NFL Power Rankings Week 2: Running backs

Welcome to FanSided’s weekly NFL Power Rankings. Every Tuesday throughout the season you can check out rankings for a different key position, including quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, and even the defensive star players. These power rankings will consist of the top 25 players at that given position. With 32 teams and only 25 spots that means not every team’s players will make the cut. So make sure you check in every Tuesday to see if your favorite players made the list.

These rankings are NOT a list of the of the players with the best overall careers. That would favor the older players. They are also NOT a list of which player you would want to build around going forward. That would favor the younger players. No, this is a ranking of the best players at that position right now, today. The NFL is a “what have you done for me lately” kind of league. So while early in the season the lists will obviously be influenced by previous performance, if later in the year Rashad Jennings is outperforming Adrian Peterson (unlikely, I know) then Jennings will be ranked ahead of Peterson regardless of what their reputation is.

This week we are looking at the running back position. In today’s pass happy NFL there is less and less emphasis put on the running game it seems and even the teams that do feature a heavy running attack often split the load between two or even three different backs. There are still some true elite heavyweights at the position, but there’s not 25 of them. So who’s done enough to make it onto the list?

Let’s find out…..