Fantasy Football Week 1 Running Back Rankings: What to expect from Dameon Pierce?

If you were charting the trajectory of every running back in Fantasy since the start of training camp, I'm not sure you could find two players moving in opposite directions faster than Antonio Gibson and Dameon Pierce. Gibson seemingly lost his grip on the Commanders starting job during camp while Pierce emerged from camp as the no-doubts-about-it lead rusher for the Texans.

And yet, at least in Week 1, I'm ranking Gibson comfortably higher. Gibson has the benefit of a much easier matchup – vs. Jacksonville as opposed to vs. Indianapolis for Pierce – but I also just think he's a more sure thing in a vacuum, at least for the first four weeks of the season. With Brian Robinson on the NFI list until at least after Week 4, Gibson figures to slide right back into the role that saw him total 1,300-plus yards in 16 games last season.

Gibson and Pierce are probably pretty safe bets for similar rush attempts as their teams' respective lead rushers, but I do feel more confident that Gibson is going to have something of a receiving role than Pierce – J.D. McKissic will obviously play a big role, but Gibson still had 42 catches last season. I don't know if I can trust PIerce to play that big a role in the passing game this early on.

Obviously, the matchup helps – the Colts allowed the fewest points to running backs in Fantasy last season – but the situations they are in do too. The Commanders ranked 12th in rushing last season and did it while averaging 4.3 yards per carry as a team; the Texans were dead last in yards and yards per carry, at a miserable 3.4 per game. Pierce looks like a pretty talented player, but this situation is just a rough one, especially compounded by the matchup. I do have Pierce as a viable starting option, albeit more like a fringe RB2/3 than a must-start guy.

Gibson is closer to the latter for me, and it'll be interesting to see what happens if Robinson is healthy by Week 5 but Gibson has gotten off to a strong start. I think Gibson could see more of a pass-catching role while splitting rushing downs, and could actually be an even better Fantasy option if that were the case. It's not the likeliest outcome, but if he gets off to a strong start, it's possible.