Fantasy Running Backs

Among the many stories coming out of Week 11 was the continued emergence of Vikings’ running back Latavius Murray. Murray began the preseason on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list with an ankle injury. He quickly fell down the depth chart behind dynamic rookie Dalvin Cook and saw just seven touches in September. Once Cook was lost for the season with a torn ACL, Jerick McKinnon dominated fantasy headlines, but Murray’s role slowly increased as well. Murray’s weekly touches increased in every game from Week 4 through…

Todd Gurley’s sixth top-6 weekly finish has propelled him into the overall RB1 spot as we eclipse the halfway point in the season. He has proven that his 2016 campaign was the outlier in his brief career. The Saints’ Alvin Kamara led all fantasy running backs in Week 9 with 25.20 fantasy points. Kamara and teammate Mark Ingram are both top-3 fantasy running backs over the past four weeks, despite a combined four lost fumbles. Their recent dominance coincides with the trade of Adrian Peterson to Arizona. Peterson has been no…

The two big news stories coming out of Week 8 were the denial of Ezekiel Elliott’s request for an injunction and the trade of Jay Ajayi from the Miami Dolphins to the Philadelphia Eagles. Elliott will likely begin serving his six-game suspension beginning in Week 9, giving fantasy owners some tough decisions to make going forward. As of right now, Elliott is out until Week 15, which is Semifinal week in most fantasy leagues. It’ll be tougher to reach the semifinals without Elliott, who is tied with Todd Gurley for the…

Ezekiel Elliott was the undisputed fantasy star of Week 7. Elliott led or tied for the NFL lead among running backs in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns in Week 7. His performance was the second-best of the season in terms of fantasy points, trailing only Kareem Hunt’s opening night heroics. Speaking of Hunt, for the first time this season, he is not the overall RB1 on the year. Todd Gurley has taken over that mantle behind another strong performance. Hunt did manage to eclipse 100…

One of the headlines in Week 6 was the fallout resulting from the trade of Adrian Peterson from New Orleans to Arizona. Peterson hadn’t shown anything in his brief stint as a New Orleans Saint other than rust and age, rushing for just 81 yards through four games. Immediately following the trade, I texted my friend who is a die-hard Cardinals fan and congratulated him on Arizona furthering their quest to re-create the 2009 all-Pro team. Peterson proceeded to make me look like an idiot (save the jokes, please) and appeared to…