Fantasy football rankings, Week 2: 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 2.

Sep 14, 2016, 12:38 PM UTC

NFL: New England Patriots at Arizona Cardinals

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Small sample size. It is kryptonite for the statistically savvy among us.

As we look toward Week 2 of the NFL season, we come equipped with exactly 60 minutes of football per team, plus a few extra minutes thrown San Diego and Kansas City’s way. Some things were learned, some trends were established. But again, it’s just one game. Small sample size. Remember last year, when the San Francisco 49ers throttled the Minnesota Vikings in Week 1? Don’t read too much into these things.

Except right now. Let’s go right on reading and look at this week’s running back options in standard leagues. Specifically, let’s talk about Ezekiel Elliott.

Elliott was the darling of both season-long drafts and DFS lineups last week. He acquitted himself nicely, if not spectacularly, while the rest of the Dallas Cowboys’ offense stumbled and scuffled against the New York Giants. In his first NFL game, Elliott ran for 51 yards on 20 carries and scored the Cowboys’ lone touchdown.

The yards were nothing to write home about, but the carries tell an important tale -- he logged three times as many carries as veteran teammate Alfred Morris. Elliott is the man in the backfield and his ceiling will only get higher.

That ceiling should be sky high this week against Washington. Look at what DeAngelo Williams did Monday night, shredding Washington for 143 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. He also added 28 yards receiving. There is no reason to think Elliott can’t do similar damage, especially with Washington playing on fewer days of preparation. Feel free to sample!

Want some sample sizes to ignore? Look no further than Todd Gurley and Adrian Peterson. Neither of them went off for the kind of big games we’ve grown accustomed to. Don’t expect that to last and don’t even think about getting cute with either of them against the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers.

Mark Ingram didn’t exactly light the world on fire in a shootout against the Oakland Raiders. Another high-scoring game is on tap against the Giants. Something tells me the yards and touchdowns will be there this time.

Small sample size, after all.

Running backs (standard), Week 2

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

Rk	Consensus	Tm	Opp.	ZS	JM	AP	SK	KB	JG	DG
1	David Johnson	ARI	vs. TB	1	1	1	1	2	1	3
2	Adrian Peterson	MIN	vs. GB	5	3	4	5	3	7	1
3	C.J. Anderson	DEN	vs. IND	3	8	2	2	4	2	8
4	Ezekiel Elliott	DAL	at WAS	6	2	11	4	1	3	2
5	Lamar Miller	HOU	vs. KC	2	12	3	3	8	5	6
6	Todd Gurley	LA	vs. SEA	4	5	9	8	7	10	5
7	DeAngelo Williams	PIT	vs. CIN	7	6	12	6	6	4	12
8	Mark Ingram	NO	at NYG	9	10	8	9	5	8	11
9	Latavius Murray	OAK	vs. ATL	10	14	10	10	9	9	14
10	Eddie Lacy	GB	at MIN	14	11	5	15	10	13	10
11	Spencer Ware	KC	at HOU	8	13	19	7	12	6	13
12	Jonathan Stewart	CAR	vs. SF	12	7	18	12	11	15	9
13	Doug Martin	TB	at ARI	15	4	14	17	16	19	4
14	LeSean McCoy	BUF	vs. NYJ	16	9	15	16	15	12	7
15	Matt Forte	NYJ	at BUF	13	17	13	11	14	11	18
16	Devonta Freeman	ATL	at OAK	17	15	6	19	17	17	16
17	Ryan Mathews	PHI	at CHI	22	18	22	14	13	14	17
18	DeMarco Murray	TEN	at DET	11	31	7	13	21	16	31
19	Jeremy Langford	CHI	vs. PHI	19	21	16	20	20	21	21
20	Carlos Hyde	SF	at CAR	18	19	23	21	19	20	19
21	Rashad Jennings	NYG	vs. NO	23	23	17	18	23	18	23
22	Thomas Rawls	SEA	at LA	21	16	21	30	18	30	15
23	Arian Foster	MIA	at NE	20	20	26	23	26	25	20
24	Melvin Gordon	SD	vs. JAC	25	24	24	22	22	22	22
25	Jeremy Hill	CIN	at PIT	24	25	20	27	25	28	25
26	Ameer Abdullah	DET	vs. TEN	26	27	25	26	24	24	27
27	LeGarrette Blount	NE	vs. MIA	28	28	27	28	28	27	28
28	T.J. Yeldon	JAC	at SD	29	30	31	25	29	26	26
29	Frank Gore	IND	at DEN	30	22	28	37	27	37	24
30	Giovani Bernard	CIN	at PIT	31	32	30	29	31	29	32
31	Matt Jones	WAS	vs. DAL	27	29	32	33	30	36	29
32	Danny Woodhead	SD	vs. JAC	32	38	29	24	32	23	38
33	Isaiah Crowell	CLE	vs. BAL	34	33	36	34	33	35	30
34	Derrick Henry	TEN	at DET	33	26	35	41	34	38	33
35	Theo Riddick	DET	vs. TEN	30	43	33	36	36	32	43
36	Tevin Coleman	ATL	at OAK	43	34	41	32	39	33	34
37	Christine Michael	SEA	at LA	36	42	37	31	41	31	42
38	Charles Sims	TB	at ARI	37	36	38	40	35	40	39
39	James White	NE	vs MIA	39	35	44	38	37	42	35
40	Duke Johnson	CLE	vs. BAL	49	40	38	35	44	34	40
41	Darren Sproles	PHI	at CHI	35	39	40	44	38	41	45
42	Justin Forsett	BAL	at CLE	38	46	34	39	42	39	46
43	Bilal Powell	NYJ	at BUF	40	44	42	43	40	43	49
44	Terrance West	BAL	at CLE	41	37	--	42	50	--	37
45	Alfred Morris	DAL	at WAS	42	41	47	50	43	46	41
46	Shane Vereen	NYG	vs. NO	44	--	43	45	45	44	--
47	Chris Thompson	WAS	vs. DAL	45	49	--	46	46	45	44
48	Chris Johnson	ARI	vs. TB	--	45	49	--	48	47	36
49	James Starks	GB	at MIN	48	47	39	--	--	--	--
50	Devontae Booker	DEN	vs. IND	--	48	45	--	49	48	48
--	Charcandrick West	KC	at HOU	--	--	46	47	47	49	50
--	Jerick McKinnon	MIN	vs. GB	47	--	50	48	--	--	--
--	Jalen Richard	OAK	vs. ATL	46	--	--	--	--	--	--
--	Chris Ivory	JAC	at SD	50	50	--	49	--	50	--
--	Jay Ajayi	MIA	at NE	--	--	--	--	--	--	47
--	Reggie Bush	BUF	vs. NYJ	--	--	48	--	--	--	--