Fantasy Football Running Backs

Fantasy football rankings, Week 5: 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 5.

Oct 5, 2016, 12:37 PM UTC

Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images

The state of California came to be in the mid-1800s because of the gold rush. Now, in the 21^st century the gold rush is back in the Bay Area.

Looking for some valuable nuggets of advice in Week 5 of the NFL fantasy season at running back? In standard leagues, one need not dig deeper than attacking the NoCal neighbors.

After four weeks, the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders rank No. 1 and 2 as the worst teams in the NFL against the run, allowing 140.5 and 134.5 yards per game, respectively. That is sensational news for David Johnson and Melvin Gordon owners, as their teams, the Arizona Cardinals and San Diego Chargers, will be looking to lean on their main backs more than ever this weekend.

The Cardinals take on the 49ers in the Thursday night game this week, meaning quarterback Carson Palmer has three fewer days to recover from the concussion he sustained against the Rams. The Cardinals are saying Palmer has a “chance” to play against the 49ers, but even if he’s cleared, you would have to think the Cardinals would like to put this game in Johnson’s hands and keep the pressure off Palmer as much as possible. That, and the 49ers’ atrocious run defense, makes Johnson the clear No. 1 play this weekend.

Gordon’s Chargers are reeling after another blown second-half lead and another agonizing loss. Taking on the Raiders in Oakland, the Chargers will look to lean on Gordon once again in hopes of keeping Derek Carr and the Raiders passing game off the field and hopefully, for once, protect and maintain a late lead. The Raiders are allowing a league-worst 5.1 yards per rush attempt.

Back on the East Coast, Washington is proving to be its own gold mine for running backs, allowing the third-highest average in yards per game (133) while also allowing the most rushing touchdowns in the league with eight.

This means the Best Week Ever should continue for the Ravens’ Terrance West. After West had a huge game against – who else? – the Raiders last week, the Ravens cut Justin Forsett after making him a healthy scratch before Sunday’s game. Now that West appears to have a lock on the lead back job, he gets to face Washington and its matador run defense inside the red zone.

Digging deeper into the stats, Isaiah Crowell is averaging 6.5 yards per carry for the Cleveland Browns, easily the best number in the NFL and one of the lone bright spots for the 0-4 Browns. The big news for the Patriots this week is the return of quarterback Tom Brady, which figures to give that offense an enormous boost. But the defense is in the bottom third in the league in yards-per-carry allowed.

Knowing how desperately the Browns need to keep Brady off the field, and playing at home, you can expect Crowell to get a huge number of carries. Don’t sleep on the Browns’ back this weekend.

Running backs (standard), Week 5

(ZS: Zach Senvisky, JM: Jason Marcum, AP: Adam Patrick, SK: Scott Kaliska, JG: Jeff Goldberg, KB: Kyle Bennett)

Rk	Consensus	Tm	Opp.	ZS	JM	AP	SK	KB	JG
1	David Johnson	ARI	@ SF	2	1	1	1	1	1
2	Le'Veon Bell	PIT	vs. NYJ	1	2	3	2	2	2
3	DeMarco Murray	TEN	@ MIA	3	3	8	3	3	3
4	Ezekiel Elliott	DAL	vs. CIN	5	4	4	4	4	4
5	Melvin Gordon	SD	@ OAK	4	6	2	6	6	6
6	C.J. Anderson	DEN	vs. ATL	8	5	5	5	5	5
7	LeSean McCoy	BUF	@ LA	6	7	9	7	7	8
8	Todd Gurley	LA	vs. BUF	7	8	7	8	8	7
9	Jordan Howard	CHI	@ IND	10	9	14	9	9	9
10	Frank Gore	IND	vs. CHI	9	11	10	16	10	10
11	LeGarrette Blount	NE	@ CLE	15	14	6	11	11	11
12	Carlos Hyde	SF	vs. ARI	13	10	17	10	12	12
13	Eddie Lacy	GB	vs. NYG	14	13	13	13	13	13
14	Lamar Miller	HOU	@ MIN	11	16	15	12	14	16
15	Devonta Freeman	ATL	@ DEN	12	17	12	14	16	14
16	Isaiah Crowell	CLE	vs. NE	16	15	19	15	15	15
17	Jeremy Hill	CIN	@ DAL	17	12	20	17	18	17
18	Matt Forte	NYJ	@ PIT	19	18	11	18	19	18
19	Terrance West	BAL	vs. WAS	22	19	18	19	17	19
20	Jerick McKinnon	MIN	vs. HOU	20	20	21	20	20	20
21	Matt Jones	WAS	@ BAL	18	21	22	21	22	23
22	Latavius Murray	OAK	vs. SD	30	23	16	23	21	21
23	Charles Sims	TB	@ CAR	21	22	30	22	23	22
24	Ryan Mathews	PHI	@ DET	24	25	23	25	24	24
25	Giovani Bernard	CIN	@ DAL	26	26	24	26	27	25
26	Theo Riddick	DET	vs. PHI	23	24	31	24	25	31
27	Tevin Coleman	ATL	@ DEN	25	28	25	28	26	27
28	Duke Johnson	CLE	vs. NE	28	27	29	27	28	26
29	Fozzy Whittaker	CAR	vs. TB	27	30	26	32	31	29
30	Darren Sproles	PHI	@ DET	35	29	27	29	29	28
31	Cameron Artis-Payne	CAR	vs. TB	31	32	34	30	30	30
32	James White	NE	@ CLE	33	35	28	33	32	32
33	Bilal Powell	NYJ	@ PIT	34	31	32	34	33	33
34	DeAndre Washington	OAK	vs. SD	42	36	33	36	36	35
35	Matt Asiata	MIN	vs. HOU	32	39	37	39	39	36
36	Orleans Darkwa	NYG	@ GB	29	37	47	37	37	38
37	Wendell Smallwood	PHI	@ DET	45	34	46	31	34	37
38	DeAngelo Williams	PIT	vs. NYJ	44	40	36	41	35	34
39	Rashad Jennings	NYG	@ GB	48	33	43	35	38	39
40	Derrick Henry	TEN	@ MIA	36	38	44	38	44	42
41	Dwayne Washington	DET	vs. PHI	39	44	35	44	42	40
42	Jay Ajayi	MIA	vs. TEN	41	41	40	40	40	44
43	Kenneth Dixon	BAL	vs. WAS	37	45	42	43	41	41
44	Jalen Richards	OAK	vs. SD	43	42	38	--	45	45
45	Chris Thompson	WAS	@ BAL	46	47	39	42	50	48
46	Kenyan Drake	MIA	vs. TEN	40	46	48	46	46	46
47	James Starks	GB	vs. NYG	49	43	45	50	43	43
48	Alfred Morris	DAL	vs. CIN	38	50	49	45	47	50
49	Devontae Booker	DEN	vs. ATL	50	--	41	48	48	--
50	Bobby Rainey	NYG	@ GB	47	--	--	47	--	47
--	Zach Zenner	DET	vs. PHI	--	49	--	49	49	49
--	Robert Turbin	IND	vs. CHI	48	48	--	--	--	--
--	Dexter McCluster	TEN	@ MIA	--	--	50	--	--	--