2012 (Very Early) Fantasy Football Rankings: Running Backs (RBs)
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Updated as of Friday, February 10th
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Scoring: These rankings are based on standard scoring (one point per 10 rushing yards, six points per rushing
touchdown plus one point per ten receiving yards and six points per receiving touchdown) and are for redraft
leagues only.
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The Jaguars had the league's worst-ranked offense, which makes what running back Maurice Jones-Drew did all that more impressive.
Jacksonville averaged only 259.3 yards per game of total offense, but that was primarily due to their deficiencies in the passing game. The Jaguars averaged only 136.2 passing yards per game in 2011.
Despite having to face many eight-men fronts, Jones-Drew led the NFL in rushing with 1,606 yards. And perhaps more impressively, he became the first running back in league history to rush for at least 80 yards in 15 of 16 games.
Along with Atlanta's Michael Turner, MJD was one of only two running backs to go over 300 carries. MJD had a league-high 343 carries, which is the fourth-most over the past five seasons.
Here are some more notes on running backs:
- Ravens running back Ray Rice set career highs in rushing yards (1,364) and receiving yards (704) plus he scored a total of 15 touchdowns, which shatters his previous career high of eight. Rice has three straight seasons with 1,200-plus rushing yards and 500-plus receiving yards and 60-plus receptions.
- Broncos running back Willis McGahee, who turned 30 in October, was one yard shy of 1,200 yards for the third time in his career and the first time since 2007. That said, he had a career low in rushing touchdowns (four) last year.
- Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch finished the season with 1,204 rushing yards and 212 receiving yards with 13 total touchdowns last year. He was particularly tough from Week 9 on. He rushed for 100-plus yards six times in his final nine games including against the 49ers, the league's top-ranked run defense.
- In the 11 games he finished, Bears running back Matt Forte was an absolute stud. During those 11 games, he had 985 rushing yards and 490 receiving yards on 52 receptions and he was on pace for 2,145 yards from scrimmage for the season.
- Despite missing three games, Houston's Arian Foster carried the ball 278 times for 1,224 yards and 10 touchdowns and had 53 receptions for 617 yards. Counting the postseason, Foster had nine 100-yard rushing games and three 100-yard receiving games in 15 games last year. Through the postseason, Foster has 656 carries for 3,125 yards and 29 touchdowns plus 127 receptions for 1,272 yards and four touchdowns in 31 games over the past two seasons.
- Foster's teammate Ben Tate finished with 942 rushing yards and 98 receiving yards. Tate rushed for 100-plus yards four times last year.
- Philadelphia's LeSean McCoy, the Eagles' second-round pick in 2009, set career highs in carries (273), rushing yards (1,309) and rushing touchdowns (17). McCoy sat out Week 17, but he scored at least one touchdown in every game he played except for Weeks 11 and 16.
- Miami's Reggie Bush nearly doubled his previous career high with 1,086 rushing yards on 216 carries. Like McCoy, Bush sat out Week 17. Before that, Bush rushed for 100-plus yards in four straight games and no running back had more rushing yards than Bush (519) during that four-game span.
- From Weeks 7 to 12, no running back had more rushing yards than Cowboys rookie DeMarco Murray (761). (Rams running back Steven Jackson (593) had the second most during that span.)
- Three elite running backs are coming off torn ACLs: Minnesota's Adrian Peterson, Kansas City's Jamaal Charles and Pittsburgh's Rashard Mendenhall. Of the three, Charles' injury happened the earliest (Week 2), which gives him the best chance to be ready for opening day.
- Jets running back Shonn Greene set career highs across the board: carries (253), rushing yards (1,054) and touchdowns (six) in addition to receptions (30) and receiving yards (211). That said, Greene was mostly mediocre aside from a two-game span in Weeks 13/14: 46 carries for 217 yards and four TDs plus six receptions for 84 yards.
- Speaking of mediocre, Titans running back Chris Johnson had a lackluster season with the exception of a four-game span. Johnson rushed for a total of 486 yards and had three of his four 100-yard games of the season during that stretch. In the other 12 games, however, Johnson had 177 carries for 561 yards (3.17 yards per carry) and one rushing touchdown.
- For the third straight season, Bengals running back Cedric Benson has rushed for more than 1,000 yards. That said, only three backs have had more carries than Benson (895) over the past three seasons. Both Brendan Donahue (see his mock) and I (see my mock) have the Bengals using one of their two first-round picks on a running back.
- In the final six games of the season, the Redskins had five 100-yard rushing games by rookie running backs. Roy Helu, their fourth-round pick, had three of them and Evan Royster, a sixth-round pick, had two of them.
- Only four players had more rushing touchdowns than New England's BenJarvus Green-Ellis (11). Of the players with double-digit rushing touchdowns, The Law Firm had the fewest rushing yards (667), by far.
Based on standard scoring (i.e., not point-per-reception (PPR) scoring), here are our 2012 fantasy football running backs rankings:
1. Ray Rice, Ravens
2. Arian Foster, Texans
3. LeSean McCoy, Eagles
4. Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars
5. Matt Forte, Bears
6. Marshawn Lynch, Seahawks
7. Ryan Mathews, Chargers
8. Darren McFadden, Raiders
9. Chris Johnson, Titans
10. Jamaal Charles, Chiefs
11. DeMarco Murray, Cowboys
12. Steven Jackson, Rams
13. Frank Gore, 49ers
14. Michael Turner, Falcons
15. Fred Jackson, Bills
16. Adrian Peterson, Vikings
17. Ahmad Bradshaw, Giants
18. Michael Bush, Raiders
19. Darren Sproles, Saints
20. Reggie Bush, Dolphins
21. Roy Helu, Redskins
22. Willis McGahee, Broncos
23. Shonn Greene, Jets
24. Beanie Wells, Cardinals
25. Mark Ingram, Saints
26. C.J. Spiller, Bills
27. LeGarrette Blount, Buccaneers
28. Cedric Benson, Bengals
29. Rashard Mendenhall, Steelers
30. DeAngelo Williams, Panthers
31. Jonathan Stewart, Panthers
32. Peyton Hillis, Browns
33. Ben Tate, Texans
34. BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Patriots
35. Jahvid Best, Lions
36. Brandon Jacobs, Giants
37. Pierre Thomas, Saints
38. Kevin Smith, Lions
39. Toby Gerhart, Vikings
40. Donald Brown, Colts
41. Daniel Thomas, Dolphins
42. Ryan Williams, Cardinals
Note: We excluded rookies from our rankings and will include them after the 2012 NFL Draft in April.
More 2012 Rankings: QBs - WRs - TEs
2012 NFL Mock Drafts: Kevin Hanson - Brendan Donahue - Our Mock Draft Database
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