Bye-Mageddon has come and gone, and thankfully, there won’t be another week this season when six different teams will all be off at once. We welcome back fantasy contributors like Ashton Jeanty, Kenneth Walker, Kyren Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montgomery, Bam Knight, and Travis Etienne, while we will have to make do without Saquon Barkley, Breece Hall, Quinshon Judkins, Bucky Irving, and Rachaad White. The main benefit of this bye week is that injured players like Saquon, Bucky, and Quinshon will get extra time to heal and should be healthy come week 10. As for week 8, the backs that did play put on a show. Well, I should say, most of them did. Bijan Robinson and Christian McCaffrey owners had to be wondering what was going on as they watched Jonathan Taylor, James Cook, Breece Hall, and Saquon Barkley mess around and put up over 30 fantasy points last week. I’m sure we’ll see most of those names on the Week 9 running back rankings, so let’s dig in and see where they all land.
Top 10 Week 9 Running Back Rankings
1) Jonathan Taylor vs. Steelers
OK, this is getting a little ridiculous. Taylor scored three touchdowns for the second week in a row and also for the fourth time this season in just eight games. He’s basically the Babe Ruth of fantasy football right now, as he’s scored more touchdowns than some entire teams and is practically lapping the field in total fantasy points scored. At this point, his matchup can be against a literal brick wall, and I would start him and expect at least 20 points. This week, he gets the Steelers, and while I think they will limit him a bit, he’s still the best option available in any format. Leave him in your lineup and enjoy your Sunday.
2) Christian McCaffrey vs. Giants
To say Week 8 was a bit of an anomaly for CMC would be quite the understatement. Heading into his matchup against the Texans, McCaffrey was averaging 19 carries and just under 10 targets per game. This past weekend, the 49er offense couldn’t get going, and McCaffrey was held to a mere 8 rush attempts and 6 pass targets. Houston does have the top-ranked defense overall in the league against the run, and while we didn’t expect his output to be quite so low, an off day isn’t a total shock. The shocking part was how little CMC was able to touch the ball in the first half. In his defense, the 49ers defense needs to shoulder the blame as Houston possessed the ball for over 23 minutes in the first half and scored on each of their first-half drives before throwing an interception on a Hail Mary to end the frame. San Francisco should find the sledding much easier this weekend at Met Life Stadium against a Giants defense that is ranked 30th in the league against the run. I expect a huge bounce-back game from CMC and won’t be surprised if he ends the week as the overall RB1.
