Fantasy Football Week 17 RB Preview: Upside down season continues at running back

As we enter championship week for Fantasy Football, it's worth the time to do at least a little bit of reflection on what we've seen in the past 17 weeks. At running back, we may have just seen the greatest Zero-RB season of all time. 

Sure, Christian McCaffrey is still the clear No. 1 running back overall and has led many teams to the finals. But just look at the rest of the top 10 on a per-game basis. 

Kyren Williams wasn't even drafted in a majority of leagues and currently ranks as RB2 overall on a per-game basis. Alvin Kamara had an ADP in Round 6 due to a three-game suspension. He currently ranks as RB3 per game. Kamara was drafted four rounds earlier than RB4 per game, Raheem Mostert. Mostert's teammate, De'Von Achane sits at RB7 per game despite being drafted in Round 11. Rachaad White, Breece Hall, and David Montgomery all sit inside the top 12 on a per-game basis and were drafted after Round 4. 

Of course, there is a flip side to all this value. Austin Ekeler, Bijan Robinson, Saquon Barkley, and Tony Pollard have all failed to live up to their first-round price tags. If you somehow made it to the finals with one of these backs, you likely have a difficult decision to make in the championship, unless, of course, you snagged one of the studs in the prior paragraph. Achane is the only one from that list who isn't ranked as a start this week.

You can find more in my weekly projections over at SportsLine. Now let's get to the rest of the Week 17 RB Preview:

Week 17 RB Preview

Who's Out

Numbers to Know

Matchups That Matter

Waiver Wire Targets

DFS Plays

Projections

RB Preview

Who's Out

The following players are not being projected to play Week 17 at this time. Here's what it means:

Isiah Pacheco RB

KC Kansas City • #10
Age: 25 • Experience: 3 yrs.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire could be a top-20 running back if Pacheco is out.

Chris Rodriguez Jr. RB

WAS Washington • #23
Age: 24 • Experience: 2 yrs.

If Brian Robinson, Chris Rodriguez, and Jonathan Williams are all out the Commanders may be forced to give Antonio Gibson a feature role.

RB Preview

Numbers to know

• 20.1 -- Clyde Edwards-Helaire scored 20.1 PPR Fantasy points in his last game without Isiah Pacheco. And that was against a much better defense.
• 21.75 -- Ezekiel Elliott is averaging 21.75 touches per game in his last four games. He is RB10 over that stretch.
• 3.75 -- Last week was the first game all season that James Conner averaged fewer than four yards per carry. 
• 12 -- De'Von Achane only has two games all season with more than 12 touches. The Dolphins won those two games by a combined 80 points.
• 10 -- Derrick Henry produced 10 yards on 20 touches against the Texans in Week 15. He'll face them again in Week 17.

RB Preview

Matchups that matter

Matchups that Matter

Derrick Henry RB

BAL Baltimore • #22
Age: 30 • Experience: 9 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ HOU HOU -3.5 O/U 42.5

OPP VS RB 31st

PROJ PTS 12.2

RB RNK 22nd

YTD Stats
RUYDS 972	REC 28	REYDS 214	TD 13	FPTS/G 15

Raheem Mostert RB

MIA Miami • #31
Age: 32 • Experience: 10 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ BAL BAL -4 O/U 47

OPP VS RB 6th

PROJ PTS 11.3

RB RNK 11th

YTD Stats
RUYDS 1012	REC 25	REYDS 175	TD 21	FPTS/G 17.8

Clyde Edwards-Helaire RB

KC Kansas City • #25
Age: 25 • Experience: 5 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

vs CIN KC -7 O/U 44.5

OPP VS RB 31st

PROJ PTS 9

RB RNK 16th

YTD Stats
RUYDS 222	REC 16	REYDS 179	TD 2	FPTS/G 4.9

Tony Pollard RB

TEN Tennessee • #20
Age: 27 • Experience: 6 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

vs DET DAL -6 O/U 53.5

OPP VS RB 20th

PROJ PTS 14.6

RB RNK 19th

YTD Stats
RUYDS 886	REC 52	REYDS 295	TD 5	FPTS/G 13.3

Travis Etienne RB

JAC Jacksonville • #1
Age: 25 • Experience: 4 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

vs CAR JAC -7 O/U 37.5

OPP VS RB 6th

PROJ PTS 14.9

RB RNK 14th

YTD Stats
RUYDS 849	REC 51	REYDS 430	TD 10	FPTS/G 16.2

Austin Ekeler RB

WAS Washington • #30
Age: 29 • Experience: 8 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ DEN DEN -5.5 O/U 38.5

OPP VS RB 10th

PROJ PTS 14.3

RB RNK 10th

YTD Stats
RUYDS 571	REC 43	REYDS 394	TD 6	FPTS/G 14.1

RB Preview

Waiver Wire Targets

Week 17 Adds (RB Preview)

Clyde Edwards-Helaire RB

KC Kansas City • #25
Age: 25 • Experience: 5 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

vs CIN KC -7 O/U 44.5

OPP VS RB 21st

RB RNK 15th

ROSTERED 64%

YTD Stats
RUYDS 222	REC 16	REYDS 179	TD 2	FPTS/G 4.9

Jerick McKinnon is on IR and Isiah Pacheco is in the concussion protocol. Considering it's a short week, we shouldn't expect Pacheco to return which should leave Edwards-Helaire to handle the lion's share of the running back work for the Chiefs against a bad Bengals defense.

Zamir White RB

LV Las Vegas • #3
Age: 24 • Experience: 3 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ IND IND -3.5 O/U 43.5

OPP VS RB 22nd

RB RNK 21st

ROSTERED 50%

YTD Stats
RUYDS 268	REC 9	REYDS 54	TD 1	FPTS/G 3

White has a good matchup against a Colts defense that has given up the third-most Fantasy points to opposing running backs, but you need to have a backup plan because Josh Jacobs wasn't far from playing in Week 16. If Jacobs is out, White is a top-20 running back, but if Jacobs returns White isn't even a good flex.

RB Preview

DFS Plays

Top DFS Play

Ezekiel Elliott RB

DAL Dallas • #15
Age: 28 • Experience: 9 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ BUF BUF -12 O/U 41

OPP VS RB 8th

PROJ PTS 13.5

RB RNK 13th

YTD Stats
RUYDS 549	REC 45	REYDS 280	TD 4	FPTS/G 10

Elliott is still just $6.400 even though he has topped 20 PPR Fantasy points in two of his last three games. A negative game script is not a problem for him as his 11 targets from Week 16 illustrated.

Contrarian DFS Play

Jaylen Warren RB

PIT Pittsburgh • #30
Age: 25 • Experience: 3 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ SEA SEA -3.5 O/U 41.5

OPP VS RB 27th

PROJ PTS 11.1

RB RNK 31st

YTD Stats
RUYDS 676	REC 52	REYDS 330	TD 3	FPTS/G 11.3

Warren has been in a bit of an efficiency slump the last month, but I love the volume in the passing game. He has 17 targets and 14 catches in his last three games and the Steelers are 3.5-point underdogs at Seattle this week. Warren is one big play from being a steal in DFS each and every week.

RB Preview

Heath's Projections

My full set of Week 17 Fantasy Football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 17. Projected stats for all starting quarterbacks are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.