Week 10 Fantasy Football Rankings: RB

A rested Christian McCaffrey readies for the Jaguars, Tony Pollard searches for scores vs. the Giants, and Aaron Jones seeks another heavy workload against the Steelers.

Other positions: Quarterback | Receiver | Tight End/Kickers/Defense

Week 10 Running Backs

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RB Notes: Christian McCaffrey comes off bye with 31.8 more total PPR points than any other running back. Jacksonville does boast a top-three run defense in terms of yards allowed, so perhaps it won’t be a ceiling week. … Opposing CMC is Travis Etienne, one of only two players with more touches. Also rested and ready coming off an open date, Etienne’s season-low for handles is 14. He is averaging 22. Concerning though the 49ers’ matchup is, Etienne has excellent home touchdown odds in this 45.5-totaled showdown. … It’s been more like it for Austin Ekeler over the past two weeks, piling up three scores and 15 targets. DET/LAC is amongst this week’s highest-totaled games at 48.5. … If there is one thing interim coaches absolutely love, it’s committing to the run game. That’s why it was hardly surprising to see fill-in Raiders boss Antonio Pierce turn Josh Jacobs into the league-wide touches leader with 26 Week 9 carries. The Jets are a brutal matchup for rookie QB Aidan O’Connell, threatening the Raiders’ entire offensive setup, but it is difficult to envision Gang Green building a big early lead and hampering Jacobs’ touch odds.

Opposing Jacobs is Breece Hall, who got the bad Jets game script in Week 9. Although they are on the road, the Jets are the narrowest of favorites against a Raiders defense 31st in rush yards allowed. Floor is guaranteed with ceiling quite attainable. … Alvin Kamara is losing high-value touches to … Taysom Hill? Alvin Kamara is losing high-value touches to Taysom Hill. That’s just life in the Orleans Parish. Hill was limited to 49 percent of the Saints’ Week 9 snaps. We would assume that was more about preserving him vs. the Bears than anything else, but top-three usage can no longer be taken for granted considering Hill’s month-plus hot streak. … Jonathan Taylor finally rear-view mirror’d Zack Moss in Week 9, out-snapping his backfield mate 43-11. He out-touched him 23-7. The free-falling Patriots have a solid enough run defense, but Taylor’s volume and scoring odds are plus-plus. … Perhaps the Bucs’ “pass-funnel defense” has you feeling down on Derrick Henry, but the way I see it, that just means more potential goal-line opportunities for The Big Dog in an offense that looks like it has a new lease on life with Will Levis under center.

Joe Mixon and Tony Pollard are slowly turning into each other. While Mixon’s play has improved alongside Joe Burrow’s health, Pollard remains inefficient between the 20s and unlucky inside the 10. Surely he can finally find the end zone with the Cowboys three-score favorites against the Giants. … The Packers vowed to cut Aaron Jones loose in Week 10 then gave him 24 touches. There is zero reason to expect a pivot against the Steelers’ surprisingly soft ground defense. The Pack’s offense has needed a second element all season. Jones finally provides it. … Saquon Barkley survived his first two Tommy DeVito encounters, but Week 10 is a challenge of an entirely different magnitude. The Giants are 17-point road underdogs against the league’s most explosive defense. I’m not expecting coach Brian Daboll to sacrifice Barkley for no reason if this one gets out of hand early in Dallas, which it should. … There was a changing of the Broncos backfield guard before the Week 9 bye, with Javonte Williams reaching 30 touches in Denver’s Chiefs upset. That figures to remain Williams’ 2023 high-water mark, but with the Broncos still alive in the playoff race, don’t expect as many pointless Jaleel McLaughlin and Samaje Perine touches as we were seeing before.

David Montgomery is ready to return from his rib injury just as Jahmyr Gibbs prepares to follow up his 31-touch, 189-yard Week 8. Unlike Arthur Smith, coach Dan Campbell seems like a reasonable fellow. We wouldn’t expect him to stuff his Gibbs genie back in the bottle. We would also assume he continues to protect his rookie phenom from early-down wear and tear. The touch gap should narrow, but it will remain D-Mont at the goal line. … James Conner (knee) appears poised to return for the Cardinals’ banged up backfield. The timing couldn’t be better, as Kyler Murray (knee) will be making his season debut. The returning duo has a plus matchup in the Falcons’ paper tiger defense, one that admittedly has strong-ish rate stats on the ground. Conner’s likely workload is simply too compelling to drop him out of the top 18. … I’m so deep in the weeds on Bijan Robinson Derangement Syndrome that I have no clue what to think or expect anymore. Am I too optimistic? Too bullish? Ranking him like a boom/bust RB2 is the only idea I could think of for Week 10 vs. a Cardinals defense coughing up the third most running back fantasy points.

With Cam Akers back on the Achilles shelf, Alexander Mattison’s RB2 workload is safe for another week. Ty Chandler is worth a free flier in all formats of fantasy. … Kenneth Walker has now been out-snapped by Zach Charbonnet in back-to-back weeks. Charbonnet has consolidated all third-down/change-of-pace work. Walker does maintain a decisive touch advantage. With the Seahawks comfortable Week 10 home favorites against the Commanders, it would be a predictable time for Walker to get off the mat. … The Ravens finally unveiled Keaton Mitchell as a change-of-pace option in Week 9. The result was the first 100-yard effort by a Ravens running back all season. We fully expect Gus Edwards to maintain early-down and goal-line supremacy, but Mitchell can be a viable FLEX in the right matchup. The Browns are not the right matchup for Week 10. … What would you say James Cook does here? The Bills can no longer decide. Leonard Fournette is getting in shape on the practice squad. … Khalil Herbert needs another week to rest his ankle, keeping D'Onta Foreman in the low-end RB2 mix against the struggling Panthers.