Fantasy Football Week 7 RB Rankings: Saquon Barkley’s Return Looms

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Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants

Welcome to our Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings for Week 7 of the 2019 NFL regular season. This week we are struck with a plethora of devastating bye weeks, thinning the top of the food chain of legitimate RB1’s for our fantasy lineups this week. Three of the top 12 and two of the top four scoring fantasy running backs this season will not take the field in Week 7. That includes Christian McCaffrey, who’s 181.30 points over the first five weeks of the season not only makes him the highest-scoring player at his position, but also places him 24.02 points ahead of the next highest scoring player overall, regardless of position.

Reminder: These rankings are based on full-PPR scoring formats.

* If you’re looking for more information on how to best set your lineup this coming week check out our Week 7 RB Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em.

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Running Back Outlook Week 7

While we are losing a number of top-end talents at the position this week, we may be getting back arguably the best. There is a firm belief in New York that had the Giants not played on Thursday in Week 6 that Saquon Barkley (RB4) would have been in the team’s lineup. That bodes well for his availability this week. Barkley is obviously a lock it in and forget type of player. He will face off with an Arizona defense who, while stout against running backs earlier in the year, is coming off a performance where they allowed Devonta Freeman to rack up 25+ fantasy points.

Is it time to be concerned about Alvin Kamara (RB5)? Not in a “is he startable” way, but more of a will he produce to the level we expect of him, and up to the level of where he was selected in fantasy drafts? His 37+ points in Week 3 are starting to seem like an outlier rather than the norm with Teddy Bridgewater under center in New Orleans. Kamara has averaged just 12.36 points in four of his past five games. He takes on Chicago this week, and we don’t have to explain to you why they present a daunting matchup.

For the second consecutive week, Tevin Coleman (RB19) operated as the lead back in San Francisco. Consider yourself lucky if you were able to hang on to him during the weeks he was out of the lineup. Those people will reap the benefits of a mouth-watering matchup against the Washingon Redskins, a defensive unit that has allowed the eighth-most fantasy points to opposing running backs this season.

Bill Callahan stated he would make a commitment to the run game, and he certainly wasn’t lying. Adrian Peterson (RB29) outscored his previous three week scoring total by 6.6 points this past Sunday. Peterson is entrenched as the team’s starter moving forward after 25 touches in Week 6. However, a matchup against the San Francisco 49ers will limit his output this week, as they’ve allowed less than six points per game to opponents’ starting running backs.

Week 7 Fantasy Rankings: Running Back

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