Running back PPR rankings for Week 5 fantasy football

Final injury report

The NFL wrapped up practices on Friday most of the schedule, which brings the final injury report. The teams still completing practices over the weekend are the Broncos, Patriots, Saints, Chargers, Titans, and Bills. Saints-Chargers is a go for Monday Night Football. Broncos-Patriots is scheduled for Monday and Bills-Titans is scheduled for Tuesday so long as there are no more positive Covid-19 tests. We’ll add those six teams’ players as their final injury reports arrive.

Out: N/A
Doubtful: N/A
Questionable: RB Joe Mixon (shin), RB Buddy Howell (hamstring), RB Raheem Mostert (knee), RB Carlos Hyde (shoulder)

Removed from final injury report: RB Kenyan Drake (chest), RB Kareem Hunt (groin), RB Jalen Richard (ankle), RB Josh Jacobs (hip), RB Cam Akers (ribs), RB Chris Carson (knee), RB Phillip Lindsay (foot)

Wednesday injury report

The NFL returned to practice on Wednesday to get Week 5 going, and that means we got our first injury report of the week. There were no DNPs, leaving the limited players to watch for more news. Of the list below, Raheem Mostert is probably the biggest question mark for Week 5. He sprained his knee in Week 2 and had not practiced since. He and Zack Moss are both worth keeping an eye on as two notable backs who might be least likely to play on Sunday.

DNP: N/A
Limited: Zack Moss (toe), Kareem Hunt (groin), Jalen Richard (ankle), Cam Akers (ribs), Raheem Mostert (knee), Chris Carson (knee), Carlos Hyde (shoulder)
Full: Kenyan Drake (chest), Darrynton Evans (hamstring), Phillip Lindsay (foot), Josh Jacobs (hip)

Week 4 brought some usual suspects near the top of the the fantasy running backs list, with Joe Mixon, Dalvin Cook, Melvin Gordon and Chris Carson rounding out the Top-4 PPR scorers. It was good to see Mixon get off the schneid, as he went for 171 total yards and three touchdowns, while also catching six passes. Those receptions are going to continue to come in handy if he can keep getting them.

Rookie Antonio Gibson had a breakout game to land him as RB5 in PPR. His yards per carry aren’t going to blow your socks off against the Ravens, but he found the end zone on the ground and found space after the catch to rack up receiving yards. That’s the kind of player he is and at some point this season he should see enough touches to find real consistency.

Injury news

Raheem Mostert is likely to return in Week 6, but there is a chance he beats that timeline this week and plays against the Dolphins. For now, he’ll stay down in the rankings, but positive news could push him back up.

Cam Akers is likely to return this week, making the Rams backfield a big headache after Malcolm Brown played ahead of Darrell Henderson last week.

Austin Ekeler is out for a while and Joshua Kelley and Justin Jackson will take over the running back snaps. Kelley has been ahead of Jackson, so should be the lead back against the Saints.

Nick Chubb is on I.R., which means Kareem Hunt becomes an elite option this week and for as long as Chubb misses. D’Ernest Johnson saw a lot of work against Dallas last week, but Hunt wasn’t at 100 percent and they were gashing Dallas at every turn. IN a tougher matchup with the Colts, I expect Hunt to be the lead back.

Zack Moss may return this week after looking close last week. His presence would hurt Devin Singletary, who has had a good workload in his Moss’ absence. But, the Titans run defense has been awful this season, so Singletary should be a start either way.

Bye weeks

The Packers and Lions are on byes this week, pushing Aaron Jones off our auto-start plan. Jamaal Williams has played well and has spot start appeal, but Jones is the guy his backers will miss the most.

The lack of Lions running backs isn’t a big loss, as Adrian Peterson, D’Andre Swift and Kerryon Johnson are sharing work and have limited upside. Swift is the only back worth stashing of the group while Peterson is someone you can flex out, but has limited big game appeal.

Streaming options

Ronald Jones, Buccaneers

The Bears have allowed 408 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns to running backs this season along with a 4.25 ypc. Jones has held onto the lead role in Tampa Bay and will have scoring opportunities in a strong overall offense.

David Johnson, Texans

It’s hard to know how the Texans will play coming off their coach getting fired, but I have a feeling they’ll be a little pumped to show they can get things going and Romeo Crennel is such a snuggly bear of a man, that you have to want to do him proud. The good news is that the Jaguars remain a bad defense, giving up 618 total yards, 28 receptions and six touchdowns to running backs through four games.