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Which running back will shine in Week 4 for your fantasy football teams? We’ll take a look at all of them in our PPR rankings.
Welcome to Week 4 of the NFL season. Below here I’ll take you through my PPR running back rankings. But before we get there, let’s take a quick look at where the running backs stand in fantasy through three weeks.
Right now there is a pretty big gap between the top two backs, Saquon Barkley and Alvin Kamara, who have averaged 28.1 and 27.2 PPR points per game, while in third place, De’Von Achane and Kyren Williams are tied at 20.4. Breece Hall and James Cook round out the 20 point PPR or more running backs so far this season.
Those are nice numbers, especially when you consider only four wide receivers are over 20 PPR points per game and three quarterbacks. If you were to redraft your fantasy team this week, it would be difficult not to put Barkley as your No. 1. The man is getting premium usage all over the field and isn’t losing goal line work to Jalen Hurts.
Week 4 running back injuries
Kenneth Walker, Seahawks
Walker wasn’t able to practice or play in Week 3 due to an abdominal injury. His status remains unclear heading into Week 4, but he has not be placed on I.R., so the team must believe he will return in one of the next two games. But, as long as he’s out, Zach Charbonnet remains a good fantasy play.
Joe Mixon, Texans
Mixon is dealing with an ankle sprain and didn’t practice last week, but was listed as doubtful before not traveling with the team to Minnesota. We’ll need to see him get in a full day of work at practice before we can feel good about him playing. Cam Akers was his backup last week with Dameon Pierce also out. Akers did very little on offense in a blowout, but he did find the end zone. We’ll want to keep an eye on both Pierce and Mixon this week as the team gets ready to host the Jaguars.
Raheem Mostert, Dolphins
Mostert is dealing with a chest injury that has kept him out the last two weeks. He told reporters last week that he was targeting Week 4 to return. We’ll see how he does in practice this week, but the loss of Too Tagovailoa to I.R. is not going to be an easy loss to overcome for the offense and its fantasy players.
Jaylen Warren, Steelers
Warren was removed from last week’s game due to a knee injury and is questionable to suit up this week. Najee Harris was dealing with a shoulder injury, but Mike Tomlin said it wasn’t something that would keep him out this week. So Harris should remain the lead back, but if Warren misses, we’d see more Cordarrelle Patterson as well.
Austin Ekeler, Commanders
Ekeler suffered a concussion on Monday night, which makes his turnaround to be cleared tough. If he can’t suit up against the Cardinals, Brian Robinson should see a bump in work and remain a strong play this week.
Week 4 running back sleepers
Devin Singletary, Giants vs. Cowboys
The Cowboys have been absolutely swamped by opposing running backs this season. Alvin Kamara and Derrick Henry have put up six touchdowns against them, while even Jerome Ford got into the action scoring one in Week 1. They’ve allowed the second-worst yards per carry at 5.4 per attempt and the most total yards to the position. Now they get a running back in Singletary who has been playing extremely well this season. Just last week he had his best game against a usually great Browns defense, putting up over 100 total yards and a touchdown.
Jerome Ford, Browns at Raiders
Ford hasn’t done a whole lot this season and it looked like he was going to be overtaken by D’Onta Foreman in Week 2, but he regained his RB1 status in Week 3 and is now set up in a cushy matchup with the Raiders weak run defense. The Raiders have allowed 5.6 yards per carry to opposing running backs along with the third-most fantasy points to the position. Last week Chubba Hubbard rushed 21 times for 114 yards and caught five passes for 55 more yards and a touchdown in a blow out. We likely won’t get that kind of game script, but this should be a close game where Ford is needed throughout.
