Running back non-PPR rankings for Week 1 fantasy football

Wednesday injury report: NFL teams released their first injury reports of the 2020 season on Wednesday for Week 1. Among running backs, the following made an appearance:

Darrel Williams (hamstring) — Full participation — nopt listed on final injury report, so good to go for Thursday

David Montgomery (groin) — Limited participation — appears on track to play in Week 1 after some concerns he might miss the game

D’Andre Swift (hip) — Limited participation — on track to play in Week 1

Justice Hill (thigh) — DNP — Likely to miss the game, even if he were to end up a healthy scratch

Devine Ozigbo (hamstring) — DNP — Status is uncertain, but team is attempting to sign Dare Ogunbowale, which is not a good sign for Ozigbo’s Week 1 status

Miles Sanders (hamstring) — Limited — Expected to play, but could see his workload cut back a bit in Week 1

Football is back! Right? Yeah, it is! And we’re back with weekly fantasy football rankings. With no preseason games and limited to no fans in the stadiums, it will likely take these teams a little while to get to top performance.

As usual, Christian McCaffrey leads the running back rankings and against the Raiders, that ranking has a good shot of coming true. He will again be the focal point of this offense both on the ground and through the air.

Saquon Barkley is the back who has the best shot at taking over as the No. 1 fantasy player, but he’ll get a tough game to start against the Steelers tough defensive line. He’s still a must start and will likely get peppered with targets if Daniel Jones’ line can’t hold.

Derrick Henry is the non-PPR back who always gets the biggest bump but I do like the Broncos run defense better this season. He’s a smash start every week and can run through the best defenses in the league, but this one won’t be a cake walk.

Josh Jacobs gets possibly one of his best matchups of the season against the Panthers depleted defense. Both teams will likely play it conservatively and the game could be close, giving Jacobs plenty of work in a prime matchup.

Streaming RBs

Darrel Williams, Chiefs

He’s risky, but he’s also the backup to Edwards-Helaire in a game with the highest over/under of the week. Will Andy Reid push everything onto the rookie’s plate? I doubt it. Williams could be in line for some rushing attempts near the goal line and split work to start the season.

Sony Michel, Patriots

Damien Harris is out after finger surgery and Michel should resume his early down work in a nice matchup against the Dolphins poor run defense. He also should get a boost with Cam Newton’s threat to run, which will keep the defense honest.