Here are the week 1 rankings for the backs that run. We have a couple injury concerns in Knowshon Moreno and Beanie Wells that will effect these rankings as news comes out, so keep an eye on them.
I really like a lot of these matchups this week so putting the rankings together was tough (blood was sweat, sweat was blood). Cases can be made for some backs to be moved ahead of others and vice versa, and I could make those cases! But on the close calls I just had my gut to go with, and it is substantial. Love my IPA.
Joseph Addai has been all over this list. Matt Forte, the back we love to hate, has probably the best matchup of the week. Last season, during his horrid suckfest, he still managed to get into the endzone against the Browns and Lions of this league. And when looking at week 1, how can you downgrade Ronnie Brown for the same reasons he is usually downgraded, his injury proneness? Like I said, there are a lot of decent matchups this week. We’ll go over some of them in more depth, but here is how I see them stacking up so far —
- Chris Johnson vs. OAK
- Adrian Peterson @NO
- Frank Gore @SEA
- Maurice Jones-Drew vs. DEN
- Steven Jackson vs. ARI
- Ray Rice @NYJ
- Ryan Mathews @KC
- Rashard Mendenhall vs. ATL
- Jamaal Charles vs. SD
- DeAngelo Williams @NYG
- Arian Foster vs. IND
- Jahvid Best @CHI
- Ryan Grant @PHI
- Michael Turner @PIT
- Ronnie Brown @BUF
- Matt Forte vs. DET
- Cedric Benson @NE
- Tim Hightower @STL
- Shonn Greene vs. BAL
- Joseph Addai @HOU
- Knowshon Moreno @JAX
- Jerome Harrison vs. @TB
- C.J. Spiller vs. MIA
- Pierre Thomas vs. MIN
- Lesean McCoy vs. GB
- Ahmad Bradshaw vs.CAR
- Caddilac Williams vs. CLE
- Darren McFadden @TEN
- Jonathan Stewart @NYG
- Felix Jones @WAS
- Clinton Portis vs. DAL
- Marion Barber @WAS
- Justin Forsett vs. SF
- Ricky Williams @BUF
- Brandon Jacobs vs. CAR
- Fred Taylor vs. CIN
- Reggie Bush vs. MIN
- Chester Taylor vs. DET
- Darren Sproles @KC
- Donald Brown @HOU
- Thomas Jones vs. SD
- Willis McGahee @NYJ
- Ladainian Tomlinson vs. BAL
- Correll Buckhalter @JAX
- Leon Washington vs. SF
- Kareem Huggins vs.CLE
- Fred Jackson vs. MIA
- Peyton Hillis @TB
- Sammy Morris vs. CIN
- Kevin Faulk vs. CIN
- Isaac Redman vs. ATL
- Marshawn Lynch vs. MIA
- Chris Wells @STL
