Fantasy football waiver wire: Best running backs available in Week 4

Week 3 of the fantasy football season has come and gone. While the first two weeks were mostly supbar, the third week brought the goods with plenty of exciting games and strong fantasy performances. Running backs like DeMarco Murray and Jordan Howard finally started playing up to their draft position, while Le’Veon Bell is slowly getting warmed up after skipping training camp. We have a feeling the best is yet to come for fantasy owners.

However, the running back position is as fraught with injury risk as ever. The biggest loss this week was Darren Sproles, who broke his arm and tore his ACL on the same play. It’s a crushing injury for the 34-year-old, who was a fantasy darling for years with his unique, diverse skill set.

The byes are still a week away, but fantasy owners should always be scouring the waiver wire for potential gems. Here are this week’s top running backs owned in 50 percent or less of Yahoo! leagues.

The Saints are still trying to keep Adrian Peterson involved, leaving Kamara the odd man out this week. He had just three touches for 42 yards in the Saints’ blowout win over the Carolina Panthers, while Peterson had 11 touches. The good news is that Kamara ripped off a 25-yard touchdown run, saving the fantasy bacon for anyone who started him in PPR. He has talent, but his ceiling is capped at the RB3/flex level in this committee. That will remain the case when the Saints play the Miami Dolphins next week.

The Broncos surprisingly reduced C.J. Anderson’s workload in Week 3, giving him just 10 touches while Charles also had 10. Charles ended up leading the team with 56 rushing yards and a touchdown in their loss to the Buffalo Bills. We’re not ready to say this is a full-blown committee yet, but Charles finally looks healthy after years of major knee injuries, and that’s the important part. If he’s not a standalone fantasy starter yet, then he’s certainly one of the top handcuffs and needs to be owned everywhere, especially with Anderson also having a long injury history.

Lamar Miller is still the starter, but he’s clearly not the workhorse. The Texans have committed to managing his workload, giving Foreman 22 touches the past two weeks. Foreman had 90 total yards against the New England Patriots, coming up big in critical spots to help Deshaun Watson and the team nearly spring a huge upset. It didn’t happen, and Foreman doesn’t get enough carries to a flex play yet, but Miller owner should keep him in their back pocket for the time being.

Sproles’ injury is a huge blow to an Eagles backfield that still has more questions than answers. Philly got LeGarrette Blount involved again after phasing him out of the offense in Week 2, while rookie Corey Clement got some playing time, as well. But Smallwood led the running backs with 43 snaps, while taking 13 touches for 80 total yards. We’re not quite ready to crown Smallwood yet — the second-year back always shows flashes but hasn’t been consistent enough to run away with the starting job. Still, he has legitimate RB2 upside against a Los Angeles Chargers defense that got shredded by Kareem Hunt in Week 3.