{"id":252080,"date":"2025-10-23T07:30:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T11:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=252080"},"modified":"2025-11-27T18:31:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T23:31:10","slug":"fantasy-football-rankings-top-10-running-backs-week-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/10\/23\/fantasy-football-rankings-top-10-running-backs-week-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantasy Football Rankings: Top 10 Running Backs For Week 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve almost made it to the halfway point of the 2025 season, and so far, things have more or less gone as planned. The running backs that we drafted in the first round have all performed as expected, with the exception of someone whose name rhymes with Shmaquon Shmarkley. The Eagles<\/a>‘ starting running back aside, if you started your team with somebody like Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, or Christian McCaffrey, life has been good. If you started with Derrick Henry, De’Vonne Achane, or Ashton Jeanty, things have been up and down, but the future looks promising.<\/p>\n

If you grabbed Jonathan Taylor in the second round, your coworkers and league mates are probably tired of hearing about it by now. Congratulations, you’re winning your league. While these players have all been great, we have to feel like our collective patience is being tested to biblical proportions when it comes to a few of the rookies. Who would have thought that the guy who was arrested and then sat unsigned by Cleveland as we held our fantasy drafts would be the best rookie running back as players like R.J. Harvey, Trevyeon Henderson, and Kaleb Johnson were flying off the board in the 5th round or so. There is plenty of season left, so if you are holding these players on your roster, stay the course and wait for their talent to be given a chance to shine. This task will be a bit more difficult this week as we enter the dreaded “bye-mageddon” weekend that will leave us without Kenneth Walker, Zach Charbonnet, Kyren Williams, Travis Etienne, Ashton Jeanty, Gibbs, Montgomery, and whatever collection of backs the Cardinals<\/a> have been reduced to playing. Let’s take a look at who makes our top-10 running back rankings for Week 8.<\/p>\n

Week 8 Running Back Rankings<\/h2>\n

1) Jonathan Taylor vs. Titans<\/h3>\n
\"Jonathan
Photo Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yep, here he is again. He’s been at the top of this list every week for the past five weeks, and he isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. JT is coming off yet another 3-touchdown performance in Week 7 and now gets to face the Titans<\/a> and their 29th-ranked run defense. Taylor has found the end zone three times in three games so far this season, while the Titans entire offense has yet to accomplish the feat once. If you drafted Taylor, just shush and leave him in your lineup. We’re all proud of you and totally not jealous that we took Chase Brown over him in the second round in this year’s draft. In all seriousness, Taylor was overlooked for the league’s offensive player of the year award in 2021 as he lost to Cooper Kupp. This year, he’s not only making a serious case for that award, but also to be crowned the league’s most valuable player.<\/p>\n

2) Bijan Robinson vs. Dolphins<\/h3>\n
\"Bijan
Photo Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bijan had a bit of a quiet week on the ground against the 49ers<\/a> with just 40 yards on 14 carries on Sunday night. Being the superstar that he is, that didn’t stop him from helping our fantasy teams as he added 52 yards on 6 receptions and a score through the air. Bijan is as elite as they come, and there isn’t a week that you will ever consider benching him. This week, he gets Miami<\/a> and their league-worst run defense. It’s going to be magical for Bijan this week as he may flirt with 200 total yards. Leave him in and enjoy the show.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

3) Derrick Henry vs. Bears<\/h3>\n
\"derrick
Photo Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Father Time is undefeated, but right now he’s falling behind in his game vs. King Henry. The rumors of Henry’s demise have been greatly exaggerated after he posted four straight games with under 12 fantasy points between Weeks 2 and 5. He bounced back in week 6 with a stellar 122 yards on 24 carries, and while he didn’t score a touchdown, he quelled his fantasy owners’ worries that Father Time had, in fact, caught the 31-year-old back. Now he gets Lamar Jackson back and, more importantly, Patrick Ricard, which will only help open up holes in opposing defenses. The defense he will look to exploit this weekend is the Bears<\/a> and their 28th-ranked unit vs. the run. Look for a healthy dose of King Henry, while the Ravens<\/a> will likely limit how much Jackson is used as a runner as he returns from a hamstring injury that held him out of two games prior to the Ravens’ bye in Week 7.<\/p>\n

4) Christian McCaffrey vs. Texans<\/h3>\n
\"number
Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Talk about an early round pick that has been paying off in spades. If you drafted CMC, he likely fell to you in the mid-to-late 1st round, as many owners were worried about his injury history. Not only has he remained healthy, but he has taken on a workload that has far surpassed his usage rates from previous seasons. Through 7 games, McCaffrey has amassed 132 carries along with 53 receptions on 68 pass targets. That puts him on pace for over 320 rushing attempts, with over 128 receptions on 165+ targets for a projected total of 428 touches. Whether he can keep up this pace or not is definitely a concern, but if you drafted him, you have to start him and enjoy the fantasy points while they pour in. This week, he gets a Texans<\/a> defense that just allowed Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet to combine for 115 yards and two scores. Keep him in your lineup as long as he’s able to stay upright.<\/p>\n

5) Javonte Williams vs. Broncos<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We do love a revenge game narrative, and we get one this weekend as Javonte takes on the team that drafted him out of North Carolina back in 2021. While Williams never seemed to live up to his hype in Denver<\/a>, he has looked like a different player in Dallas<\/a>. He has already surpassed his rushing yardage total from last season in just 7 games and will look to add to that number this weekend as he returns to the Mile High City for this matchup against the Broncos and their 9th-ranked rush defense. While the Bronco defense does rank inside the top 10 against the run, we have seen a few backs put up great fantasy days against them this season. Jonathan Taylor ran wild on them for 165 yards back in week 2, while Cam Skattebo and Tyrone Tracy combined for over 100 yards and a score this past weekend. This game will be one of the higher-scoring games of the week, and we want to play as many pieces of it as we can. If you have Javonte, you’re certainly playing him with so many other backs on bye.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

6) Josh Jacobs vs. Steelers<\/h3>\n
\"Josh
Photo Credit: Wm. Glasheen USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Don’t look now, but Josh Jacobs is scoring a ton of touchdowns. He has found the painted paradise in five of the Packers’ first six games and has scored two times in each of the past three games. The yardage totals haven’t been eye-popping as he is yet to eclipse the century mark on the ground, but the overall fantasy scoring has been beautiful. Most promising has been his involvement in the Packers<\/a> passing game as he is on pace for almost 50 receptions with north of 500 receiving yards, which would surpass his career yardage high by over a full football field’s worth of real estate. This week, he is set to face a Steelers<\/a> defense that struggled to contain Chase Brown and the Bengals<\/a> backfield that averaged over 6 yards per carry last Thursday. Overall, they rank in the middle of the pack in the league against the run while sitting near the bottom of the league against the pass. The Packers will score some points this weekend, and when they do, Jacobs is usually involved.<\/p>\n

7) James Cook vs. Panthers<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Photo Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the Panthers<\/a> are no longer the pushover against the run that they were last year, this game looks like it will be a true test of how far they’ve come. After allowing Travis Etienne to run wild for 143 yards on opening day, the Panthers have held every opposing back to under the century mark this season. This list includes some impressive names like Bijan Robinson (72 yards), De’Von Achane (16 yards), Javonte Williams (39 yards), and Breece Hall (38 yards). Cook and the Bills come into Carolina fresh off their bye week, and I expect them to take it to the Panthers from the start and control the ball for most of the game. Look for Cook to get back into the end zone after being shut out in his previous 2 games before the bye. I expect the Bills<\/a> to win easily, and to do so, they will need to ride Cook and the running game.<\/p>\n

8) Saquon Barkley vs. Giants<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Photo Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’m just being stubborn with this guy, as it makes almost no sense to me why he has been so ineffective as of late. He began the season fine, scoring a touchdown in three of his first five games while averaging over 15 fantasy points per game in PPR formats. Then the Eagles<\/a> rolled into Met Life Stadium to take on these same Giants<\/a>, and I predicted a Saquon revenge game much like we saw last year when he rumbled for 176 yards on 17 carries with a score in his triumphant return to Met Life. What we got in week 6 was just 12 carries for 58 yards. He averaged almost 5 yards per carry, but the Eagles decided that 12 carries were all he was going to get. The previous week against Denver, he was only handed the ball 6 times, but masked that with 58 yards receiving and a score. Last week, he received a more robust 18 rushing attempts but only averaged 2.4 yards per carry as the Eagles soared to victory behind the arm of Jalen Hurts. The way I see it, the Eagles are looking to keep everybody involved, and last week, it was Devonta Smith’s turn to get fed. This week, it’s going to be Barkley, and I am willing to guarantee he rumbles for over 100 yards and scores a TD. If you have him, you’re playing him. Don’t panic and trade him; better days are ahead.<\/p>\n

9) J.K. Dobbins vs. Cowboys<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Photo Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dobbins has quietly been one of the best backs in the league this year. Everybody just assumes he’s going to get hurt and the rookie, R.J. Harvey, is going to take over, but Dobbins has been plugging away every week, and his snap % has actually increased slightly each week. Last week, in a weird one against the Giants, the Broncos relied heavily on Tayler Badie in passing downs, but his snaps seemed to come at the expense of the rookie rather than Dobbins. The veteran back has led the Broncos running game every week this season and will look to keep it going this week against a Dallas defense that is ranked 30th against the run. As we mentioned with Javonte Williams, this game should have plenty of points to go around, and we want to start any piece of it that we can get our hands on.<\/p>\n

10) De’Von Achane vs. Falcons<\/h3>\n
\"Fanduel
Photo Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Achane is the Dolphins<\/a>‘ best weapon. Hold on, let me rephrase that, De’Von Achane is the Miami Dolphins’ ONLY WEAPON. Much like Christian McCaffrey in San Francisco, the exciting Miami running back is the beginning, the end, and everything in between when it comes to how the Dolphins game plan their offense. While Achane doesn’t quite get the touch volume that CMC gets, he is heavily involved as both a runner and a pass catcher. The reason we are mentioning McCaffrey so much here is that we just saw him run wild against this same defense on Sunday Night, and there is a good chance that Miami was watching that game too. Miami is a complete mess right now, and if Coach McDaniel plans to keep his job, he’s going to have to lay it all on the line this weekend. I’m willing to chalk up last week’s game to the weather, combined with an oppressive Cleveland defense. While Atlanta<\/a>‘s young defense is vastly improved from last season, they can still be beaten. Look for a heavy volume game for Achane, who can turn any touch into a long touchdown.<\/p>\n

Also, make sure to check out our Week 8 Quarterback Rankings<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve almost made it to the halfway point of the 2025 season, and so far, things have more or less gone as planned. The running backs that we drafted in the first round have all performed as expected, with the exception of someone whose name rhymes with Shmaquon Shmarkley. The Eagles‘ starting running back aside, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5637,"featured_media":252083,"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":[59,33912],"tags":[349,2320,33805],"class_list":["post-252080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy","category-fantasy-rankings","tag-fantasy-football-rankings","tag-nfl-schedule","tag-running-back-rankings"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252080","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\/5637"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252080"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252087,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252080\/revisions\/252087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}