Fantasy Football Week 5 Running Back Rankings: Trust Jonathan Taylor in his return?

Chris Towers walks you through his Week 5 RB rankings

By Chris Towers

Oct 8, 2023 at 9:08 am ET • 4 min read

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If you took Christian McCaffrey with your first pick, you're feeling very, very good about how at least one of the running back spots on your Fantasy Football rosters looks right now.

Otherwise? Well, I hope you got David Montgomery or Kenneth Walker in the middle rounds of your draft or got lucky with a waiver-wire add for someone like Kyren Williams. Because as things stand heading into Week 5, there is not a lot to like about the running back position these days.

Partially, we have a couple of nagging injuries to blame for that, as Austin Ekeler and Saquon Barkley should be must-start options right now but have missed three and two games at this point and will both be out in Week 5 as well.

14 running backs are averaging 15-plus PPR points per game, though that includes four names who have only played two or fewer games, plus De'Von Achane, who had 1.9 PPR points entering Week 3 and was only really started in significant numbers in Week 4 (when he came through with 27 PPR points).

It also includes Raheem Mostert, Achane's teammate, whose Fantasy appeal is very much in question given Achane's emergence, and Zack Moss, who has been terrific but also faces Jonathan Taylor's impending return.

Which is to say, there just aren't a lot of running backs you can feel really good about at this point in Fantasy. Before we get to my Week 5 rankings, I'm going to try to identify them, with an eye on both the short and long-term, which should hopefully help you figure out how to manage trade decisions moving forward.

No doubt about it starters (when healthy): Christian McCaffrey, Austin Ekeler, Bijan Robinson, Tony Pollard, Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley, Kenneth Walker, James Cook, D'Andre Swift, Travis Etienne, Derrick Henry, Alvin Kamara, David Montgomery, Jonathan Taylor
You're probably starting them every week: Joe Mixon, Kyren Williams, De'Von Achane, Miles Sanders, James Conner, Rachaad White
You're probably starting them … for now: Raheem Mostert, Rhamondre Stevenson, Isaiah Pacheco, Alexander Mattison, Dameon Pierce, Najee Harris, Khalil Herbert, Brian Robinson

And then there are guys like Khalil Herbert and Gus Edwards you can probably feel pretty good about starting right now but don't really have much long-term upside – and there are probably a couple of guys from the last two tiers you can include in that conversation. So, that's maybe 11 guys I feel good to very good about moving forward, and another six or so who should be starters moving forward. And then you're already at the part of the rankings where you've either got real questions about how useful this player currently is or real questions about how long they'll be useful.

Obviously, injuries will shake up the landscape several times between now and the Fantasy playoffs, and plenty of guys will lose their jobs – including a few we probably can't see coming right now.

You might notice one surprising name in that first list: Jonathan Taylor. Taylor practiced for the first time this week and will make his debut Sunday after signing a three-year extension with the Colts. It was his first practice with new coach Shane Steichen and new QB Anthony Richardson, of course, so I wouldn't be particularly surprised if Taylor was still somewhat limited in his first game back.

However, given how few truly must-start RBs there are out there, I'm ranking him as a top-20 option for the week -- Taylor is the kind of back who might only need one crease on one carry to be worth starting, after all. Moss is more like an RB3, but the way this offense has worked, there very well could be room for both of them, at least for one week, even against a tough matchup.

It's not ideal, but that's the way the RB position works these days.