Top running back rankings heading into Week 9

Week 8 saw Chrisitan McCaffery return to practice and return to our top running back rankings entering Week 9. On the other hand, rookie Jonathan Taylor took a major stumble. To see where those two players rank, as well as the rest of the National Football League’s top running backs, let’s dive into our Week 9 running back rankings.

NFL Top 25 Running Back Rankings, Week 9 | 25-16

25) Le’Veon Bell, Kansas City Chiefs

In his return to the field against the Broncos, Le’Veon Bell flashed a level of explosiveness we had not seen from him since his time with the Steelers, which led to the belief that he could be one of the NFL’s best running backs yet again.

Unfortunately, his showing against the Jets soured those hopes, as the New York defensive line swallowed up Kansas City’s ground attack and nearly held Bell to one yard per carry.

24) James Conner, Pittsburgh Steelers

James Conner was bottled up by the Ravens defense, averaging just over two yards per carry outside of a lone 18-yard run, but he remains a more than capable starter. With that said, it remains a mystery why the Steelers don’t give Benny Snell more of a workload, especially considering he ranks first among all running backs in Pro Football Network’s Offensive Share Metric.

23) David Johnson, Houston Texans

David Johnson isn’t a great running back anymore by any means, but he’s still a solid starting running back. To his credit, he’s been the only part of the Houston Texans offense outside of Deshaun Watson that can be relied on with any level of consistency so far this season.

22) Antonio Gibson, Washington Football Team

It’s easy to sleep on Antonio Gibson, considering he plays in the moribund NFC East for a team that is the furthest thing from being fun to watch but don’t make that mistake. Over the past few weeks, Antonio Gibson has emerged as one of the NFL’s most explosive and exciting running backs, made even more impressive by the fact that he’s still learning the position after transitioning from wide receiver.

It also helps that he ranks among the best running backs, players like Dalvin Cook and Derrick Henry, in advanced analytics like Football Outsiders’ defense-adjusted yards above replacement and defense-adjusted value over average.

21) Jamaal Williams, Green Bay Packers

Aaron Jones is the Packers’ star running back, but his partner-in-crime, Jamaal Williams, has started to emerge as one of the NFL’s better all-around backs. In fact, Williams has been playing so well; he’s made it nearly impossible for the Packers to get their second-round pick, running back A.J. Dillon, onto the field. As a bonus, he ranks fifth in PFN’s OVM metric among running backs with at least 65 attempts this season.

20) Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts

Jonathan Taylor looked like he was going to steal Marlon Mack’s job as the Colts’ starting running back and never look back, but in recent weeks he’s been much more pedestrian. His banged-up ankle could be the reason as to why he’s slowed down, but nonetheless, he was thoroughly outplayed last week by fellow Colts backs Nyheim Hines and Jordan Wilkins, and that’s a bad look.

19) Damien Harris, New England Patriots

Damien Harris’ season got off to a slow start as he entered the year on injured reserve, but since returning to the lineup, he has been worth a watch. Out of his four appearances, he’s been the best player on New England’s offense in all but one of them, an 18-12 loss to the Broncos, where he didn’t get many touches. It’s also worth noting that he has one of the best OSM values among running backs entering Week 9. His value of 15.32 ranks second to only Snell.

18) J.K. Dobbins, Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens have done a great job of rotating Gus Edwards, J.K. Dobbins, and Mark Ingram, which has severely limited how many touches the second-round rookie, Dobbins, has seen, but he’s been incredibly productive on those carries. He is averaging more yards per carry than any other running back with at least 30 rushing attempts, and among running backs with similar sample sizes, he ranks first in Football Outsiders’ DYAR and DVOA metrics.

17) James Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguars

Coming off their bye week, the Jaguars will look to heavily lean on James Robinson against the Texans this week, as they’ll have Jake Luton under center. Robinson has been one of the best stories in the NFL season, and outside of his pass protection, which still must improve, he looks like a complete back and potential long-term starter. Also, he has a chance to shoot up these rankings in the coming weeks, as many of the running backs ranked ahead of him have suffered recent setbacks that are likely to continue.

16) Chris Carson, Seattle Seahawks

Chris Carson missed Seattle’s last game against San Francisco with a foot injury, and hopefully, he’ll be able to return quickly because rookie running back Deejay Dallas appears to be nipping at his heels. Carson was arguably having the best season of his career before the injury, but Dallas could still take a large bite out of Carson’s load if he continues to perform like he did last Sunday.

NFL Top Running Back Rankings, Week 9 | 15-6

15) Mike Davis, Carolina Panthers

The return of Christian McCaffery could spell doom for Mike Davis, but if the Panthers were smart, they would be willing to adopt more of a two-back approach. Now, McCaffery is one of the best running backs entering Week 9 in the NFL, so he should be the unquestioned top dog in that backfield, but Davis has played so well that he should still maintain a somewhat substantial role. He currently has the highest OSM value of any running back with at least 65 carries on the season.

14) Mark Ingram, Baltimore Ravens

Mark Ingram is currently sidelined with an ankle injury, but his position among the NFL’s best running backs for Week 9 is able to rise thanks to several early-season standouts faltering in recent weeks. Ingram’s workload could decrease in the coming weeks, but don’t let that fool you into thinking he doesn’t deserve a spot in the top 15 of these top RB rankings. He can run with speed, with power, he’s instinctive, and he can do anything you would ask of him in the passing game.

13) Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys

The tumble stops at 13 for Ezekiel Elliott, but if he continues to look as bad and uninspired, he could fall off these top running back rankings entirely before Thanksgiving.

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Since losing Dak Prescott, Elliott has been just another running back in the league, averaging under 60 yards per game and four yards per carry, but even before Prescott’s injury, this was the worst season of Elliott’s career, and it seems nearly impossible that he’ll be able to right the ship.

12) Kareem Hunt, Cleveland Browns

Kareem Hunt sees a bump in these rankings of the top running backs, thanks to recent struggles from almost every other running back in his tier. He had a nice game against the Raiders, but at the same time, Nick Chubb’s absence in Cleveland’s backfield is becoming more noticeable with each week that passes. Hunt should do much better once he’s allowed to return to his role as the 1b running back.

11) Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Kansas City Chiefs

Early this season, it looked like the Chiefs had found a new level to their offense with the addition of Clyde Edwards-Helaire, but he’s come back to the pack the last two weeks. While protecting a massive lead against a dreadful Jets defense, Edwards-Helaire could not get anything going on the ground, which is definitely concerning considering that it’s hard to create a better scenario for running the football than that. Fortunately, a matchup against the Panthers this week should help him get back on track.

10) Joe Mixon, Cincinnati Bengals

Joe Mixon was held out of the Bengals’ matchup with the Titans as he is recovering from a sprained foot injury, and Cincinnati’s offense still managed to produce well without him. Despite that absence, there’s still no doubt that Mixon is one of the NFL’s best running backs entering Week 9. He’s an incredible pure runner and is one of the best pass-catchers, route-runners, and pass-protectors at the position.

9) Phillip Lindsay, Denver Broncos

The sample size for Phillip Lindsay is incredibly limited at this point, considering he’s missed three games and had to exit early from two more due to injury. However, with that said, Lindsay has been phenomenal so far in that limited sample. He is currently averaging almost 6.5 yards per carry, and since Week 1, he’s closer to seven yards per. More important than basic counting stats though, is the fact that Lindsay was the catalyst for the Broncos comeback victory against the Chargers, and without him, Denver’s playoff hopes would be six feet under.

8) Aaron Jones, Green Bay Packers

Aaron Jones didn’t play for the Packers this past week, and it was clear the Packers missed him. Jamaal Williams is a very talented back in his own right, but he can’t threaten or manipulate the defense in the same way that Jones can, and as a result, the Packers was much less efficient than it has been for the most part of this season. They might not return to truly elite form on offense until Jones returns.

7) Ronald Jones, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Monday night was a sloppy performance overall for the Buccaneers offense, and as a result, the Giants managed to keep Jones in check, which is mildly concerning because this could be becoming a trend for the breakout star running back. Over the past two games against the poor defenses of the Raiders and Giants, Jones has been held under 60 yards and under three yards per carry. Tampa Bay will need him to rebound this week to make the Saints respect their ground attack.

6) Darrell Henderson, Los Angeles Rams

As was the case with the Buccaneers, Week 8 was incredibly sloppy for the Rams on offense. Before the two-minute warning in the first half, the Rams were in a 21 point hole and had already turned the ball over twice while allowing a special teams touchdown. As a result, Henderson barely saw the ball, but when he did, he continued to look just as explosive as he has in recent weeks, which is enough to keep him afloat in these rankings among the league’s top running backs

NFL Top RB Rankings, Week 9 | Top Five

5) Josh Jacobs, Las Vegas Raiders

For most of this season, Josh Jacobs hasn’t been the same imposing running back he was last year, especially after contact. In downright horrific weather in Cleveland though, we finally saw a glimpse of what we saw throughout Jacobs rookie season as he consistently ran over Browns defenders on key short-yardage conversions. It was arguably his best performance of the season, and it boosted his OSM value to 12.5, the highest of any running back with at least 85 carries so far this season.

4) Christian McCaffery, Carolina Panthers

After missing six weeks with a high-ankle sprain, Christian McCaffery is expected to return to the lineup against the Chiefs and should quickly re-assert his placement among the league’s best running backs in Week 9. When we last saw McCaffery, he was the unquestioned ruler of the running back position, but we have yet to see what he looks like following his injury, and he has only played in 25 percent of his team’s games so far, which is why he lands at No. 4 in these rankings of the top RBs.

3) Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints

The Bears defense tried their best to limit Alvin Kamara, who continues to look more and more like the engine powering the Saints offense with each week that passes, but he was still able to prey on them both through the air and on the ground to the tune of 163 all-purpose yards on just 21 touches. Earlier this week, Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said, “I coached Marshall Faulk, and this guy’s scarier,” in regards to Kamara, and it’s hard to disagree.

2) Dalvin Cook, Minnesota Vikings

Dalvin Cook has played like an elite running back all season long, but his performance against the Packers was special. He scored all four of the Vikings touchdowns, including a weaving 50-yard receiving touchdown that came off a screen, and managed to be both the team’s leading receiver and the team’s leading rusher. That contract extension he held out for this summer now looks like a discount, which powers his climb in these rankings of the top RBs.

1) Derrick Henry, Tennessee Titans

Cook certainly challenged Derrick Henry’s position atop this list with his unbelievable performance last Sunday, but Henry managed to hold on to the top spot thanks to a solid showing against the Bengals. Tennessee was unable to lean on Henry as much as they like because they found themselves at a deficit quickly, but when Henry did the ball, he coasted through Cincinnati’s defense. He also made a goalline run up the gut of the defense look easy, as he scored Tennessee’s only points of the first three quarters.