Fantasy football running back tiers 2019

Running Back Tiers: Tier Three – Part 2

Thunder Dan

Derrick Henry – Henry is still one of my favorite backs in this tier and I’ve been drafting him in round 3 a lot. He is the one back in this group that has the most certainty surrounding his situation and he’s also just a freaking beast who can run over guys and past them. Having said that, his calf injury is lingering and that is concerning.

Todd Gurley – I’ve seen Gurley fall in a lot of drafts and I’m pretty bearish on him, too. There’s just way too many questions about his health and the multiple knee injuries for me to invest a first or second round pick.

Melvin Gordon – With the trade demands and all the question marks surrounding his situation, I’m happy to pass on him early. He’s been a great three-down back but we saw him start to get faded out of the passing game late in the year with Ekeler’s emergence and his health is certainly something I’d be concerned about.

Leonard Fournette – Speaking of health concerns, I didn’t touch Fournette last year at all as I thought he was going to have a down year and he did just that. He could bounce back this year, but so much of his production relies on goalline production and he’s not great in the passing game. I think he will struggle to stay healthy again with as many hits as he takes.

Marlon Mack – Absolutely one of my favorite backs in this tier. Primed for a huge year and hopefully the Colts are smart enough to feature him.

Adam

Damien Williams – Hot take alert – as long as the hamstring injury is behind him and he gets the rest of training camp, Williams is a top five running back this year. I’m ready for the comments on the Twitter.

Le’Veon Bell – His offense is worse at every level of the one he just left, he’s not the easiest to block for with the running style, the head coach may or may not want him on the team and he hasn’t played in a year. I’m being careful and willing to be wrong.

Marlon Mack – He was given an overall workhorse role when healthy, but the splits between winning and losing are a bit worrisome. My favorite thing about Mack is the Colts had a metric ton of cap space and draft capital, and they didn’t touch running back.

Chris Carson – He’s in an offense that will almost surely be top five in rushing attempts and can catch the ball a little more than people think, with 24 receptions last year.

Devonta Freeman – He’s been bitten hard by the injury bug, but this offense is among the league’s elite. Tevin Coleman is in San Francisco, leaving Freeman for as much work as he can handle.

Aaron Jones – The fantasy community has been waiting for the breakout from Jones since he came into the league. Is this the year with Matt LaFluer as the head coach? The Packers want to bring a little bit of balance back to the offense after finishing dead last in rushing attempts in 2018.

David Montgomery – All the rage right now, I’m starting to buy in. The Bears have a stout defense so game script should never get too far away. There’s 250 rushing attempts from Jordan Howard available and Montgomery has passing game chops. A top 20 spot(maybe 15) is within reach. The 1st preseason game did nothing to change the high opinions.

Mark Ingram – Coming into the league’s highest volume rushing attack, Ingram seems primed for at least 225-250 carries. If the reports of Lamar Jackson lighting up camp come to fruition, it’s just going to open up even more for Ingram. Oh, there’s this as well –

Melvin Gordon – I could just put a big shrug here because I don’t know when or where Gordon is on the field next. Anywhere in the third round is an acceptable risk, preferably towards the back.