Fantasy Football Week 3 running back rankings: The latest updates for Sunday morning

Some of the RBs projected for big-time volume are already hard to trust on a weekly basis

By Chris Towers

Sep 26, 2021 at 9:39 am ET • 1 min read

When it comes to Fantasy Football, there's a big difference between "Should I start this player?" and "Can I trust this player?" And, in looking at my rankings at running back for Week 3, I think the gap truly emerges right at RB18.

I think you should start Mike Davis. He's the clear lead back in this offense despite the presence of Cordarrelle Patterson, and has been heavily used in the passing game, with 13 targets through two games. You almost certainly have to start Davis this week. But can you trust him? Of course not! He's been awful -- 3.6 yards per carry and 3.7 yards per target with no touchdowns on a team that has looked rudderless. Right now, he's got volume going for him; if that goes away, he's got nothing.

And you can go on down the list: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, James Robinson, Myles Gaskin, Kenyan Drake … these are all guys you should probably start, but you can't trust any of them. There are probably players below them you can even trust a little more -- Damien Harris has a more guaranteed role than any of those guys -- but they don't have the same kind of upside.

Running back usually ends up pretty messy, but things look especially bad after just two weeks. Hopefully, we'll get some clarity on those guys this week and we can feel a bit more secure. Right now, it's pretty hard to.