Fantasy football rankings, 2017: Running backs for standard leagues, Week 1

The SB Nation fantasy staff rounds up the rankings for the top 50 running backs in standard leagues for Week 13.

Updated Sep 5, 2017, 8:14 PM UTC

NFL: AFC Divisional-Pittsburgh Steelers at Kansas City Chiefs

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Week 1 is finally upon us, fantasy footballers. We’ve been waiting since February for the return of the NFL and we will finally get our fix starting Thursday. Whether you have drafted already or are a degenerate league waiting until Wednesday night, we have you covered when it comes to running backs in standard leagues.

Le’Veon Bell and David Johnson are poised to lead the league in running back production if they can churn out full seasons. Stay tuned all week for a decision on Ezekiel Elliott. If Elliott is suspended, then Darren McFadden’s value skyrockets. DeMarco Murray, Devonta Freeman, Todd Gurley, and Melvin Gordon rank a tier below those elite backs but will post strong 2017 campaigns. Some rookies looking to make a big impact right off the bat this year will be Leonard Fournette, Christian McCaffrey, and Dalvin Cook.

We took a deep dive into each of those running backs opponents in week 1 and came up with this comprehensive list below.

Running back (standard) rankings, Week 1

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

RB standard rankings, Week 1

Rk	Consensus	Tm	Opp	SK	JG	DG	KB	ZS	JM
1	Le'Veon Bell	PIT	@ CLE	1	1	1	1	1	1
2	David Johnson	ARI	@ DET	2	2	2	2	2	2
3	LeSean McCoy	BUF	vs. NYJ	3	3	5	3	3	5
4	Devonta Freeman	ATL	@ CHI	7	6	4	4	6	4
5	Melvin Gordon	LAC	@ DEN	10	4	3	5	7	3
6	DeMarco Murray	TEN	vs. OAK	4	7	6	6	5	6
7	Ezekiel Elliott	DAL	vs. NYG	6	5	7	8	4	7
8	Jay Ajayi	MIA	vs. TB	5	10	10	7	12	11
9	Todd Gurley	LAR	vs. IND	8	11	11	10	8	10
10	Christian McCaffrey	CAR	@ SF	15	9	9	11	13	9
11	Marshawn Lynch	OAK	@ TEN	18	13	13	13	9	13
12	Kareem Hunt	KC	@ NE	19	12	12	12	15	12
13	Jordan Howard	CHI	vs. ATL	9	18	18	9	11	18
14	Carlos Hyde	SF	vs. CAR	17	15	15	15	18	15
15	Adrian Peterson	NO	@ MIN	30	8	8	22	20	8
16	Jacquizz Rodgers	TB	@ MIA	21	14	14	14	19	14
17	Dalvin Cook	MIN	vs. NO	14	19	20	21	10	21
18	LeGarrette Blount	PHI	@ WAS	26	16	16	17	17	16
19	Bilal Powell	NYJ	@ BUF	20	17	17	16	22	17
20	Leonard Fournette	JAC	@ HOU	16	20	19	18	14	26
21	Lamar Miller	HOU	vs. JAC	11	22	21	19	21	20
22	Ty Montgomery	GB	vs. SEA	22	21	22	20	16	19
23	Isaiah Crowell	CLE	vs. PIT	13	24	24	23	23	23
24	C.J. Anderson	DEN	vs. LAC	12	23	23	25	26	24
25	Joe Mixon	CIN	vs. BAL	28	25	25	24	25	29
26	Jonathan Stewart	CAR	@ SF	25	28	29	27	24	27
27	Terrance West	BAL	@ CIN	31	27	27	28	28	25
28	Ameer Abdullah	DET	vs. AZ	27	30	31	32	29	22
29	Mark Ingram	NO	@ MIN	23	33	26	26	32	31
30	Frank Gore	IND	@ LAR	32	31	32	31	30	28
31	Mike Gillislee	NE	vs. KC	24	32	33	33	33	34
32	Tevin Coleman	ATL	@ CHI	29	45	28	29	27	32
33	Jeremy Hill	CIN	vs. BAL	43	29	30	30	34	30
34	Paul Perkins	NYG	@ DAL	34	34	34	34	31	33
35	Robert Kelley	WAS	vs. PHI	33	35	38	37	35	35
36	Derrick Henry	TEN	vs. OAK	38	36	37	38	41	36
37	Eddie Lacy	SEA	@ GB	39	39	36	36	36	--
38	Matt Forte	NYJ	@ BUF	41	37	35	35	45	44
39	Duke Johnson Jr.	CLE	vs. PIT	37	42	44	43	38	39
40	Danny Woodhead	BAL	@ CIN	35	--	43	39	37	49
41	Thomas Rawls	SEA	@ GB	42	40	42	41	43	46
42	Darren McFadden	DAL	vs. NYG	44	43	45	44	39	43
43	Shane Vereen	NYG	@ DAL	--	47	41	42	46	40
44	Rex Burkhead	NE	vs. KC	--	41	40	40	--	45
45	Latavius Murray	MIN	vs. NO	--	38	46	46	--	37
46	Jamaal Charles	DEN	vs. LAC	47	44	39	45	49	47
47	Darren Sproles	PHI	@ WAS	46	48	49	48	44	42
48	Theo Riddick	DET	vs. AZ	36	--	--	--	40	50
49	Dion Lewis	NE	vs. KC	--	46	48	49	48	38
50	James White	NE	vs. KC	40	--	--	--	47	--
--	C.J. Prosise	SEA	@ GB	49	--	--	--	--	41
--	Chris Thompson	WAS	vs. PHI	50	--	--	--	42	--
--	Kenyan Drake	MIA	vs. TB	--	50	47	47	50	--
--	Charles Sims	TB	@ MIA	45	--	--	--	--	--
--	Chris Carson	SEA	@ GB	--	49	50	50	--	--
--	Giovani Bernard	CIN	vs. BAL	48	--	--	--	--	--