Fantasy Football Running Backs

Fantasy football rankings, Week 7: Consensus running backs for standard leagues

The SB Nation fantasy team reveals which running backs rank in the top 50 for standard leagues heading into Week 7.

Oct 19, 2016, 12:41 PM UTC

Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images

It has taken him until Week 7, but the comeback is complete. DeMarco Murray is The Man once again.

It seems like so, so long ago that Murray was destroying defenses for the Dallas Cowboys, carrying the ball 70, sometimes 80, times a game behind that immovable Dallas offensive line. Murray almost literally carried the Cowboys to the Divisional Round against Green Bay, and only a curious call against Dez Bryant kept the Cowboys from the 2014 NFC Championship Game.

Then Murray left Dallas, and he was never heard from again.

Well, call DeMarco the Running Dead, because it’s October and he has risen from the grave known as Philadelphia and is once again terrifying defenses across the league.

Now with Tennessee, Murray enters Week 7 ranked fourth in rushing yards (526), yards per game (87.7) and total touchdowns (six), while ranking sixth in carries (114).

But at SB Nation, on Oct. 19, 2016, DeMarco Murray is first where it really matters – in our running back rankings for standard leagues. The Titans, who are starting to show some real life on offense behind Murray and quarterback Marcus Mariota, take on the Indianapolis Colts this week. The Colts are seventh-worst against the run this season, and all you needed to see was Lamar Miller running wild on Sunday night to know that the numbers don’t lie.

With the Titans assuredly looking to keep the ball out of Andrew Luck’s hands, expect a major spoonful of Murray in this game, and expect more positive results for Murray’s owners.

Another set of owners who could be poised for smiles this weekend are the Doug Martin faithful. As is an almost annual occurrence, Martin has missed the past three games with a hamstring injury. He did not return to practice Monday coming off a bye week, so there is still concern he is not ready to return, but if he does make it back this weekend, his matchup is impossible to ignore. The 49ers are the worst team, by far, against the run this season. Because the 49ers play in Chip Kelly’s fast-paced system, opponents’ offenses are assured of many more plays than normal, and the running game is where that advantage has been exploited. LeSean McCoy feasted on Sunday, just as David Johnson did the week before that and Ezekiel Elliott the week before that (and so on).

If Martin can’t give it a go once again, hopefully you plucked Jacquizz Rodgers off the waiver wire since last Monday. Rodgers carved up the Panthers in his first start and would be on-target for another big day if he gets the call.

The red light this week goes up for Le’Veon Bell. This is not an argument to not play Bell – you never not play Bell, never, never, never – but keep those expectations in check. While the Steelers will certainly want to lean on Bell as much as possible to hide Landry Jones against the Patriots, you can be assured that Bell will be Bill Belichick’s player of choice to take out of the Steelers’ offense, leaving it up to Jones to force the ball to Antonio Brown. In standard leagues, without the benefit of the receptions Bell should rack up on check-downs, Bell could be rather ordinary for a change.

Running backs (standard), Week 7

(ZS: Zach Senvisky, JM: Jason Marcum, SK: Scott Kaliska, JG: Jeff Goldberg, KB: Kyle Bennett, DG: Derek Gordon)

Rk	Consensus	Tm	Opp.	ZS	JM	SK	JG	KB	DG
1	DeMarco Murray	TEN	vs. IND	1	2	1	1	1	1
2	LeSean McCoy	BUF	@ MIA	3	4	2	2	2	2
3	David Johnson	ARI	vs. SEA	2	1	4	3	4	4
4	Le'Veon Bell	PIT	vs. NE	6	3	3	5	3	3
5	Devonta Freeman	ATL	vs. SD	7	7	5	4	5	10
6	Melvin Gordon	SD	@ ATL	4	9	6	7	6	8
7	Christine Michael	SEA	@ ARI	10	5	7	6	7	5
8	Todd Gurley	LA	vs. NYG	5	8	10	9	8	6
9	Lamar Miller	HOU	@ DEN	10	6	11	8	9	7
10	Doug Martin	TB	@ SF	9	10	14	10	10	9
11	Carlos Hyde	SF	vs. TB	8	17	9	11	11	16
12	C.J. Anderson	DEN	vs. HOU	11	11	12	15	13	11
13	Mark Ingram	NO	@ KC	15	13	13	12	14	13
14	Spencer Ware	KC	vs. NO	16	19	8	13	12	19
15	LeGarrette Blount	NE	@ PIT	19	16	18	14	15	15
16	Tevin Coleman	ATL	vs. SD	18	14	16	17	17	17
17	Frank Gore	IND	@ TEN	14	15	22	19	20	14
18	Jordan Howard	CHI	@ GB	13	22	15	16	16	23
19	Terrance West	BAL	@ NYJ	12	18	20	21	21	18
20	Matt Forte	NYJ	vs. BAL	20	12	28	25	24	12
21	Matt Jones	WAS	@ DET	21	21	19	20	19	21
22	Jamaal Charles	KC	vs. NO	17	25	17	18	18	27
23	Jerick McKinnon	MIN	@ PHI	24	20	26	23	22	20
24	Giovani Bernard	CIN	vs. CLE	27	24	24	22	23	25
25	Isaiah Crowell	CLE	@ CIN	26	26	25	27	25	26
26	James White	NE	@ PIT	23	27	23	24	28	35
27	Ryan Mathews	PHI	vs. MIN	22	23	30	34	29	22
28	Jeremy Hill	CIN	vs. CLE	28	36	27	28	26	24
29	Jay Ajayi	MIA	vs. BUF	31	35	21	26	27	32
30	Theo Riddick	DET	vs. WAS	25	28	33	29	32	28
31	T.J. Yeldon	JAC	vs. OAK	30	33	31	33	30	33
32	Rashad Jennings	NYG	@ LA	32	32	32	31	33	30
33	Chris Ivory	JAC	vs. OAK	34	39	29	30	31	31
34	Duke Johnson	CLE	@ CIN	33	29	35	40	35	36
35	Darren Sproles	PHI	vs. MIN	40	30	38	37	34	29
36	Devontae Booker	DEN	vs. HOU	29	31	41	41	36	34
37	Arian Foster	MIA	vs. BUF	35	42	39	39	37	38
38	Matt Asiata	MIN	@ PHI	45	34	40	38	38	41
39	Bilal Powell	NYJ	vs. BAL	37	44	37	36	39	46
40	DeAndre Washington	OAK	@ JAC	38	46	36	35	40	45
41	Dwayne Washington	DET	vs. WAS	36	37	47	42	45	39
42	Jacquizz Rodgers	TB	@ SF	50	45	34	32	41	44
43	Derrick Henry	TEN	vs. IND	42	43	43	43	42	42
44	Chris Thompson	WAS	@ DET	43	41	44	44	43	43
45	DeAngelo Williams	PIT	vs. NE	41	38	--	--	--	37
46	Jalen Richard	OAK	@ JAC	39	48	42	45	44	--
47	Zach Zenner	DET	vs. WAS	47	40	45	47	46	--
48	Bobby Rainey	NYG	@ LA	48	49	46	46	47	--
49	Justin Forsett	DET	vs. WAS	44	--	48	50	48	--
50	Knile Davis	GB	vs. CHI	--	--	--	--	--	40
--	Shaun Draughn	SF	vs. TB	49	47	--	--	--	47
--	Kenneth Dixon	BAL	@ NYJ	46	--	50	48	50	--
--	Mike Gillislee	BUF	@ MIA	--	--	49	49	49	--
--	Kenyan Drake	MIA	vs. BUF	--	--	--	--	--	48
--	C.J. Spiller	SEA	@ ARI	--	--	--	--	--	49
--	Alfred Blue	HOU	@ DEN	--	50	--	--	--	50