NFL Week 1 Running Back Daily Fantasy Football Rankings 2022
Check out NFL Week 1 Running Back Daily Fantasy Football rankings based on expert projections for 0.5 PPR scoring at FanDuel. Sign up for RotoGrinders Premium to access to all of our Week 1 projections and lineup optimizer, along with fantasy rankings from our DFS analysts before things kick off.
Even with the way the modern NFL is played, RB remains the key position in Fantasy Football. Seasons are won and lost with the quality of RB play and depth year in and year out. That’s why the good ones go early obviously. The key however, is who’s going to find that late round sleeper. Who’s going to pick up the James Conner, touchdown machine, from a season ago? Which back is ready to have that breakout season that catapults his lucky fantasy owners to a championship?
The more pressing question today though, is which RBs are primed and ready to hit the ground running (literally) week 1? Let’s take a look at FanDuel’s top 36 Backs this week.
Week 1 RB Fantasy Football Rankings
1. Jonathan Taylor
2. Derrick Henry
3. Christian McCaffrey
4. Austin Ekeler
5. Leonard Fournette
6. Dalvin Cook
7. Alvin Kamara
8. Joe Mixon
9. D’Andre Swift
10. Saquan Barkley
11. Najee Harris
12. Aaron Jones
13. Javonte Williams
14. James Conner
15. Antonio Gibson
16. Travis Etienne
17. Breece Hall
18. Ezekiel Elliott
19. Tony Pollard
20. Chase Edmonds
21. AJ Dillon
22. David Montgomery
23. Rhamondre Stevenson
24. Clyde Edwards-Helaire
25. Devin Singletary
26. Elijah Mitchell
27. Cordarrelle Patterson
28. Cam Akers
29. Rashaad Penny
30. Josh Jacobs
31. Kareem Hunt
32. Dameon Pierce
33. Damien Harris
34. Melvin Gordon
35. Nyehim Hines
36. Darrel Henderson
For the most part, you know what you’re going to get from those top 4 guys week in and week out. Start those guys every week, no matter what. Especially CMC since outside of this week, you have no idea if you’re ever gonna have him available again. As for the rest of these guys, any one of them could make or break your matchup on any given week.
Running Back Fantasy Analysis
Javonte Williams
Williams is primed to take a huge leap in year 2 after a solid rookie campaign. He finished last season with just over 900 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns on 4.4 yards per carry. He also proved to be a factor in the passing game with 43 grabs out of the backfield and added 3 touchdowns in that department as well. He flashed plenty of ability to break tackles and make people miss last season.
It’s reasonable to believe he’ll take on more of a true feature back role in year two even with the return of Melvin Gordon, who’s another year older. Most importantly, the Broncos made a significant upgrade at QB this offseason which should elevate the play of the entire offense. Reason enough to believe Williams should see a huge uptake in scoring opportunities. He’ll be starting his Sophomore campaign against a Seattle defense who was 17th in rushing yards allowed per game last season, and quite frankly don’t have a quarterback seeing as how their guy is the aforementioned upgrade for Denver. Look for the Broncos to take command of this game early and be able to control the time of possession on the ground, which bodes well for Williams.
Alvin Kamara
Mark my words: watch out for the Saints this season and watch out for Alvin Kamara in week 1. Everyone knows how much of a threat he is week in and week out. On the ground, in the passing game. He’s the engine for this New Orleans offense, and he’s primed and ready to feast on a weak Atlanta team. People forget the solid start QB Jameis Winston got off to last season before getting injured. With his return and the return of former star Wideout Michael Thomas, teams aren’t going to be able to afford solely gameplanning around Kamara. It’s likely we’ll see the offense open up for him and he’ll get back to being a top 5 back in no time.
Miles Sanders
Sanders is definitely the most talented back in the stable for a Philly offense that is going to rely heavily on its run game this season. Last season was quite the disappointment considering he failed to find the endzone at all. There is a lot of upside to Sanders though as he’s finished each of his first three seasons in the top 15 in yards per carry. Assuming the scoreless season was mostly just due to bad luck, look for him to potentially have a big bounce back season in 2022.
No better way to start that off than playing the Lions in week 1. Detroit gave up a whopping 135 yards per game on the ground last season, good for 6th worst in the entire league. Given the Eagles heavy run approach, and the porous defense of the Lions, Sanders get off to a hot start in 2022.
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