Fantasy Football: Top 15 running backs to target in 2020
By Shade Piper
In the continuing of our fantasy football series, let’s take a look at the top 15 running backs to target in 2020.
Recently at KC Kingdom, we looked at quarterbacks, tight ends, sleepers, and defenses/special teams to target in fantasy football this season. We are now getting into some of the more fun positions and will look at some of the best quarterback options here.
Today we get into the guys you really want to target with your early-round draft picks. Running back is a very important position in fantasy football. It is where you’re going to get a big portion of your points week in and week out, so you really need to nail this position group if you have championship aspirations.
This year the running back position, at least fantasy-wise, seems pretty shallow. Once you get to around RB15 or so you’re getting into some real risk and/or the dreaded running back by committee guys.
The reason why the position seems so shallow in fantasy this season is actually due to the abundance of running back talent in the league currently. The back half of the running back rankings this year are littered with running back by committee options, which if can be avoided is typically your best bet.
This year specifically, getting a couple of top 15 running backs is a strategy really worth pursuing even if that means missing out on a top wide receiver.
Not to spoil too much about the top 15 in these rankings, but once you get past 15 you’re getting into guys with high injury risk like Todd Gurley, David Johnson, and James Conner and a lot of running back by committees like Nick Chubb–Kareem Hunt, Melvin Gordon–Phillip Lindsay, Mark Ingram–J.K. Dobbins, etc. So that is why these top 15 guys are key this year.
Also before getting into this list, I would like to add that in the making of this list a new strategy was applied. This year I decided to do stat predictions for the top 10 running backs in order to rank them mainly due to a couple of guys with imminent touchdown regressions or increases among other reasons.
These predicted stats will be discussed once we get to the top 10, but first, let’s begin with 15.