Fantasy football rankings 2015: Running backs for PPR leagues, Week 17
Bilal Powell has become a whole new running back in recent weeks. Here are our fantasy football running back rankings for PPR leagues in Week 17.
Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
In the days leading up to Week 6 of the 2013 NFL season, I don’t remember why, but I was just out of running backs. I had one starter, but, you know, you need two, and I didn’t have that.
Looking back now, I assume it was just byes. But I'm usually a better planner than that, so maybe there were some injuries as well. Whatever it was, I had to trade for someone --€” it was a 12-team league and deep rosters, so the waiver wire was thin. Best I could do was convincing Nate to take on a backup tight end (Charles Clay) in exchange for his fifth running back, Bilal Powell.
Powell got me only 7.33 fantasy points that day. In a PPR league, that’s, you know, eh, whatever. It was better than the zero I was in line for, and at this point, I have no idea if there was some random guy off the wire who might have done better for me.
The point is, that’s who Powell’s been for most of his career. Not a guy out there to be your fantasy starter. Generally, not even a bench guy. Just a guy. Gets enough carries that I have had the spelling of “Bilal” lodged firmly in my brain, but not enough that I could even tell you off the top of my head where he went to college. (Update: Louisville. And I’m a Kentucky boy. Well now I feel dumb.)
Anyway, Powell is now in his fifth season. He had six career touchdowns entering 2015, three this year. He’s never lost a fumble, which is kinda neat, but in 54 career games before a month ago, he’d had six career games with double-digit fantasy points, two games with more than four catches (both this year), two career games with more than 100 yards from scrimmage (back-to-back games in 2013). He was a guy. That was it.
The last four weeks, though? Particularly in PPR leagues, but no matter what format you play, the Bilal Powell of the last four weeks has been a guy to consider. In that stretch, he’s averaged 12.5 fantasy points a game in standard scoring, he’s scored three touchdowns, he’s (still!) lost no fumbles. And nicely for PPR, Powell, who had 22 receptions in his first seven games this year, has 25 in his last four.
A couple months ago, Powell was just the handcuff for Chris Ivory, a guy who never saw mention in our top-50 rankings. But Ivory has slumped of late, and Powell has picked up the slack. He's been relevant in standard leagues, downright helpful in PPR.
In short, if trading were still allowed, Nate wouldn’t give him to me for a backup tight end. On to our Week 17 running back rankings for PPR leagues:
Running backs for PPR leagues, Week 17
(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 | DeAngelo Williams | PIT | @CLE | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | Devonta Freeman | ATL | NO | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | David Johnson | ARI | SEA | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | Adrian Peterson | MIN | @GB | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | Todd Gurley | STL | @SF | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 6 | Doug Martin | TB | @CAR | 4 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 9 |
| 7 | Darren McFadden | DAL | WAS | 7 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 10 |
| 8 | James White | NE | @MIA | 11 | 11 | 13 | 5 | 3 |
| 8 | Tim Hightower | NO | @ATL | 10 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 8 |
| 10 | Bilal Powell | NYJ | @BUF | 13 | 17 | 15 | 7 | 6 |
| 11 | Matt Forte | CHI | DET | 8 | 15 | 10 | 15 | 14 |
| 11 | Latavius Murray | OAK | @KC | 14 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 12 |
| 13 | Charcandrick West | KC | OAK | 19 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 13 |
| 14 | Danny Woodhead | SD | @DEN | 15 | 16 | 23 | 10 | 11 |
| 15 | Rashad Jennings | NYG | PHI | 9 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 17 |
| 16 | Eddie Lacy | GB | MIN | 17 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 19 |
| 17 | Frank Gore | IND | TEN | 20 | 24 | 8 | 18 | 16 |
| 17 | Karlos Williams | BUF | NYJ | 21 | 12 | 14 | 21 | 18 |
| 19 | Lamar Miller | MIA | NE | 12 | 10 | 26 | 19 | 20 |
| 20 | Buck Allen | BAL | @CIN | 18 | 19 | 16 | 20 | 15 |
| 21 | Denard Robinson | JAC | @HOU | 16 | 26 | 30 | 16 | 21 |
| 22 | Jeremy Hill | CIN | BAL | 23 | 23 | 19 | 23 | 23 |
| 23 | Chris Ivory | NYJ | @BUF | 28 | 18 | 20 | 25 | 24 |
| 24 | Jeremy Langford | CHI | DET | 32 | 21 | 31 | 22 | 22 |
| 24 | Giovani Bernard | CIN | BAL | 31 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 27 |
| 26 | Cameron Artis-Payne | CAR | TB | 27 | 27 | 25 | 30 | 26 |
| 27 | C.J. Anderson | DEN | SD | 35 | 29 | 21 | 29 | 25 |
| 28 | Theo Riddick | DET | @CHI | 30 | 30 | 29 | 28 | 29 |
| 29 | Ronnie Hillman | DEN | SD | 24 | 28 | 28 | 31 | 36 |
| 30 | Ryan Mathews | PHI | @NYG | 38 | 25 | 35 | 26 | 28 |
| 31 | Charles Sims | TB | @CAR | 22 | 34 | 36 | 37 | 32 |
| 32 | Mike Gillislee | BUF | NYJ | 26 | 36 | 38 | 32 | 35 |
| 33 | DeMarco Murray | PHI | @NYG | 29 | 44 | 27 | 34 | 37 |
| 34 | Alfred Blue | HOU | JAC | 41 | 31 | 33 | 38 | 34 |
| 35 | Ameer Abdullah | DET | @CHI | 39 | 33 | 43 | 35 | 31 |
| 36 | Darren Sproles | PHI | @NYG | 40 | 35 | -- | 27 | 30 |
| 37 | Christine Michael | SEA | @ARI | 36 | 32 | 37 | 41 | 40 |
| 38 | Alfred Morris | WAS | @DAL | 42 | 37 | -- | 33 | 33 |
| 39 | Isaiah Crowell | CLE | PIT | 34 | 47 | 40 | 40 | 42 |
| 40 | Brandon Bolden | NE | @MIA | 46 | 43 | 32 | 45 | 41 |
| 41 | Pierre Thomas | WAS | @DAL | -- | 40 | 22 | -- | 47 |
| 41 | Shane Vereen | NYG | PHI | -- | 45 | 41 | 36 | 38 |
| 43 | DuJuan Harris | SF | STL | 45 | -- | 34 | 43 | 39 |
| 44 | James Starks | GB | MIN | 43 | 41 | 48 | 39 | 43 |
| 45 | Duke Johnson Jr. | CLE | PIT | 44 | 38 | 49 | 42 | 44 |
| 46 | Joique Bell | DET | @CHI | 25 | -- | 44 | 49 | 50 |
| 47 | Spencer Ware | KC | OAK | 48 | 39 | 46 | 46 | 49 |
| 48 | Jay Ajayi | MIA | NE | -- | 42 | 47 | 44 | 46 |
| 49 | Jerick McKinnon | MIN | @GB | 33 | 49 | -- | 50 | 48 |
| 50 | Andre Ellington | ARI | SEA | -- | 46 | 39 | -- | -- |
| -- | Travaris Cadet | NO | @ATL | 37 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | Donald Brown | SD | @DEN | -- | 48 | 50 | 47 | 45 |
| -- | Fred Jackson | SEA | @ARI | -- | -- | 42 | -- | -- |
| -- | Antonio Andrews | TEN | @IND | -- | -- | 45 | -- | -- |
| -- | Chris Thompson | WAS | @DAL | 47 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | Bryce Brown | SEA | @ARI | -- | -- | -- | 48 | -- |
| -- | Kyle Juszczyk | BAL | @CIN | 49 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | David Cobb | TEN | @IND | 50 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | Steven Jackson | NE | @MIA | -- | 50 | -- | -- | -- |
