Top 50 running back standard rankings for Week 11 fantasy football

UPDATE

The Raiders don’t care to force work Derek Carr’s way, so their matchup with the Bengals should be Joah Jacobs plus more Josh Jacobs. I even moved him ahead of Ezekiel Elliott, who is also in a smash spot.

Brian Hill isn’t just in a great DFS spot this week, as he is on the edge of RB1 value against a bad Panthers run defense. Don’t be afraid to play him over someone like Marlon Mack.

The Bills have been awful against the run of late and Kalen Ballage is just awful, but he gets enough work to be startable in a good matchup.

Welcome to Week 11! We’ve got standard running back rankings to get you ready for the coming weekend of fantasy football. For most leagues, there are three weeks remaining before the playoffs, so decisions are that much more critical.

There are some huge names on bye this week, but it also provides a big chance for injured players to get healthy. We’re talking to you, Saquon Barkley!

Bye Weeks

Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans

RBs on bye: Aaron Jones, Jamaal Williams, Saquon Barkley, Chris Carson, Derrick Henry

Injury/Status Report

Devonta Freeman: Ian Rapoport reports that Freeman could miss about two weeks with a foot sprain. Brian Hill will get a big boost in work.

James Conner: The Steelers listed Conner as a full participant on the injury report for Monday, which is just an estimation since they didn’t practice. It appears the team believes he has a good shot at being ready for Thursday Night Football.

Matt Breida: Breida left MNF after aggravating his ankle injury. He will get an MRI to check the extent of the damage.

David Johnson: Johnson never officially left last week’s game with an injury, but his coach says he is “obviously” hampered by his back and ankle injuries. Kenyan Drake saw more work late in Week 10 and appears to be the healthier back right now.

Ty Johnson: Johnson is in concussion protocol. If he can’t play this week, J.D. McKissic would see a significant workload.

Giovani Bernard: Bernard suffered a sprained knee in Week 10 but isn’t projected to miss time.

RB Ranking Tiers

Tier 1

You can’t keep Christian McCaffrey out of the top spot unless you want to be ridiculed and derided, so, he’s my No. 1. Josh Jacobs gets a Tier 1 spot this week against the unfeated Bengals. It says here that “unfeated” isn’t a word, but it does seem to work with this Bengals defense. As long as Matthew Stafford sits again, Ezekiel Elliott should have a lead to work with and a ton of upside.

Tier 2

James Conner should return this week, and if he can stay healthy, will be a strong start against the Browns on Thursday night, as Pittsburgh’s defense has played out of their mind, giving their run game a chance to work. Ronald Jones turned into a PPR player last week to push his numbers up, but Peyton Barber continued to siphon off too much work. The hope for his backers is that he’ll remain a receiving target because there’s a good chance they will trail the Saints this week and need to go mostly to the pass.

RB Streamers

Brian Hill is the streamer of the week after getting 22 touches despite Devonta Freeman playing a half.

Adrian Peterson isn’t going to be supplanted by Derrius Guice in his first game back, so he remains a standard flex play until that happens.

Kalen Ballage wasn’t good last week but touched the ball 24 times. As long as he’s getting anywhere close to 20 touches against the Bills, he’s worth a flex-start.