{"id":189436,"date":"2024-09-12T16:50:47","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T20:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=189436"},"modified":"2024-09-12T16:50:47","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T20:50:47","slug":"week-2-running-back-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/09\/12\/week-2-running-back-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantasy Football Week 2 Running Back Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Well wasn\u2019t that fun? One week into the fantasy football season, frustration and celebration abound. What isn\u2019t there to love about fantasy football? Buckle up, we have 16 more weeks to go. Here come the Week 2 running back rankings for fantasy football.<\/p>\n<h2>Week 2 Running Back Rankings<\/h2>\n<h3>Tier 1: Lineup Locks<\/h3>\n<p>1. Saquon Barkley vs. Atlanta Falcons<br \/>\n2. Jonathan Taylor vs. Green Bay Packers<br \/>\n3. Joe Mixon vs. Chicago Bears<br \/>\n4. Breece Hall vs. Tennessee Titans<\/p>\n<p>A small shake-up in our top tier this week. There is a lot of uncertainty around Christian McCaffrey with calf and Achilles injuries. So out of the top tier goes CMC for the foreseeable future and welcome in Joe Mixon.<\/p>\n<p>It appears <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/08\/21\/2024-fantasy-football-profile-joe-mixon\/\" target=\"_self\">Joe Mixon<\/a> in this Houston Texans offense could be in line to produce his best season yet! He delivered an RB2 finish on the back of a massive 30 carries, 159 yards, and a touchdown. Not to mention, there were possibly 37 opportunities among Texans running backs, and Mixon had 33 of them. Mixon faces The Bears, who allowed a fairly impressive debut for Tony Pollard with his new team. Which says a lot, since the Tennessee Titans offense was frustrating and struggled.<\/p>\n<h3>Tier 2: Solid RB1<\/h3>\n<p>5. Bijan Robinson vs. Philadelphia Eagles<br \/>\n6. Jordan Mason vs. Minnesota Vikings<br \/>\n7. JK Dobbins vs. Carolina Panthers<br \/>\n8. Alvin Kamara vs. Dallas Cowboys<br \/>\n9. James Conner vs. Los Angeles Rams<br \/>\n10. Rhamondre Stevenson vs. Seattle Seahawks<br \/>\n11. Jerome Ford vs. Jacksonville Jaguars<br \/>\n12. Josh Jacobs vs. Indianapolis Colts<br \/>\n13. Jahmyr Gibbs vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers<br \/>\n14. Brian Robinson vs. New York Giants<br \/>\n15. Kyren Williams vs. Arizona Cardinals<\/p>\n<p>Jordan Mason proved last week what has become pretty clear in recent years, anyone can run in the Kyle Shanahan offense. Mason didn&#8217;t get the chance to show much in the receiving game. However, volume is king and 28 rush attempts is an impressive amount of volume. The Vikings are unlikely to be able to shut down a much stronger run game and run game-planning team like the 49ers, like they did the Giants last week.<\/p>\n<h3>The Return of JK?<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/06\/22\/previewing-the-2024-los-angeles-chargers-running-backs\/\" target=\"_self\">JK Dobbins<\/a> made the most of his near 50\/50 split in touches with Gus Edwards. And he showed fantasy managers what we were all well aware of, he is a super efficient runner, when healthy. Coming off a ten attempts for 135 yards and a touchdown performance, he faces a Carolina Panthers team that allowed over 130 rushing yards and two touchdowns against the Saints last week. Dobbins has a dream matchup and has a chance to start taking grasp of the RB1 job with the Chargers.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">ALL ABOARD THE JK DOBBINS TRAIN \ud83d\ude82 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FaGxtthvhl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/FaGxtthvhl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 PFF Fantasy &amp; Betting (@PFF_Fantasy) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PFF_Fantasy\/status\/1833894519709856204?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A couple of other notes on this tier. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers allowed the most receiving yards to running backs week one, 101 yards. This feels like a Jahmyr Gibbs over David Montgomery week for fantasy. Also, it may have just been because Austin Ekeler is new to the Commanders offense. But, Brian Robinson, of a possible 22 opportunities, ended up with 16 total touches including an equal four targets a piece with Ekeler. Something worth monitoring going forward. The matchup with the Giants is noteworthy since the Giants look bad, really bad.<\/p>\n<h3>Tier 3: RB2<\/h3>\n<p>16. Kenneth Walker vs. New England Patriots<br \/>\n17. Aaron Jones vs. San Francisco 49ers<br \/>\n18. Derrick Henry vs. Las Vegas Raiders<br \/>\n19. Najee Harris vs. Denver Broncos<br \/>\n20. Travis Etienne vs. Cleveland Browns<br \/>\n21. Isaiah Pacheco vs. Cincinnati Bengals<br \/>\n22. James Cook vs. Miami Dolphins<br \/>\n23. Tony Pollard vs. New York Jets<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/07\/10\/derrick-henry-fantasy-football-2024-outlook-baltimore-ravens-running-back\/\" target=\"_self\">Derrick Henry<\/a>&#8216;s usage in week one was suspect and frustrating for fantasy managers. He was outsnapped by Justice Hill. And for a guy who can literally carry an offense, didn&#8217;t really get that opportunity with only 13 carries. The Raiders are a matchup to get him back on track after allowing Dobbins and Edwards to rush for 161 total yards. Will the snaps and touches come with the matchup?<\/p>\n<p>Through week one Najee Harris was able to keep Jaylen Warren at a distance from his RB1 job in Pittsburgh. He ended up out-snapping Warren 38-to-21. Plus out touched Warren, getting 22 of a possible 30 opportunities. This week if Harris continues to dominate the backfield opportunities he can feast against this Denver Broncos defense. They were third worst against running backs in fantasy last season and started out with the fourth worst week-one performance. Another backfield situation worth monitoring. However, don&#8217;t count Harris out anytime soon, especially after seeing significant snap and opportunity share in week one.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Najee Harris is the BELLCOW RB for the Steelers&#8230; Expect bigger games from him in the future. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RjC2tzsXFA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/RjC2tzsXFA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dynasty Nerds (@DynastyNerds) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DynastyNerds\/status\/1833898472598012075?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Tier 4: RB3\/Flex Option<\/h3>\n<p>24. Jeff Wilson vs. Buffalo Bills<br \/>\n25. David Montgomery vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers<br \/>\n26. Devin Singletary vs. Washington Commanders<br \/>\n27. Austin Ekeler vs. New York Giants<br \/>\n28. Rachaad White vs. Detroit Lions<br \/>\n29. Alexander Mattison vs. Baltimore Ravens<br \/>\n30. Zach Moss vs. Kansas City Chiefs<br \/>\n31. D\u2019Andre Swift vs. Houston Texans<br \/>\n32. Tank Bigsby vs. Cleveland Browns<br \/>\n33. Jaleel McLaughlin vs. Pittsburgh Steelers<br \/>\n34. Ezekiel Elliot vs. New Orleans Saints<br \/>\n35. Jamaal Williams vs. Dallas Cowboys<\/p>\n<p>The flex option tier will always be jam-packed with those guys in mediocre or worse offenses with bad matchups or are more touchdown or reception-dependent backs. For the week 2 running back rankings, the likes of Montgomery, Elliot, and Williams will be in need of a touchdown to salvage their weeks. Ekeler, Mattison, and McLaughlin can salvage their weeks with high target shares and receptions.<\/p>\n<p>Despite all the speculation, Devin Singletary came out the clear leader in the clubhouse. Unfortunately, it is a terrible New York Giants offense so his 70% of snaps and only 10 carries led to a 9.2 fantasy points output, RB34. Singletary will be tough to trust from week to week beyond being a flex option. However, there will be an opportunity in the right matchup if he sticks as the RB1 for the Giants.<\/p>\n<p>Main Image: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well wasn\u2019t that fun? One week into the fantasy football season, frustration and celebration abound. What isn\u2019t there to love about fantasy football? Buckle up, we have 16 more weeks to go. Here come the Week 2 running back rankings for fantasy football. Week 2 Running Back Rankings Tier 1: Lineup Locks 1. Saquon Barkley [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4903,"featured_media":189532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[349,1911,6237,2633],"class_list":["post-189436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy","tag-fantasy-football-rankings","tag-joe-mixon","tag-jonathan-taylor","tag-saquon-barkley"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}