Fantasy football rankings 2015: Running backs for PPR leagues, Week 14
Buck Allen wasn’t considered anything special as a running back, but does his pass-catching make a difference? Here are our fantasy football running back rankings for PPR leagues in Week 14.
I'll admit to being intrigued by Buck Allen as a starter. He got the Baltimore Ravens' running back job two weeks ago, after Justin Forsett's injury (Lorenzo Taliaferro, the original backup, had been hurt weeks before). At the time, he was intriguing in a Kamar Aiken sense --€” you know, good enough to have the job, and who the heck else is on that roster? -- but most experts were higher on Thomas Rawls as a fantasy contributor.
In the two weeks both have been starting, Allen has 35 fantasy points, while Rawls has 30. (To be fair, Rawls had 36 the week before Allen got the gig.) The flip side is that Rawls has, in his last three starts, 391 rushing yards, while Allen, in almost three full games, has 185.
Allen has been only a marginal runner so far, not even averaging four yards per carry (Rawls is at 5.6). What he has been doing, especially the last two weeks, is producing via the pass.
Allen has been targeted 24 times in the last three games, catching 21 passes for 184 yards and two scores. In Week 13, he had 63 yards on the ground and 107 through the air.
Now, there are reasons for this. The first is that, as noted above, the Ravens don't exactly have a lot of weapons. A wide receiver/tight end group of Kamar Aiken, Chris Givens and Crockett Gillmore needs all the help it can get, and a pass-catching running back is certainly an acceptable helper. Second, well, the Ravens' quarterback right now is Matt Schaub. Bad backup quarterbacks often look short. One need look no further than Matt Cassel on Monday night, dumping off every other pass to Darren McFadden, to Jason Witten, to any guy Jerry Jones might have met at some point.
And the third is that some running backs are just better pass-catchers.
Danny Woodhead. Darren Sproles. Shane Vereen. You know the names. There are guys who are so-so standard fantasy assets who become intriguing when you add in some credit for receptions.
But he’s still the only real mouth to feed in Baltimore. And at this point, he has to be seen as a dual threat. A guy who can get you on the ground is someone to deal with. A guy who can get you via receptions is someone to deal with. A guy who can do both? Well, Allen still might not be a superstar, but he’s more to deal with than we thought he’d be.
On to our Week 14 running back rankings for PPR leagues.
Running backs for PPR leagues, Week 14
(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 | LeSean McCoy | BUF | @PHI | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Doug Martin | TB | NO | 8 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | Adrian Peterson | MIN | @ARI | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| 4 | Devonta Freeman | ATL | @CAR | 5 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 2 |
| 5 | DeAngelo Williams | PIT | @CIN | 3 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 5 |
| 6 | David Johnson | ARI | MIN | 12 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | Matt Forte | CHI | WAS | 7 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 9 |
| 8 | Thomas Rawls | SEA | @BAL | 13 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 10 |
| 8 | Jonathan Stewart | CAR | ATL | 6 | 14 | 6 | 9 | 7 |
| 10 | Mark Ingram | NO | @TB | 4 | 9 | 17 | 11 | 11 |
| 11 | Buck Allen | BAL | SEA | 9 | 13 | 10 | 14 | 13 |
| 12 | Lamar Miller | MIA | NYG | 18 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
| 13 | Shaun Draughn | SF | @CLE | 17 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 12 |
| 14 | T.J.Yeldon | JAC | IND | 11 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | Todd Gurley | STL | DET | 14 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 15 |
| 16 | Darren McFadden | DAL | @GB | 10 | 19 | 16 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | Chris Ivory | NYJ | TEN | 20 | 18 | 11 | 18 | 17 |
| 18 | Latavius Murray | OAK | @DEN | 19 | 17 | 22 | 19 | 19 |
| 19 | Charcandrick West | KC | SD | 27 | 16 | 21 | 17 | 18 |
| 20 | Jeremy Hill | CIN | PIT | 16 | 24 | 18 | 22 | 21 |
| 21 | Ronnie Hillman | DEN | OAK | 15 | 20 | 31 | 23 | 22 |
| 22 | Giovani Bernard | CIN | PIT | 28 | 22 | 19 | 27 | 20 |
| 23 | Frank Gore | IND | @JAC | 21 | 27 | 20 | 33 | 24 |
| 24 | DeMarco Murray | PHI | BUF | 30 | 34 | 23 | 21 | 28 |
| 24 | LeGarrette Blount | NE | @HOU | 32 | 21 | 30 | 24 | 29 |
| 26 | James White | NE | @HOU | 29 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 27 |
| 27 | Spencer Ware | KC | SD | 24 | 29 | 25 | 31 | 30 |
| 28 | Eddie Lacy | GB | DAL | 26 | 25 | 29 | 29 | 33 |
| 29 | Danny Woodhead | SD | @KC | 34 | 23 | 36 | 25 | 26 |
| 30 | C.J. Anderson | DEN | OAK | -- | 30 | 24 | 16 | 25 |
| 31 | Theo Riddick | DET | @STL | 35 | 31 | 37 | 26 | 23 |
| 32 | Jeremy Langford | CHI | WAS | 23 | 35 | 39 | 30 | 31 |
| 32 | Darren Sproles | PHI | BUF | 31 | 28 | 35 | 32 | 32 |
| 34 | James Starks | GB | DAL | 22 | 33 | 34 | 36 | 34 |
| 35 | Duke Johnson Jr. | CLE | SF | 42 | 32 | 26 | 34 | 35 |
| 36 | Bilal Powell | NYJ | TEN | 25 | 40 | 33 | 47 | 41 |
| 37 | Charles Sims | TB | NO | 36 | 38 | 41 | 39 | 38 |
| 38 | Ameer Abdullah | DET | @STL | 38 | 39 | 42 | 37 | 37 |
| 39 | Antonio Andrews | TEN | @NYJ | 37 | 44 | 32 | 41 | 43 |
| 40 | Shane Vereen | NYG | @MIA | 44 | 37 | 50 | 35 | 36 |
| 40 | Matt Jones | WAS | @CHI | 48 | 36 | 40 | 38 | 40 |
| 42 | Alfred Blue | HOU | NE | 33 | 43 | 43 | 43 | 45 |
| 43 | Ryan Mathews | PHI | BUF | -- | -- | 27 | -- | 39 |
| 44 | Alfred Morris | WAS | @CHI | -- | 42 | 45 | 40 | 46 |
| 44 | Melvin Gordon | SD | @KC | -- | 41 | 48 | 42 | 42 |
| 46 | Isaiah Crowell | CLE | SF | 43 | 47 | 38 | 50 | 50 |
| 47 | Chris Polk | HOU | NE | 40 | 49 | 47 | 49 | 48 |
| 48 | Rashad Jennings | NYG | @MIA | -- | 48 | -- | 44 | 44 |
| 49 | Dan Herron | IND | @JAC | -- | 45 | -- | 45 | 47 |
| 50 | Kenjon Barner | PHI | BUF | 39 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 50 | Chris Thompson | WAS | @CHI | -- | 46 | -- | 46 | 49 |
| -- | Joique Bell | DET | @STL | 45 | -- | 46 | -- | -- |
| -- | Juwan Thompson | DEN | OAK | 41 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | Kerwynn Williams | ARI | MIN | -- | -- | 44 | -- | -- |
| -- | Brandon Bolden | NE | @HOU | 47 | -- | -- | 48 | -- |
| -- | Jonathan Grimes | HOU | NE | 46 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | Jay Ajayi | MIA | NYG | 49 | 50 | 49 | -- | -- |
| -- | Kyle Juszczyk | BAL | SEA | 50 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
* * *
SB Nation presents: Marcus Mariota shows his speed on ridiculous TD run
