Top 50 standard running back rankings for Week 13 fantasy football

Man, Derrick Henry is good, huh? It’s fun to have a back in the league who doesn’t need to catch passes to still put up huge numbers. For fantasy, we’ll always prefer the Christian McCaffrey’s and Dalvin Cook’s of the league, but Henry is a beast, who will out run you or run you over without hesitation. And for standard leagues, he is king. Well, honorary, because McCaffrey, woo buddy.

We’re now to Week 13 of the season somehow. It feels like just last week we all had our eyes wide in anticipation for those first games to kick off and now we’re winding our fantasy seasons down. I need a second.

Injury/Status Report

Devonta Freeman returned to practice on Tuesday. He’s got a decent chance to play Thanksgiving night.

James Conner said, “it will be a little bit longer” before he can play. Benny Snell should get the early-down work against the Browns this week.

Marlon Mack remains out for Week 13. Jonathan Williams should lead the backfield again this week against the Titans.

Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury expects Chase Edmonds to play against the Rams this week. That would give Kenyan Drake, David Johnson, and Edmonds into a committee that we have little clue on its construction coming out of the bye. We also can’t trust much of what Kingsbury says.

LeSean McCoy did not suffer a concussion against the Chargers two weeks ago, according to Andy Reid, so he should be okay to play against the Raiders. We are still waiting on word regarding Damien Williams’ rib injury coming off the bye.

Jordan Howard is still hindered by his shoulder injury, and there’s been no positive word about a return. Miles Sanders has taken over the job while he’s out.

RB Ranking Tiers

Tier 1

At this point, Derrick Henry is a Tier 1 running back either in standard or PPR, but as usual, he has a higher upside in PPR.

Dalvin Cook returns from his bye, so he is a Tier 1 play. He may see fewer targets if Asam Thielen returns, but that’s not a killer in standard leagues.

Josh Jacobs should get back on track against Kansas City, but his upside is somewhat limited if the Chiefs get a huge lead quickly.

Tier 2

While the 49ers try to stop Lamar Jackson, Mark Ingram will likely sneak in a useful standard league game. He doesn’t get the work you’d like, but what he does get is helpful for fantasy in the Ravens offense.

Phillip Lindsay didn’t put up the numbers I expected last week in Buffalo, but he returns home against a poor Chargers run defense.

RB Streamers

Bo Scarbrough makes for a good flex in standard leagues as the lead back against a Bears team that gives up many rushing touchdowns.

Ronald Jones has been on the edge of relevancy all season, so it’s tough to give him the nod each week, but a matchup against the Jaguars, who have been getting run over of late, is worth a start.