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Which running backs will shine in Week 8 for your fantasy football teams? We’ll take a look at all of them in our PPR rankings.
Welcome to Week 8 of the NFL season. With so many wide receiver injuries and defenses built to stop the passing game, running backs have had a strong first half of the season. This week we saw two of the best, Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry, go off, but catching passes in PPR does help, as well as scoring multiple touchdowns, which is what Jammer Gibbs and Rachaad White did to be RB1 and RB2 in fantasy in Week 7.
Overall, Henry has taken the lead in PPR over Alvin Kamara after Kamara fell off with Derek Carr missing time, while Henry has gone King Mode. You won’t be too surprised by the top PPR running backs this season after Henry and Kamara, as Barkley, Breece Hall, Bijan Robinson, Gibbs, and Kenneth Walker rounding out the Top 8.
Week 8 running back bye weeks
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Week 8 running back injuries
Jonathan Taylor, Colts
Head coach Shane Steichen is optimistic that Taylor will be able to practice this week, per Nate Atkins. I would expect him to be listed as questionable to play the Texans if he can get in limited practices. If he can’t go, Tyler Goodson should get the majority of the running back touches after outplaying Trey Sermon the last couple weeks.
Tyjae Spears, Titans
Spears is dealing with a hamstring injury, but head coach Brian Callahan believes he could potentially return this week against he Lions. TonyPollard has taken the lead role and even with Spears back, he would still be the fantasy play this week.
Jerome Ford, Browns
Ford missed last week’s game due to a hamstring injury. Nick Chubb returned in that game and was able to score a touchdown. Chubb should continue to lead the backfield, but the team will also not want to give him a huge workload in what looks like a lost season. I’d expect Pierre Strong and Ford to get meaningful work behind him moving forward.
Travis Etienne, Jaguars
Etienne is recovering from a hamstring injury and missed Week 7 against the Patriots. He was able to get in some practice time though, which should be a sign that he could return this week against the Packers. If he does, Tank Bigsby should hold onto the early down work, while Etienne would get all the passing down work. That distribution isn’t locked in, but it makes a lot of sense and appears to be the direction they’ve been moving in.
Jonathon Brooks, Panthers
Brooks returned to practice last week, but only practiced on a limited basis for two days. He should start to ramp up for his debut, but the Panthers will likely remain conservative in another last season. Week 9 appears to be the most likely return date for the rookie running back.
Week 8 running back sleepers
Javonte Williams, Broncos vs. Panthers
Williams is coming off his best game of the season in a good matchup with the Saints, but gets an even easier matchup this week against the Panthers. He totaled 11 yards and two touchdowns in that game in New Orleans and now he heads home to meet the team that has allowed the most rushing yards and touchdowns in the league, and by a large margin.
The Panthers are going to have trouble moving the ball on the Broncos defense, which should give the Broncos offense plenty of time to establish the run.
Kareem Hunt, Chiefs vs. Raiders
The Raiders run defense has allowed the ninth-most fantasy points to running backs and rank 26th in DVOA and 28th in EPA against the run. The Chiefs defense is one again playing great football, which has allowed them to give Kareem Hunt 28 and 24 touches over the last two games, his only two starts. Hunt isn’t exactly blowing the doors off of opponents, but he’s playing well enough to accumulate fantasy points with those kinds of workloads. And in this matchup, his ceiling gets higher.
