Fantasy football 2019: Running back tier rankings

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Fantasy Football 2019 Running Back Tier Rankings

Some people’s top tier may have one or two fewer names but that’s the best part of fantasy football, everyone can have different rankings.

James Conner

In the absence of Le’Veon Bell, Conner stepped up for the Steelers. In 13 games, he had 973 yards and 12 touchdowns on 215 carries. He also had 55 receptions for 497 yards and a touchdown.

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Now that Bell, Antonio Brown and Jesse James are gone, over 200 targets will be available in the Steelers offense. They added Donte Moncrief to support JuJu Smith-Schuster but that still isn’t enough.

Conner did slow down towards the end of the season but a full offseason of rest and the support of the coaching staff, he’s a reliable option for 200 carries and over 1,000 yards.

Ezekiel Elliott

Amidst contract negotiations, Elliott continues to drop in the rankings. While many players want to shorten the preseason, getting live game action is important to build chemistry with your teammates. For a running back, that’s even more important with the offensive line and finding the holes to break into the secondary.

Last year, Elliott rushed 304 times for 1,434 yards and six touchdowns. If he holds out into the regular season, his absence will heavily affect the Cowboys passing game. If he doesn’t report before Week 1, if you haven’t drafted yet, there’s no way you can use a first-round pick on Elliott no matter what his ceiling is.

Christian McCaffrey

In his second season, McCaffrey was a PPR league’s dream. Along with his 1,098 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, he caught 107 passes for another 867 yards and six more touchdowns.

The Panthers top receiving options are DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel. Greg Olsen is still in the mix but McCaffrey is the most reliable. While we may not see him rush over 200 times this season, he can still reach 100 receptions this season.

I would not be mad if he went first overall, but he won’t go past the third pick in any league.

Alvin Kamara

Kamara was effective in the Saints backfield with Mark Ingram listed ahead of him on the depth chart. He had 883 yards and 14 touchdowns on 194 carries and 81 receptions, 708 yards and four more scores.

He did see a drop in scoring once Ingram returned from his suspension but was still a top-10 running back based on points per game. He won’t have to worry about that this season.

Ingram is now in Baltimore and Kamara is the top back in New Orleans. The front office brought in Latavius Murray as a backup but Kamara will be getting the lion’s share of the carries. In a PPR league, Kamara could finish as the top running back.

Saquon Barkley

If anyone benefited from the offseason changes, Barkley is at the top of the list. Target monster Odell Beckham is now in Cleveland and the Giants improved their offensive line. They will also be without Corey Coleman for the year.

Though the lack of offensive weapons could draw more attention to Barkley. That won’t matter as he will be a top-five running back. The downside is the lack of scoring that will likely come from this offense.

With a full team, Barkley rushed for 1,307 yards and had 721 receiving yards with a combined 15 touchdowns, 11 rushing and four receiving. He may not rush for 10 touchdowns this season but is a safe pick in the top three of the draft.

Next. Fantasy Football 2019 Preview - Hot Takes and Bold Calls. dark

The running back position is changing. Like the closer position in baseball, more players getting touches doesn’t help anyone’s fantasy value. Finding one or two three-down backs is important to success in fantasy football. Thanks for stopping by FanSided Fantasy!

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