2010 Fantasy Football Rankings: Running Backs

Tier 1

• Chris Johnson, Tennessee

• Maurice Jones-Drew. Jacksonville

• Adrian Peterson, Minnesota

In a PPR league, I could justify MJD going first, in any other league; Johnson has to be #1. These three backs really remind me of a few years ago when we had LT, Larry Johnson, and Shaun Alexander. All three are far away the 3 best players in the draft. They should be the top 3 picks in every draft, and you shouldn’t have to worry about production.

Tier 2

• Ray Rice, Baltimore

• Frank Gore, San Francisco

Some make cases for these 2 guys to be in the top tier, but I can’t. The overall production of the top 3 is far above these 2 guys, I could take Andre Johnson over these guys and not feel bad.

Tier 3

• Steven Jackson, St. Louis

• DeAngelo Williams, Carolina

• Michael Turner, Atlanta

• Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh

I’m a big fan of SJax, he’s a great player on a horrible team. If Stewart wasn’t around, and injuries weren’t a problem, Williams would probably be a tier 1 back. I’ve never liked Turner, but he produces, a lot. I understand I’m a little high here on Medenhall, but I really like him, with or without Big Ben, he’ll likely see his best weeks when Ben comes back though.

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Tier 4

• Shonn Greene, New York (Jets)

• Jamaal Charles, Kansas City

• Pierre Thomas, New Orleans

• Ryan Matthews, San Diego

• Ryan Grant, Green Bay

• Knowshon Moreno, Denver

• Chris Wells, Arizona

• Jonathon Stewart, Carolina

• LeSean McCoy, Philadelphia

• Cedric Benson, Cincinnati

• Matt Forte, Chicago

Okay, first of all, this is a huge tier, but there really isn’t much difference between all the backs. This tier has backs in it that could become “studs” next year, and those same backs could turn into league average as well. I think Charles has the most to prove here, if he can score from distance consistently, he’ll be a first round pick next year. Greene enters the perfect place, and could put up Thomas Jones like numbers… Same thing goes for Matthews. If Williams would happen to get hurt, go ahead and put Stewart as your top 10 ten back. Moreno was recently hurt, he’ll be ready though. Grant appears to be as good as he’ll ever get. Can McCoy be a Westbrook? Can Benson be as good as he was last year? Can Forte find what he’s missing? There are plenty of questions this group has to answer.

Tier 5

• Ronnie Brown, Miami

• Jospeh Addai, Indianapolis

• Felix Jones, Dallas

• Jahvid Best, Detroit

• C.J. Spiller, Buffalo

• Justin Forsett, Seattle

• Darren McFadden, Oakland

• Jerome Harrison, Cleveland

• Fred Jackson, Buffalo

• Ricky Williams, Miami

• Carnell Williams, Tampa Bay

• Brandon Jacobs, New York(Giants)

I think typically won’t rank more than 32 players. These are about it of the relevant guys on draft day. If you’re picking one of these guys, I hope it’s for backup purposes. Most here are either on a team with a committed passing game, in a RBBC, and have yet to show their potential, or just have really low upside. Draft carefully.

By Patrick Ruschmeyer
ProFootball-fans.com Fantasy Football Director of Content