Fantasy Football 2012: Running back rankings for PPR and standard leagues

Donald Brown's status is up in the air and it's going to be tough for him to play his full load should be suit up. Vick Ballard is ranked as if Brown will play. If Brow sits, Ballard would move up to RB16 and is an obvious must-own player.

The Steelers are really dinged up at tailback. Rashad Mendenhall (Achilles) is sounding doubtful and Jonathan Dwyer (quad) looks like he will give it a go. As you can tell by the rankings, this is going to be messy for a Monday Night Football game. Chris Rainey has not been ruled out yet either. Stay away.

Beanie Wells sounds like he is ready to go for Week 12. The Cardinals don't have a terrible schedule, so Beanie might be a decent option as a stash.

DeMarco Murray (foot) is not expected to play on Sunday. The Cowboys don't run the ball enough to roll the dice on someone like Felix Jones.

Maurice Jones-Drew is not close to returning at all. Jennings owners should enjoy the ride and he is likely to hold RB2 value for the next month.

The Packers are on a bye, so James Starks and Alex Green won't appear on this week's rankings. However, this has time-share written all over it and it's going to be tough to scoop up Starks and cut someone off your team. Alex Green can be cut for a number of players, too.

Ben Tate will not play on Sunday and Justin Forsett could get some carries. Tate is tough to own at this point despite being a fantastic handcuff.

Darren McFadden and Mike Goodson are both likely to be ruled out with their high-ankle sprains. Taiwan Jones might lead the team in carries on Sunday, but it's going to be very tough to count on him given his ball-security woes. Marcel Reece will get a lot of targets as the Raiders lean on their passing game.

Norv Turner will find another reason not to give Ryan Mathews carries this week.