Fantasy football start/sit advice, Week 14: Running backs

It’s crunch time in the fantasy football season. The playoffs are here and the stakes are higher than ever. If you were one of the lucky few to earn a first-round bye, sit back and enjoy Week 14 stress-free. For everyone else, they have work to do.

With the bye weeks over, owners should be rolling with the top starters who got them this far in the first place. However, some people still have tough decisions to make about which players they should trust in their lineup and push them to the next round. With that in mind, here are some recommended starting options at running back, along with some players you should avoid.

Matt Forte, New York Jets (@ San Francisco 49ers)

Forte couldn’t do anything last week with the Jets hitting rock bottom in a 41-10 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Now with Bryce Petty playing out the string, opposing defenses will have no reason to respect the passing game. Forte is a risky play the rest of the year, but he’ll have his best matchup left with the San Francisco 49ers’ pitiful run defense. Fire him up for at least one more week.

Jeremy Hill, Cincinnati Bengals (@ Cleveland Browns)

Hill’s numbers haven’t popped since Giovani Bernard went down, but he’s still getting heavy workloads (43 touches the past two games). The emergence of Rex Burkhead is a concern, but Hill is still the guy in goal line situations, keeping him in the RB2 mix. He’ll have a great matchup with the Cleveland Browns’ 31st-ranked run defense. Hill destroyed the Browns for 192 total yards and a touchdown when these teams last played in Week 7.

Frank Gore, Indianapolis Colts (vs. Houston Texans)

Still running steady at age 33, Gore hasn’t been a fantasy superstar (just one game with more than 100 rushing yards), but he’s been consistent and hasn’t given owners an obvious reason to bench him most weeks. Speaking of one 100-yard game, that just so happened to come against the Houston Texans, whom the Colts face again this week. Gore will be on the RB1 borderline in a good matchup.

Rashad Jennings, New York Giants (vs. Dallas Cowboys)

Every time you think Jennings is about to become a real thing in fantasy, he puts up duds like he did last week (six carries, 19 yards). The only saving grace was his six catches for 34 yards and a touchdown, salvaging his day. A confounding player whose usage seems to change on a whim from week to week, Jennings can’t be trusted against the Cowboys’ second-ranked run defense.

Ryan Mathews, Philadelphia Eagles (vs. Washington)

Mathews is scheduled to return from a knee injury, but his role is hard to predict with Wendell Smallwood and Darren Sproles still in the mix. It probably doesn’t matter, anyway — the Eagles’ run game is stuck in mud and they’ll likely be forced into comeback mode by Washington’s explosive offense. Avoid the entire Philly backfield during the playoffs.

Devontae Booker/Justin Forsett, Denver Broncos (@ Tennessee Titans)

Booker has been a flop as an every-down back, and his only legitimate competition left (Kapri Bibbs) went down with a season-ending injury. So Denver brought in Forsett off the street and are expected to give him a role early on. Forsett does know Gary Kubiak’s offense (Kubiak was the offensive coordinator during his breakout 2014 season), but he’s 31 years old and there’s probably a reason he’s now on his third team in just three months. This is not the time of year to be rolling the dice with speculative committees.