Fantasy Football Week 15 Running Back Rankings: Can you trust Alvin Kamara, Rhamondre Stevenson?

USATSI

Running backs are going to help decide Fantasy Football championships. That's never been the question. It's just that, some of those running backs might be named Zonovan Knight and Rachaad White and Raheem Mostert -- not exactly what we pictured way back when we were drafting before the season.

Before we get to my Week 15 running back rankings, here are my thoughts on three of the biggest questions about the position this week:

Can you trust Alvin Kamara?

The diminishment of Kamara's role over the past month-plus is one of the most genuinely confusing trends in the NFL right now. From Weeks 5 through 8, he averaged 145.3 total yards on 17.8 carries and 8.5 targets per game; in five games since, he has maxed out at 12 carries, with more than four catches in just one game. It doesn't make any sense, but maybe he's been nursing some sort of hidden injury that the bye week allowed him to get past. Or maybe Mark Ingram's season-ending knee injury will clear up a few more opportunities for him -- Ingram somehow out-targeted Kamara, five to three, in Week 13. I'm hopeful Kamara gets back to being a focal point for the Saints heading into a playoff stretch with dream matchups against the Falcons and Browns, but I can't rank it as I expect it. Because I don't. I'm starting him for the upside.

Is Zonovan Knight a must-start RB?

Even with Michael Carter back in Week 14, Knight was the clear lead back for the Jets, with 17 carries for 71 yards and a touchdown. That seems to indicate he's going to be in line for a big workload moving forward, but there is one hold-up for his Fantasy value -- Carter actually played more snaps than Knight and was much more involved in the passing game. Knight should have plenty of room to run well against the Lions, but if this game turns into a track meet, Knight could end up getting squeezed out of passing situations. That limits him to more of an RB2 role.

What should we do with the Buccaneers running backs?

In Week 13, Leonard Fournette and Rachaad White split touches pretty much equally, with Fournette getting a slight edge in playing time and in-close opportunities. In Week 14, White got 14 carries to just four for Fournette, while Fournette got a slight edge in passing downs snaps. The fact that Fournette was pretty close in playing time despite dealing with an injury last week makes me think he might have the edge when healthy, but it's pretty clear this is going to be a split moving forward. It's a bad offense, but one that throws to the running backs a ton, so I think that keeps both in the low-end RB2 discussion. There's top-12 potential here for someone, but not in this current configuration.

Here are my initial rankings for Week 15: