Fantasy Football Week 17: Start These 10 Running Backs

By Vincent Frank on Thursday, December 27th 2012
Fantasy Football Week 17: Start These 10 Running Backs

The fantasy football season might have ended for a vast majority of us, but that won't stop eDraft from actually helping out those who have to rely on a Week 17 win in order to grab the championship. The good news for owners who had to wait for the final week to hoist a trophy is that each and every team in the playoff race outside of the Atlanta Falcons have something to play for in the final week of the season. 

This means that every RB1 option should be available and ready for a start. Today's article is going to focus on 10 that you really need to consider throwing out there with everything on the line. 

 

Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings

Peterson needs 208 yards in order to break Eric Dickerson's single-season record for rushing yards. While this is going to be a difficult task going up against the Green Bay Packers, it is important to note that he tallied 210 yards against Green Bay just a few short week ago. 

At this point it is nearly impossible to discount what Peterson has done in 2012. He leads the NFL in rushing, over 400 yards ahead of Arian Foster. He has dominated good fronts and beaten some of the best defenses the league has to offer. I am expecting another 150-plus yards and a score Sunday against Green Bay. 

 

C.J. Spiller, Buffalo Bills

Last week, Spiller gained 138 yards against a Miami Dolphins rush defense that had yielded only one 100-yard rusher in the first 15 weeks of the season. He is now going up against a New York Jets defense that ranks 27th against the rush. Now that Spiller is the Bills clear No. 1 running back with the injury to Fred Jackson, there is no reason to believe that Spiller won't end the 2012 season on a high note. 

 

Arian Foster, Houston Texans

Some might expect Foster to be slowing down by now. After all, he has touched the ball a total of 373 times this season. Additionally, he left Houston's Week 16 loss to the Minnesota Vikings with an irregular heartbeat. 

Don't fret, Foster will be rearing and ready to go against an Indianapolis Colts rush defense that has given up over 500 yards on the ground over the last two games. With the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC on the line, you can expect Foster to get a ton of touches as long as the game is close, which it promises to be. Look for at least 17 fantasy points here. 

 

Frank Gore, San Francisco 49ers

I can guarantee one thing: Frank Gore will touch the ball more than six times this week. The 2013 Pro Bowler never became the integral part of San Francisco's offense that I expected heading into its Week 16 destruction at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks. With the NFC West and quite possible the No. 2 seed in the conference up for grabs, Gore will play a much larger role here. 

In addition, Gore is going up against a 28th ranked Arizona Cardinals rush defense that has yielded at least 150 rushing yards in four of their last five games. Expect a huge game here from Gore. 

 

Doug Martin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

While Martin has struggled (88 rushing yards and 15 fantasy points) in the last two games, he is still the No. 3 fantasy running back behind Adrian Peterson and Arian Foster. Simply amazing for a rookie running back. Some may conclude that his recent lack of success as it relates to fantasy production it due to being worn down after 15 NFL games, but that couldn't be further from the truth. He was nothing more than a victim of circumstance in terms of Tampa Bay's inability to jump on its opponent early. 

The Buccaneers now take on an Atlanta Falcons team without much to play for. This leads me to believe that they're going to be resting a lot of their starters for a majority of the game. Working under that assumption, I have come to the obvious conclusion that Martin will end 2012 with a bang. 

 

Alfred Morris, Washington Redskins

2012 might be the year of the rookie quarterbacks, but first-year running backs have been damn good as well. Morris ranks seventh at his position in fantasy points and is second to only Martin among running backs. He also has an ability to help Washington make the postseason. After starting out the season strong, the Dallas Cowboys have struggled a great deal against the run. They have yielded at least 100 yards on the ground in nine of their last 11 games. 

 

Marshawn Lynch, Seattle Seahawks

Lynch is averaging nearly 22 fantasy points in his last three games and now ranks second in the NFL in rushing yards behind Adrian Peterson. This recent dominance may help Seattle make a strong push in the postseason come January. That being said, they still have something to accomplish in Week 17. If Arizona does beat San Francisco in Candlestick, a highly unlikely scenario, Seattle has a shot at earning the No. 3 seed in the NFC. The interesting aspect about this is that Seattle and San Francisco will be playing at the same exact time on Sunday. This means that the Seahawks are going to be playing their starters a vast majority of the time. 

If so, Lynch is an obvious choice to be a top tier RB1 option this week. No running back outside of Peterson has produced more fantasy points than Lynch in the last four weeks. Don't expect that trend to change against the St. Louis Rams come Sunday afternoon. 

 

Stevan Ridley, New England Patriots

Ridley's production has dropped off a great deal recently. In fact, he has less fantasy points (8.7) in his last two games combined than he had in any of his previous six outings. A lot of this has to do with the fact that Tom Brady has put the ball up a great deal (106 attempts) in his last two games. Expect New England to try and find a bit more balance this week against the Miami Dolphins with a lot riding on the game. I am looking for a nice amount of touches for Ridley here. 

 

DeMarco Murray, Dallas Cowboys

Murray's fourth quarter fumble last week against the New Orleans Saints may have cost Dallas the game, but his team surely knows that it needs him in order to defeat the Washington Redskins and capture the NFC East on Sunday Night Football. Prior to tallying just seven points against New Orleans last week, Murray had put up an averaging 15 fantasy points since returning from injury. 

 

Knowshon Moreno, Denver Broncos

Moreno is averaging 120 total yards per game since Willis McGahee went down with a season-ending knee injury. It is the first time in his career that Moreno has acted as a true starting running back in the NFL. It isn't a coincidence that he is doing this with Peyton Manning under center either. The future Hall of Fame quarterback seems to make all of his running backs better than they actually are. 

Denver goes up against a Kansas City Chiefs rush defense that has given up an average of over 150 yards in their last four games and ranks 26th in the NFL. 

 

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