Ezekiel Elliott signing shakes up Week 1 running back PPR fantasy rankings

The 2019 NFL season is upon us, and that means it’s time to set your fantasy football lineups! The NFL is a passing league more than anything else, but fantasy football remains committed to the importance of the running back position. And considering Wednesday’s big running back news, it has to remain firmly on your radar. We’ve got a full rundown of the running backs to consider for Week 1, and a few that you might want to hold off on for the time being.

We got some clarity to the Ezekiel Elliott situation on Wednesday morning, as he inked a six-year extension worth $90 million. Now the big question is how much he’ll play on Sunday against the Giants without any work since mini camp. If he does play a full workload, he’s my No. 3 overall RB play this week. If Tony Pollard is going to share the work, both can be considered middle of the pack plays.

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I think there’s an elite top tier of three RBs that we do know will play — Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffery and Alvin Kamara. I ranked them in that order, but if you have them on your season-long team, you’re obviously starting them. I think I prefer taking the discount on CMC from a DraftKings perspective.

Once we get past that first tier, things get really interesting. Chris Carson is set up to potentially have a monster game, with everything working in his favor. I have Dalvin Cook ranked slightly ahead of him in my PPR rankings, as the Falcons allowed the most receptions to the RB position last season.

Two guys that got huge boosts from me in my PPR rankings (compared to standard) were Duke Johnson and James White. Johnson will have to run the ball by necessity for the Texans, but is a terrific receiving back that should get a lot of targets in a shootout in New Orleans. White has the potential to get 80 percent of his touches through the air, which gives him a much higher ceiling in PPR. There’s 10-catch potential here.