Fantasy Football: Week 4 RB Rankings

Check out Kevin Hanson's top 65 running backs for Week 4 of the 2019 season.

Kevin Hanson joins SI for the 2019 season. His fantasy rankings have placed him in the Top 20 in each of the past two seasons among all the industry experts tracked by FantasyPros.com, and he has been in the Top 25 in six of the past eight years.

Check out more of Kevin’s rankings: QB, WR, TE, flex, DST and kicker.

RB Start(s) of the Week: Justin Jackson (and Austin Ekeler), Los Angeles Chargers (at MIA)

At this point, Austin Ekeler has become a no-brainer every-week starter as Melvin Gordon continues his holdout, which is ending this week (though he won’t play Sunday).

Given that a trip to South Beach could feel like a vacation for running backs, this may be the week that Justin Jackson also becomes a viable RB2 in fantasy leagues as well. At worst, he’s a solid flex option. Highlighted in my Week 4 early waiver wire column, Jackson is still owned in less than 35% of Yahoo! leagues.

The workload split has certainly favored Ekeler, who has more than double the touches as Jackson (57 to 24) through the first three weeks of the season. Like we saw in Week 3 with the Cowboys, however, there is the potential for two backs to put up big numbers in a blowout against the Dolphins.

The Dolphins have a chance to be historically bad. Through the first three weeks of an NFL season, no team has a worse scoring differential than the Dolphins (-117). Miami is a 16-point home underdog this week.

Miami has allowed three 100-yard rushers including two—Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard—last week. No team has allowed more rushing yards per game (208.0), rushing touchdowns (six) or rush attempts (115) and only Kansas City (6.2) has allowed more yards per carry (5.4).

Jackson has been efficient on his limited workload as he has averaged 7.89 yards per carry. It wouldn’t be a surprise for him to see double-digit carries this week, and if so, he could parlay that into a top-24 performance.

RB Sit of the Week: Sony Michel, New England Patriots (at BUF)

It’s often difficult to rank the Patriots running backs, but it’s hard to trust Sony Michel given how he has performed through the first three weeks of the season. While he has scored in back-to-back games against the Dolphins and Jets, respectively, the second-year back has been inefficient as a runner and a zero as a receiver.

On the season, Michel is averaging just 2.4 yards per carry on his 45 rush attempts. Last week, he had nine carries for just 11 yards (and a touchdown). Meanwhile, Michel has failed to catch his only target on the season.

With James White back and the versatile Rex Burkhead playing better than Michel, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Michel finishes third in the backfield in snaps and/or touches in Week 4. In fact, Burkhead has more rushing yards (112) than Michel (108) despite having roughly half as many carries (24).

Given the difficult matchup—the Bills rank eighth in run defense this season— and the ability for the Patriots to use three backs, Michel remains a TD-dependent play in Week 4.

Week 4 fantasy football running back rankings (half-PPR scoring):

• RB1: Ezekiel Elliott, DAL @ NO
• RB2: Austin Ekeler, LAC @ MIA
• RB3: Christian McCaffrey, CAR @ HOU
• RB4: Alvin Kamara, NO vs DAL
• RB5: Dalvin Cook, MIN @ CHI
• RB6: Derrick Henry, TEN @ ATL
• RB7: David Johnson, ARI vs SEA
• RB8: James Conner, PIT vs CIN
• RB9: Mark Ingram, BAL vs CLE
• RB10: Marlon Mack, IND vs OAK
• RB11: Nick Chubb, CLE @ BAL
• RB12: Chris Carson, SEA @ ARI
• RB13: Todd Gurley, LAR vs TB
• RB14: Leonard Fournette, JAC @ DEN
• RB15: Aaron Jones, GB vs PHI
• RB16: Kerryon Johnson, DET vs KC
• RB17: Joe Mixon, CIN @ PIT
• RB18: Josh Jacobs, OAK @ IND
• RB19: Devonta Freeman, ATL vs TEN
• RB20: Phillip Lindsay, DEN vs JAC
• RB21: LeSean McCoy, KC @ DET
• RB22: James White, NE @ BUF
• RB23: Justin Jackson, LAC @ MIA
• RB24: David Montgomery, CHI vs MIN
• RB25: Wayne Gallman, NYG vs WAS
• RB26: Sony Michel, NE @ BUF
• RB27: Carlos Hyde, HOU vs CAR
• RB28: Miles Sanders, PHI @ GB
• RB29: Royce Freeman, DEN vs JAC
• RB30: Chris Thompson, WAS @ NYG
• RB31: Frank Gore, BUF vs NE
• RB32: Adrian Peterson, WAS @ NYG
• RB33: Peyton Barber, TB @ LAR
• RB34: Duke Johnson, HOU vs CAR
• RB35: Kenyan Drake, MIA vs LAC
• RB36: Rex Burkhead, NE @ BUF
• RB37: Malcolm Brown, LAR vs TB
• RB38: Tarik Cohen, CHI vs MIN
• RB39: Ronald Jones II, TB @ LAR
• RB40: Jordan Howard, PHI @ GB
• RB41: Rashaad Penny, SEA @ ARI
• RB42: Devin Singletary, BUF vs NE
• RB43: Latavius Murray, NO vs DAL
• RB44: Jamaal Williams, GB vs PHI
• RB45: Giovani Bernard, CIN @ PIT
• RB46: Darrel Williams, KC @ DET
• RB47: Jaylen Samuels, PIT vs CIN
• RB48: Dion Lewis, TEN @ ATL
• RB49: Tony Pollard, DAL @ NO
• RB50: Damien Williams, KC @ DET
• RB51: Kalen Ballage, MIA vs LAC
• RB52: Ito Smith, ATL vs TEN
• RB53: Gus Edwards, BAL vs CLE
• RB54: Nyheim Hines, IND vs OAK
• RB55: Alexander Mattison, MIN @ CHI
• RB56: Darren Sproles, PHI @ GB
• RB57: Jalen Richard, OAK @ IND
• RB58: Dare Ogunbowale, TB @ LAR
• RB59: T.J. Yeldon, BUF vs NE
• RB60: Justice Hill, BAL vs CLE
• RB61: C.J. Prosise, SEA @ ARI
• RB62: Mike Davis, CHI vs MIN
• RB63: Ty Johnson, DET vs KC
• RB64: Darwin Thompson, KC @ DET
• RB65: Chase Edmonds, ARI vs SEA

Week 4 fantasy football running back rankings (non-PPR scoring):

• RB1: Ezekiel Elliott, DAL @ NO
• RB2: Austin Ekeler, LAC @ MIA
• RB3: Christian McCaffrey, CAR @ HOU
• RB4: Alvin Kamara, NO vs DAL
• RB5: Derrick Henry, TEN @ ATL
• RB6: Dalvin Cook, MIN @ CHI
• RB7: Marlon Mack, IND vs OAK
• RB8: Mark Ingram, BAL vs CLE
• RB9: David Johnson, ARI vs SEA
• RB10: James Conner, PIT vs CIN
• RB11: Nick Chubb, CLE @ BAL
• RB12: Chris Carson, SEA @ ARI
• RB13: Todd Gurley, LAR vs TB
• RB14: Leonard Fournette, JAC @ DEN
• RB15: Aaron Jones, GB vs PHI
• RB16: Joe Mixon, CIN @ PIT
• RB17: Kerryon Johnson, DET vs KC
• RB18: Josh Jacobs, OAK @ IND
• RB19: Phillip Lindsay, DEN vs JAC
• RB20: Devonta Freeman, ATL vs TEN
• RB21: LeSean McCoy, KC @ DET
• RB22: Sony Michel, NE @ BUF
• RB23: David Montgomery, CHI vs MIN
• RB24: Justin Jackson, LAC @ MIA
• RB25: Wayne Gallman, NYG vs WAS
• RB26: Royce Freeman, DEN vs JAC
• RB27: Carlos Hyde, HOU vs CAR
• RB28: James White, NE @ BUF
• RB29: Miles Sanders, PHI @ GB
• RB30: Frank Gore, BUF vs NE
• RB31: Adrian Peterson, WAS @ NYG
• RB32: Peyton Barber, TB @ LAR
• RB33: Duke Johnson, HOU vs CAR
• RB34: Chris Thompson, WAS @ NYG
• RB35: Kenyan Drake, MIA vs LAC
• RB36: Malcolm Brown, LAR vs TB
• RB37: Rex Burkhead, NE @ BUF
• RB38: Jordan Howard, PHI @ GB
• RB39: Rashaad Penny, SEA @ ARI
• RB40: Ronald Jones II, TB @ LAR
• RB41: Latavius Murray, NO vs DAL
• RB42: Devin Singletary, BUF vs NE
• RB43: Tarik Cohen, CHI vs MIN
• RB44: Jamaal Williams, GB vs PHI
• RB45: Darrel Williams, KC @ DET
• RB46: Gus Edwards, BAL vs CLE
• RB47: Damien Williams, KC @ DET
• RB48: Jaylen Samuels, PIT vs CIN
• RB49: Kalen Ballage, MIA vs LAC
• RB50: Tony Pollard, DAL @ NO
• RB51: Giovani Bernard, CIN @ PIT
• RB52: Ito Smith, ATL vs TEN
• RB53: Dion Lewis, TEN @ ATL
• RB54: Alexander Mattison, MIN @ CHI
• RB55: Nyheim Hines, IND vs OAK
• RB56: Dare Ogunbowale, TB @ LAR
• RB57: Justice Hill, BAL vs CLE
• RB58: Darren Sproles, PHI @ GB
• RB59: Jalen Richard, OAK @ IND
• RB60: Mike Davis, CHI vs MIN
• RB61: T.J. Yeldon, BUF vs NE
• RB62: Jordan Wilkins, IND vs OAK
• RB63: Darwin Thompson, KC @ DET
• RB64: DeAndre Washington, OAK @ IND
• RB65: Chase Edmonds, ARI vs SEA

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