Fantasy Football: Top 15 running backs to target in 2020
By Shade Piper
![BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - SEPTEMBER 14: Clyde Edwards-Helaire #22 of the LSU Tigers runs with the ball during a game against the Northwestern State Demons at Tiger Stadium on September 14, 2019 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - SEPTEMBER 14: Clyde Edwards-Helaire #22 of the LSU Tigers runs with the ball during a game against the Northwestern State Demons at Tiger Stadium on September 14, 2019 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/1f4514e2ab609a7e03d47c7bf8d8c3ffcc2bfe97eac348ce15ae0b2008307f54.jpg)
Fantasy Football Running Backs to Target – Number 2: Saquon Barkley
Running Back. New York Giants. Saquon Barkley. 2. player. 31.
Saquon Barkley missed 3 games last season and was still able to produce a top 10 fantasy season. He was on schedule to have a good season on the ground, but a slightly less effective receiving season than his rookie season.
For Barkley’s predicted stats, we will simply extrapolate his 13 games from last season out to a 16 game season. In doing this, we get 1,234 rush yards and seven rush touchdowns. Since he wasn’t on pace to quite match his rookie receiving stats, extrapolating them out didn’t quite do justice for what Barkley should do through the air this season.
Instead of extrapolation, let’s just say he will have similar receiving stats to his rookie season at about 90 receptions, 700 receiving yards, and four more touchdowns through the air.
The 11 total touchdowns seem a little light for him and he could vastly improve upon his rookie receiving numbers.
Just to be safe, we will leave it where it’s at, but look at this as Barkley’s floor because he could easily surpass these stats this year if healthy. These predicted stats come out to be 304.4, which is good for RB2 in these rankings and should be in fantasy this season as well.
If you’re lucky enough to get the second pick, there’s only one guy you should take over Barkley and he comes in at one.