Well, we had a lot of injuries as per usual. There are also some changes on the depth chart. Here are eight running backs worthy of your attention:
Fantasy football waiver wire: 8 running backs to target for Week 7
Fantasy owners are probably missing one or two of the running backs they drafted. The waiver wire is your friend.
Adam Bettcher
Jerick McKinnon, Minnesota Vikings (owned in 37 percent of leagues)
The "Free Jerick" movement got what they wanted on Sunday. He out-snapped Matt Asiata 48-15 and out-touched him 17-3. McKinnon wasn't very effective against a stout Detroit Lions defense, rushing for 40 yards on 11 carries to go with 42 receiving yards on six receptions.
As bad as Minnesota looked, the Lions are one of the better defenses they’ll face all season. He should be able to turn in some big lines and he’d really have to blow it to lose his job.
McKinnon should be owned in even six-team leagues and could emerge as a solid RB2 the rest of the way.
Ronnie Hillman, Denver Broncos (owned in 45 percent of leagues): There was some talk of C.J. Anderson getting in the mix against the New York Jets, but that didn't happen with just one snap. They didn't need him at all with Ronnie Hillman carving up the Jets to the tune of 100 rushing yards and 16 receiving yards on 27 touches. That's impressive considering the Jets have shut down numerous running backs all season.
Montee Ball is nowhere near close to a return and he was ineffective anyway, so the team won't be in a rush to bring him back. Hillman should get a 20-plus touch load for the next couple weeks, and he'll be an RB2 at home against the San Francisco 49ers.
He shouldn’t be on any waiver wires.
Brandon Bolden, New England Patriots (owned in 2 percent of leagues): Stevan Ridley is out for the season with a torn ACL and MCL. After the injury occurred, Bolden has been active for the Patriots before and did have a 14-touch game against the Denver Broncos on Nov. 24, 2013. Of course, he had just four touches the following week.
That pretty much sums up how the Patriots use their backs and there’s really no telling what they’ll do. Still, Bolden has the inside track for goal-line carries right now and is worth a look. He probably shouldn’t be in fantasy lineups until he proves he can capitalize on his opportunity.
Isaiah Crowell, Cleveland Browns (owned in 19 percent of leagues): Yes, Ben Tate was fantastic with 78 rushing yards and two scores on 25 carries in Week 6 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Meanwhile, Isaiah Crowell continues to rip off huge runs, racking up 77 yards on just 11 carries. He was an undrafted free agent and obviously the Browns look pretty good for this addition. As an aside, NFL teams spending a high draft pick on a back seems like a worse idea with every passing day.
Anyway, Crowell has passed Terrance West on the depth chart and will be the handcuff to own for Tate. The Browns are actually good and their offensive line is a little underrated. Although, the loss of center Alex Mack is going to hurt the overall upside of their running game.
Considering how frequently Tate goes down, Crowell should be owned in all 10-team leagues.
Antone Smith, Atlanta Falcons (owned in 28 percent of leagues): It's been a long time coming, but perhaps the Falcons are going to give Smith more snaps. "I know that everybody would like for him to get more carries," coach Mike Smith said on Monday.
Still, he only saw 11 snaps, which ranked third behind Steven Jackson at 20 and Jacquizz Rodgers at 17. That's obviously not enough, but he's absolutely capitalizing on his chances. In fact, he has 1.4 fantasy points per carry or pass route, which is insane. Imagine if a player had almost a point and a half every time he ran a route.
Still, we don’t know what he’s going to do and the Falcons probably won’t be giving him a serious workload. The fact is that he’s played the best and that stands for something.
Storm Johnson, Jacksonville Jaguars (owned in 18 percent of leagues): The Jaguars can't move the ball on the ground at all, but at least Storm was able to score. Of course, his line of 21 yards on 10 carries against the Tennessee Titans is nothing to write home about.
Denard Robinson had five carries for 22 yards and will never really be an every-down back. Johnson is still an RB4 with limited upside. After all, he couldn't do anything against one of the worst defense in Week 6.
James White, New England Patriots (owned in 3 percent of leagues): While Shane Vereen is going to get about half the work at running back, the other half is a total guessing game. As mentioned above, Bolden has the inside track to be the second dog in the Patriots backfield, but it wouldn't be a surprise to see White leapfrog him.
Plus, Ridley, Vereen and Bolden are all free agents next year, so it makes sense to give White more burn to see what he can do. If you have a weak spot on your bench and are never going to use a certain player (check your bye weeks), it’s not a bad idea to grab White.
Juwan Thompson, Denver Broncos (owned in 2 percent of leagues): He's way behind Ronnie Hillman and is not a good bet for double-digit carries. Thompson is more of a stash in most leagues.
