Welcome to the fantasy football Week 15 running back rankings hub!

Indy’s Jonathan Taylor returns to the top spot post-bye despite a tough matchup against Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots. Buccaneer Leonard Fournette is a top-5 fantasy back from here on out. Josh Jacobs is now an RB1 thanks to the Raiders making good on their long-promised dual threat workloads for him. Melvin Gordon isn’t going anywhere–he’s an RB2. Keep an eye on New England’s practice reports. If Damien Harris can’t go (hamstring), Rhamondre Stevenson’s going to rock the house.

Below are my top-60 running backs for Week 15. These rankings are geared toward .5PPR scoring formats for Week 15 of the 2021 NFL season but should aid those who play in both non-PPR and full-point PPR formats. I’ve also included my top RB streaming option this week and DFS play of the week (cost via FanDuel).

Check back throughout the week to see how expectations have changed as news continues to roll in, enhancing our prognostication abilities. Feel free to hit me up on twitter @Ginger__Nic for any fantasy related advice.

Stream of the Week: Royce Freeman at Jacksonville Jaguars

Week 14 lead back Rex Burkhead went down with a hip injury and Freeman immediately filled in for him in a dual threat capacity. The backup RB took an albeit ineffective 11 carries for 15 yards and finished second on the team in targets with 8. 6 were caught for 51 yards. Rotational back David Johnson will be returning after a 2-week stint on the COVID-19/Reserve List, but he’s far from a guarantee to be feeling shipshape and has largely resembled a man running in quicksand for the entirety of the 2021 season. Jacksonville’s run defense NEFF score has routinely finished in the bottom-quarter this year, and the subpar squad has been a top-10 RB-friendly unit for fantasy purposes over the last month of play, allowing 22.5 .5PPR RB PPG. Freeman’s not a glamorous fill-in but he should fulfill fantasy RB3 requirements.

DFS Play of the Week: Austin Ekeler ($8,900) vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Ekeler’s $8,900 salary cap hit on Fanduel’s Thursday-to-Monday slate is just the 4th highest, and his DFS roster percentage is likely to be lower than normal due to the ankle injury flareup he suffered in Week 14. By all accounts, his ankle is good to go (heavily taped) and this is a must-win game for the 8-5 Chargers. LAC beat KC, 30-24 in Week 3 but the 9-4 Chiefs are 1st in the AFC West standings. A win on Thursday would give Los Angeles complete control of the division with both teams at 9-5 and Ekeler & Co. owning two head-to-head wins over their divisional foes. Ekeler had mixed results as a rusher over their last three contests (11 carries for 55 yards, 7 for 18, and 16 for 93) but he’s eviscerated them through the air (6 receptions on 6 targets for 52 yards and 1 touchdown, 6-of-7 for 33 yards a 1 touchdown, and 4-of-4 for 55 yards). Kansas City has markedly improved in the run-stopping department since Frank Clark returned to the lineup (Week 5) and trading for Melvin Gordon (Week 9), but they’re still very vulnerable to backs in the receiving game. Dating back to Week 9, Kansas City is allowing 9 RB targets per game, 7.4 RB receptions, and 60.6 RB receiving yards. All three marks are second most in the league in their respective categories. Ekeler’s a top-3 RB play in Week 15.

Week 14 Running Back Rankings