Ahhh running backs. The lifeblood of fantasy football. Or at least, they used to be, back when all 32 teams had a feature running back to take all the carries and rack up a ton of points. Not so anymore, which is where we come in to sort through them all and make sure you get the right ones.
Continuing our 2011 Fantasy Football series after unveiling our Quarterback Rankings last week, it's time to take a look at the top running backs in the the NFL--for fantasy purposes, anyway.
Tier 1
1. Adrian Peterson
2. Chris Johnson
3. Jamaal Charles
4. Arian Foster
5. Ray Rice
Tier 2
6. LeSean McCoy
7. Maurice Jones-Drew
8. Rashard Mendenhall
9. Darren McFadden
10. Frank Gore
Tier 3
11. Matt Forte
12. Steven Jackson
13. Michael Turner
14. Ahmad Bradshaw
15. Peyton Hillis
Tier 4
16. LeGarrette Blount
17. Knowshon Moreno
18. Jahvid Best
19. Shonn Greene
Tier 5
20. Mark Ingram
21. Daniel Thomas
22. Ryan Mathews
23. Felix Jones
24. DeAngelo Williams
25. Cedric Benson
26. Ryan Grant
27. Marshawn Lynch
28. Fred Jackson
29. BenJarvus Green-Ellis
Tier 6
30. Jonathan Stewart
31. Tim Hightower
32. Beanie Wells
33. Ryan Williams
34. Mike Tolbert
35. Michael Bush
36. Pierre Thomas
37. Joseph Addai
39. C.J. Spiller
40. James Starks
Tier 7
41. Brandon Jacobs
42. Reggie Bush
43. Danny Woodhead
44. Ryan Torain
45. Roy Helu
46. Darren Sproles
47. Rashad Jennings
Tier 8
48. LaDainian Tomlinson
49. Ronnie Brown
50. Willis McGahee
51. Thomas Jones
52. Ricky Williams
Tier 9
53. Montario Hardesty
54. Jerome Harrison
55. Javon Ringer
56. Bernard Scott
58. DeMarco Murray
59. Jason Snelling
60. Ben Tate
61. Marion Barber
62. Brandon Jackson
63. Delone Carter
64. Shane Vereen
65. Justin Forsett
66. Donald Brown
67. Toby Gerhart
68. Anthony Dixon
69. Cadillac Williams
The Running Back position, as you can see, has turned into one big clusterfudge in the fantasy football world. Just as we advised that you pick up a Tier 1 quarterback, that would be ideal with running backs as well, but definitely have at least one of the top 15 guys or you really don't know what you're getting.
The shortage of quality backs means, quite simply, just pick as many of them as you can. That 20-40 group can almost be flipped around without anybody putting up too much of a fight, which is quite the predicament for fantasy players looking to get a stud No. 2 back. So our advice is to stockpile the position and hope that your Tim Hightowers separate from your Ryan Torains.
At the top, there are more enticing options than Adrian Peterson, but old reliable gets our No. 1 nod for his consistency. Chris Johnson's holdout is a little fearful, as is Arian Foster without bruising fullback Vonta Leach, so we'd stick with Peterson as the first overall pick.
With QBs and RBs behind us, it's time to take a look at another seemingly convoluted position--wide receivers. Check back later this week for our WR rankings.
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