Fantasy football waiver wire: Best running backs available in Week 9

The fantasy football season has passed the halfway mark and it’s time to get serious about the playoff race. We’ve only got about a month of the regular season left, so playing the matchups and getting smart about waiver wire pickups will be more important than ever.

The good news is that the running back position mostly avoided serious injury this week. Leonard Fournette will be back after getting the Week 8 bye to rest his ankle. DeMarco Murray also had a bye week, which should help with his balky hamstring. Most of the other top players are good to go in Week 9.

Besides the injury news, fantasy owners once again have to deal with six bye teams — the Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, and Pittsburgh Steelers. That means Le’Veon Bell, Melvin Gordon, Jordan Howard, Jerick McKinnon, Duke Johnson, and Dion Lewis aren’t available in Week 9.

In other words, it’s slim pickings on the waiver wire this week, but let’s look at some of the top running backs available in less than 50 percent of Yahoo! leagues.

Coming off a breakout performance against the Denver Broncos’ defense, Darkwa crashed back to Earth in Week 7. The Giants’ offense withered and died against the Seattle Seahawks, with Darkwa getting only 48 total yards 12 touches. More notable is that he’s splitting time with rookie Wayne Gallman, who played 22 snaps to Darkwa’s 21. Darkwa’s RB2 window has probably closed, but he’ll get one more chance to establish value when the Giants play the Los Angeles Rams this week.

We keep waiting for Mack to overtake Frank Gore for good, but the veteran just won’t go away. To his credit, Gore was outstanding in Week 8, racking up 101 total yards on 20 touches as the Colts nearly upset the Cincinnati Bengals. And Mack was still visible with 63 total yards and a touchdown on 14 touches. This is a hard committee to figure out, but we’re still betting on the 2-6 Colts giving Mack more run as they go into 2018 evaluation mode.

Collins was knocking on the RB2 door in recent weeks, and on Thursday night he kicked it down with 143 total yards on 20 touches. Running hard, breaking tackles, and showing a little wiggle, Collins carried the Ravens’ offense on his back after Joe Flacco got knocked out on a vicious hit. Javorius Allen remains a wild card — he plays all the passing downs, and with 18 touches for 57 yards, he’s clearly not going away anytime soon. Still, Collins has earned his spot as the lead back and needs to be owned in all leagues now. The Ravens will continue their ground-and-pound game against the Tennessee Titans this week.

If Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension starts this week, Morris and McFadden are the next men up on the depth chart. Your guess is as good as mine as to how the Cowboys use them. McFadden is probably the better bet as the more versatile of the two, but it’s an obvious downgrade from Zeke, especially with the Cowboys’ offensive line not as good as it’s been in recent years. Either way, it’s a bad matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs this week.