, I’ll move him up, but won’t view him as a must-start given how much trouble this issue seems to be giving him. 
34. David Johnson @ ARI
35. Rhamondre Stevenson vs. NYJ — Stevenson is a sprained ankle (or possibly a fumble) for Damien Harris away from seeing a pretty valuable role, especially if the Patriots continue to view him as a contributor in the passing game — he led the team in routes run at RB in Week 6, a great sign. He probably has more upside than Harris for Fantasy for the rest of the season, even if he might not be a better player. 
36. Jerick McKinnon @ TEN
37. Devonta Freeman vs. CIN — With Latavius Murray leaving Week 6 with an ankle injury, Freeman may find himself as the lead back for the Ravens. But he’ll probably just be in a three-way RB split with Ty’Son Williams and Le’Veon Bell if that were to happen — with Lamar Jackson also seeing plenty of carries, too. My preference would be to avoid this backfield until someone clearly emerges, something I don’t really expect to happen at this point. 
38. Ty’Son Williams vs. CIN
39. Royce Freeman @ NYG
40. Kenyan Drake vs. PHI — While it was nice to see Drake get into the end zone, he still played just 21% of the snaps in Week 6 with four carries and two targets. 
41. Ty Johnson @ NE
42. Kenneth Gainwell @ LV
43. Le’Veon Bell vs. CIN
44. Sony Michel vs. DET
45. Jeremy McNichols vs. KC
46. Brandon Bolden vs. NYJ
47. Giovani Bernard vs. CHI
48. Deejay Dallas vs. NO