When the 2015 NFL season started, fantasy players had a choice to make. At the top of drafts, there were anywhere from three to five candidates for the first overall picks. Alphabetically, those choices were Le'Veon Bell, Jamaal Charles, Eddie Lacy, Marshawn Lynch and Adrian Peterson.
Fantasy football rankings 2015: Running backs for standard leagues, Week 15
What do we make of this season for Eddie Lacy, and what does it mean for 2016? Here are our fantasy football running back rankings for standard leagues for Week 15.
Well, we’re most of the way through the season, and there’s only one of those five who would have worked out as a top pick, as Peterson is second at the position in fantasy scoring for the season and has nine double-digit fantasy days in 13 outings. It’s not a historic pace for Peterson at all, but when you’re in a room with a bunch of people who are 5’2, you can be the tallest at 5’4.
So Peterson worked out. And at this point, there’s no way Bell, Charles and Lynch can come follow through on their draft placements (there’s something to be said for a guy putting up big numbers, getting hurt and letting you move on, instead of struggling while stuck in our lineup, but still).
That leaves us Lacy. Honestly, if you burned a top pick (or top-five-ish pick) on Lacy, your season is probably over. Unless you crushed the rest of your draft and/or waiver wire, Lacy’s struggles might have torpedoed your season. Any theoretical No. 1 running back with four games of 10 or fewer rushing yards is enormously frustrating, to say nothing of him breaking up a string of hundred-yard games by showing up late and getting punished.
Ultimately, when 2015 is all wrapped up, we’ll look back on Lacy’s year as a disappointment. But there is every chance that, entering 2016, he’ll be right up in the same area of conversation as he was this year. Big numbers the rest of the way, and Lacy will be all-caps EDDIE LACY once again.
First, let's look back. In his last four games, Lacy has recorded 100, 105 and 124 rushing yards, respectively, in three of them. He also has two touchdowns in that time. The one game he didn't have big numbers was Week 13, when he dealt with the aforementioned punishment and had only five carries for four yards. That's bad, but at least you can't put the blame on his performance so much as off-field issues. The rest of the way, the Packers play a mediocre Oakland run defense and the good run defenses of Arizona and Minnesota.
Imagine, if you will, that Lacy runs for 100-plus in all three of those games. Say he has three or four touchdowns in that time. It might be too little, too late for his drafters, but when 2016 rolls around, we’ll see a running back who ended 2015 with 140-some fantasy points, which will shoot him into the position’s top 15, top 10. He’ll have put up 100 fantasy points in the second half. We’ll look at that and think, “Boy, extrapolate that over a full season and he’s a monster again!”
There will be cold-water folks who remind us that Lacy was awful, bordering on benched, for part of the season. Or who remind us of the guy who struggled early in 2014 as well, costing those who drafted him high in a big way in consecutive years. Those are fair criticisms.
But Lacy is still good. I don’t know why he’s bad early in seasons (or at least, why he has been). But his second halves have been monstrous, and I can already feel myself mentally bumping Lacy up the 2016 rankings list. (And scroll down a little to see where I have him this week.)
On to our Week 15 running back rankings for standard leagues.
Running backs for standard leagues, Week 15
(DK: Daniel Kelley; DC: Dan Ciarrocchi; AM: Andrew Miller; JD: John Daigle; SK: Scott Kaliska)
| Rk | Consensus | Tm | Opp. | DK | DC | AM | JD | SK |
| 1 | Adrian Peterson | MIN | CHI | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | LeSean McCoy | BUF | @WAS | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | David Johnson | ARI | @PHI | 7 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | Doug Martin | TB | @STL | 2 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| 5 | Todd Gurley | STL | TB | 5 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 6 | DeAngelo Williams | PIT | DEN | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
| 7 | Eddie Lacy | GB | @OAK | 1 | 6 | 13 | 9 | 9 |
| 7 | Lamar Miller | MIA | @SD | 15 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 4 |
| 9 | Devonta Freeman | ATL | @JAC | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 |
| 10 | Matt Forte | CHI | @MIN | 8 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 10 |
| 11 | Chris Ivory | NYJ | @DAL | 21 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 |
| 12 | Jeremy Hill | CIN | @SF | 12 | 18 | 11 | 13 | 12 |
| 13 | Darren McFadden | DAL | NYJ | 11 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 |
| 14 | Latavius Murray | OAK | GB | 17 | 15 | 20 | 12 | 13 |
| 15 | Denard Robinson | JAC | ATL | 10 | 22 | 14 | 17 | 17 |
| 16 | Jonathan Stewart | CAR | @NYG | 20 | 12 | 7 | 21 | 21 |
| 17 | Buck Allen | BAL | KC | 16 | 16 | 18 | 16 | 18 |
| 18 | Charcandrick West | KC | @BAL | 19 | 13 | 15 | 19 | 19 |
| 19 | Tim Hightower | NO | DET | 14 | 27 | 17 | 14 | 15 |
| 20 | Shaun Draughn | SF | CIN | 23 | 14 | 25 | 18 | 16 |
| 21 | Frank Gore | IND | HOU | 22 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 20 |
| 22 | Giovani Bernard | CIN | @SF | 26 | 21 | 19 | 22 | 22 |
| 23 | Ronnie Hillman | DEN | @PIT | 18 | 19 | 28 | 23 | 23 |
| 24 | Jeremy Langford | CHI | @MIN | 24 | 25 | 30 | 27 | 27 |
| 25 | Ryan Mathews | PHI | ARI | 29 | 24 | 31 | 25 | 25 |
| 26 | Bryce Brown | SEA | CLE | 13 | 23 | 23 | 32 | 46 |
| 27 | James White | NE | TEN | 28 | 26 | 33 | 26 | 26 |
| 28 | James Starks | GB | @OAK | 25 | 29 | 34 | 28 | 29 |
| 29 | Darren Sproles | PHI | ARI | 32 | 28 | 37 | 30 | 30 |
| 30 | Matt Jones | WAS | BUF | 48 | 38 | 32 | 24 | 24 |
| 31 | Brandon Bolden | NE | TEN | 42 | 36 | 22 | 33 | 36 |
| 32 | Spencer Ware | KC | @BAL | 39 | 32 | 29 | 36 | 34 |
| 33 | Theo Riddick | DET | @NO | 33 | 37 | 39 | 34 | 32 |
| 34 | Ameer Abdullah | DET | @NO | 44 | 31 | 45 | 29 | 28 |
| 35 | Bilal Powell | NYJ | @DAL | 27 | 41 | 27 | 44 | 42 |
| 36 | Duke Johnson Jr. | CLE | @SEA | 49 | 34 | 24 | 40 | 37 |
| 36 | Danny Woodhead | SD | MIA | 43 | 33 | 40 | 35 | 33 |
| 38 | Isaiah Crowell | CLE | @SEA | 47 | 30 | 35 | 42 | 40 |
| 38 | Melvin Gordon | SD | MIA | 46 | 35 | -- | 31 | 31 |
| 40 | Charles Sims | TB | @STL | 31 | 44 | 49 | 37 | 35 |
| 41 | Chris Polk | HOU | @IND | 36 | 40 | 47 | 39 | 39 |
| 42 | Antonio Andrews | TEN | @NE | 35 | 42 | 36 | 45 | 44 |
| 43 | Fred Jackson | SEA | CLE | 37 | 39 | 42 | 43 | 45 |
| 44 | C.J. Anderson | DEN | @PIT | 30 | -- | -- | 38 | 38 |
| 45 | DeMarco Murray | PHI | ARI | -- | -- | 26 | 41 | 41 |
| 46 | Alfred Morris | WAS | BUF | 50 | 45 | 38 | 46 | 43 |
| 47 | Joique Bell | DET | @NO | 34 | 46 | 50 | 49 | 48 |
| 48 | Fozzy Whittaker | CAR | @NYG | 38 | -- | -- | 48 | 47 |
| 49 | Juwan Thompson | DEN | @PIT | -- | 43 | 41 | -- | -- |
| 49 | Rashad Jennings | NYG | CAR | -- | 47 | 43 | 47 | 49 |
| -- | Alfred Blue | HOU | @IND | 40 | 49 | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | Jonathan Grimes | HOU | @IND | 41 | -- | 48 | -- | -- |
| -- | Cameron Artis-Payne | CAR | @NYG | 45 | -- | 46 | -- | -- |
| -- | Kerwynn Williams | ARI | @PHI | -- | -- | 44 | -- | -- |
| -- | Shane Vereen | NYG | CAR | -- | 48 | -- | -- | 50 |
| -- | Jay Ajayi | MIA | @SD | -- | 50 | -- | 50 | -- |
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