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FanDuel advice: Running backs in Divisional weekend
Remember all those guys we drafted so early? Yeah, they aren’t here.
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Of the top 20 running backs drafted in most fantasy leagues entering the 2015 NFL season, only four are still healthy and active in the playoffs. A big group of theoretically top-flight running backs have had their teams eliminated, and Le'Veon Bell and Jamaal Charles are both hurt.
Even that information is overstating it. Those four running backs are Eddie Lacy, Marshawn Lynch, C.J. Anderson and Andre Ellington; Ellington doesn't have much of a job anymore, Lacy and Anderson are in full-on timeshares, and we don't know for sure that Lynch will be back from injury for this weekend's Seattle game.
Each week of the playoffs, I'm ranking the players at every position based on likely production and FanDuel salary. At least in passing, I knew the names of all 20 running backs in my rankings entering the season. But only sort of; I didn't think that by the end of the season I'd be considering Charcandrick West, or Jordan Todman, or ... Steven Jackson?
It’s been a weird year for running backs, and it continues into the Divisional Round of the playoffs. Below is the chart, with rationales to follow:
Running backs
| Rank | Running Back | Team | Opp. | Salary |
| 1 | Spencer Ware | KC | @NE | $6,100 |
| 2 | David Johnson | ARI | GB | $8,500 |
| 3 | Jonathan Stewart | CAR | SEA | $6,300 |
| 4 | Fitzgerald Toussaint | PIT | @DEN | $6,200 |
| 5 | Marshawn Lynch | SEA | @CAR | $7,800 |
| 6 | Charcandrick West | KC | @NE | $6,300 |
| 7 | James White | NE | KC | $6,500 |
| 8 | Eddie Lacy | GB | @ARI | $6,200 |
| 9 | Ronnie Hillman | DEN | PIT | $5,900 |
| 10 | James Starks | GB | @ARI | $5,800 |
| 11 | C.J. Anderson | DEN | PIT | $5,900 |
| 12 | Jordan Todman | PIT | @DEN | $5,700 |
| 13 | Fred Jackson | SEA | @CAR | $4,800 |
| 14 | Andre Ellington | ARI | GB | $5,200 |
| 15 | Christine Michael | SEA | @CAR | $6,500 |
| 16 | Steven Jackson | NE | KC | $5,700 |
| 17 | Cameron Artis-Payne | CAR | SEA | $5,600 |
| 18 | Mike Tolbert | CAR | SEA | $4,600 |
| 19 | Brandon Bolden | NE | KC | $5,600 |
| 20 | John Kuhn | GB | @ARI | $4,500 |
- I have to introduce a caveat with my very first running back. Spencer Ware isn't a guarantee to play this weekend, and he isn't a guarantee to be 100 percent healthy if he does. But if we get to Saturday and all the reports on Ware's status are good, he's a $6,100 running back who should get the majority of his team's carries and will definitely get the goal-line work. I expect a big game out of a just-imagine-he's-healthy Ware.
- Seriously, though, my running backs at No. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and several of the double-digit rankings carry question marks. The returns (or not) of Marshawn Lynch, DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart make it hard to know how it'll all shake out. As you can tell from my chart, I expect Lynch and Stewart to play, and not Williams, but everything is worth checking in the weekend reports.
- Once you get past 14 or 15, we're talking about guys only getting a few carries, where you're hoping for a touchdown. Guys like Steven Jackson, Mike Tolbert and John Kuhn are going to be used sparingly, but hey, a touchdown is points.
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