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This year I subcontracted a sloth to help out with these rankings. It’s coming along slow, but the furry little guy does a good job. Now that independence day is in the rearview mirror it’s time to kick freedom into gear so you readers have a full set of rankings to reference once draft season really fires up later this month. We kicked off the rankings extravaganza with the top 10 running backs for 2022 fantasy football. Next up is the top 20 running backs for 2022 fantasy football half PPR leagues:
But first, don’t forget to subscribe to the Razzball YouTube Channel and watch Bobby LaMarco and I discuss players 11-15 on this list!
11. Â Antonio Gibson – The Football Team’s Commander’s running back has been banged up quite a bit in his first two seasons but has still managed to grind through 30 games during that time while accumulating 21 all-purpose touchdowns. There’s some risk of a committee with J.D. McKissic and intriguing rookie Bryan Robinson, but that actually might be the best-case scenario for Gibson’s health down the stretch during your fantasy playoffs. And we already know he can produce top-tier PPR RB1 numbers on a diet of 15 carries per game because of his excellent pass-catching ability. With Wentz now at the helm and an improved offensive line, Gibson seems like a screaming buy in the fourth round right now.
12. Saquon Barkley – This could be the fantasy buying opportunity of a lifetime on Barkley or it could be a huge buy-low sucker bet. Likely somewhere in between but the range of outcomes is very wide, remember the Giants’ star back is still only 25 years old with an improving offensive line in front of him. But he’s also coming off essentially two lost seasons. The dilemma is whether to bet on the freakish athlete bouncing back or bet against the recently disappointing Giants’ offense. I’m placing my wager on Saquon’s talent shining through.
13. Alvin Kamara – It feels strange ranking Kamara outside the top 10 running backs in any sort of PPR format but the proof is in the 2020 pudding. AK isn’t getting any younger at age 27 and he’s coming off a career-high in rushing attempts and a career-low in yards per carry, target and receptions. The departure of Drew Brees hurt Kamara’s production way more than his fantasy fans had hoped.
14. Leonard Fournette – Part of me thinks this is a disrespectful ranking for a guy who just finished the 2021 season as RB7 in half PPR leagues. What has really changed in Tampa? Brady is back still behind some of the best blocking in the league. Touchdown opportunities should be plentiful and Fournette has earned Brady’s trust; don’t expect the rookie Rachaad White to come in and change that during his rookie season. Fournette isn’t a sexy pick but it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t rack up RB1 numbers in this offense if he can stay healthy for most of the year.
15. Ezekiel Elliott – Being higher than the consensus on Zeke is foreign to me after fading him the last two seasons. It’s kind of shocking to see him fall all the way to RB17 on our 2022 fantasy football ADP composite page. I mean I get it, I’ve been saying the same things for two years now regarding the workload piling up (he now sits at 1,650 career carries in 6 seasons) but at some stage, the reward finally outweighs the risk. We’ve hit that inflection point in my mind. As talented as Tony Pollard is, we might as well ink Elliott in for 250+ touches and the majority of the goalline work in a high-powered offense with a great offensive line. I’m convincing myself that he should be even higher, the internal battle is fierce.
16. Aaron Jones – In a down 2021 season with only 4 rushing touchdowns and 799 rushing yards, Jones still finished as RB12 in half PPR leagues. Of course, part of the downturn was due to the rise of A.J. Dillon who isn’t going away, and Jones’s 6 receiving touchdowns might not be reproducible. Dillon might only continue to be more of a thorn in the side of Jones’s production moving forward and while I am fading the Packers RB slightly this season, it’s hard to ever be too bearish on a heavily used back in an Aaron Rodgers-led offense.
17. Breece Hall – We’ve hit that point in the rankings where anything flies. Everyone is shooting from the hip at this stage in the ranking process. As for the top rookie RB, he has massive upside behind a quickly improving Jets’ offensive line. Zach Wilson making a second-year leap forward would do wonders for Hall’s outlook and while I do like Michael Carter’s potential, that 4th-round draft capital compared to Hall’s early 2nd-round capital makes me think Hall is their vision for the future. If I didn’t have an anti-Jets bias he might be a couple of spots higher in these rankings. By the way, subscribe to the Razzball YouTube channel and check out our bite-size Breece Hall show:
18. Miles Sanders – I can’t quit Miles Sanders. In terms of talent and explosiveness, Sanders is near the top tier of NFL running backs. In terms of ability to stay on the field, he’s not great. But this potentially provides us with a fantastic buy-low opportunity as he comes off a season with ZERO touchdowns. The Eagles have Pro Football Focus’s top-ranked offensive line headed into 2022 and Sanders’s legs should have plenty of burst left with only 480 career carries through three seasons. This is exactly the type of home run swing I’m looking to take in the 5th or 6th round, where striking out won’t kill you. Returning first-round value isn’t out of the question.
19. David Montgomery – For three seasons in Chicago Montgomery has been a workhorse. He’s handled over 20 touches per game over each of the last two seasons, giving him one of the highest floor fantasy options at running back. Of course, “highest fantasy floor running back” is like being the tallest little person. Every running back’s floor is zero, but a track record of health and consistency is worth something, however little that something might be. Justin Fields making a leap forward in 2022 could increase Montgomery’s scoring opportunities, boosting him up this list.
20. Damien Harris – The Patriots always boast one of the best blocking units in the league, and even in down years Belichick finds a way to put points on the board. As a fantasy player it’s always difficult to fully trust a running back in the Patriots’ systems since Belichick loves to throw curve balls, but at age 25, Harris appears to have established himself as the main back in New England. Mac Jones is primed to build on a very nice rookie season; there are a lot of positive variables on Damien Harris’s side heading into 2022.
