Fantasy Football Week 7 running back rankings: Sunday rankings update

Chris Towers ranks the running backs for Week 7

By Chris Towers

Oct 24, 2021 at 11:38 am ET • 3 min read

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Based on NFC Average Draft Position data from the preseason, just four of the preseason top-12 at running back are even available to play this week: Derrick Henry, Alvin Kamara, Jonathan Taylor, and Aaron Jones. Extend it to the top 24 in ADP, and you only add seven more names, and not all of those are must-start players at this point. It's the combination of injuries and a bye week featuring the Bills, Cowboys, Chargers, Vikings, Steelers and Jaguars all off at the same time that makes this week so tough.

It gets worse than all that. If you narrow it down to players I would actually feel OK starting in Week 7, I can only get to maybe 19 of the top 36 in ADP, and that's really stretching it with guys like Javonte Williams, Chase Edmonds, Melvin Gordon, Michael Carter, A.J. Dillon, and Myles Gaskin being included in the "feeling OK" category. It might actually be as few as 14 of the top 36.

I think this has to be one of the worst weeks for the running back position in a long time in Fantasy football. Maybe not ever, though I genuinely cannot remember a week in my 21 years playing and 11 seasons working for CBS Fantasy where I felt confident in so few players. And things will look even worse than my rankings do if Alex Collins doesn't end up not playing -- though I'll also add that I may be too low on Antonio Gibson right now if the MRI comes back clean on his lingering shin injury. We'll see there, though if Gibson does end up having to miss time, Jaret Patterson might find himself moving into the top-30 range, so consider adding him as a low-cost FAB bid when waivers run.

Also, as we found out Tuesday, Nick Chubb has already been ruled out for Thursday's game against the Broncos, meaning one of the NFL's most run-heavy teams will be without their two top backs this week. That could lead to more passing, but it'll almost certainly lead to a pretty heavy workload for D'Ernest Johnson, who should be viewed as the top waiver-wire target for RB-needy teams this week. Demetric Felton could also see a role that might make him Fantasy relevant, though he has lined up in the backfield just twice all season, so I'm not sure the Browns actually view him as a running back. this could be all Johnson Thursday.

Get your first look at the running back rankings for Week 7 from yours truly, including thoughts on some of the most interesting players for this week. To see Jamey Eisenberg, Dave Richard, and Heath Cummings' rankings, make sure you head here. We'll be updating this throughout the week with new notes and rankings as we get news and the rankings get tweaked, so make sure you bookmark the page.