Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings Week 2: What Should You Do With Christian McCaffrey And Kaelon Black?

We are already heading towards Week 2 of the fantasy football season, and Week 1 gave us a ton of new information. We learned a lot about the running backs: some good things and other not-so-good things.

This is the most important position to nail down and one of the trickiest, especially early in the season when we still aren't sure how backfields are going to shake out. We want to react to what we saw in Week 1 without overreacting. These are our fantasy football Week 2 running back rankings.

Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions

Gibbs has to be in the top spot regardless of matchup until further notice. The volume he saw in Week 1 was insane. He carried the ball 29 times and was targeted five times in the passing game. He finished the Lions' season opener against the New Orleans Saints with 186 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns.

We don't know how long he can keep up that kind of workload, but we are rolling with him for as long as he can. He could be in line for a historic fantasy season.

Kenneth Walker III, Kansas City Chiefs

No matter how good you thought Walker would be with the Chiefs, he was better on Monday Night Football. He absolutely dominated a Denver Broncos defense that is supposed to be one of, if not the, best defenses in the league.

Walker carried the ball 23 times for 173 yards and a touchdown, for 7.5 yards per carry, and caught three of his six targets for 18 yards and another touchdown. He could have kept going, but the Chiefs were dominating the Broncos to the point that they were able to rest Walker and some of their other starters in the fourth quarter. That's in a game where Patrick Mahomes completed just 15 passes for 184 yards.

This offense is going to run through Walker, and that is great news for fantasy owners. We have him locked in as a top-five fantasy option this week against the Indianapolis Colts, who allowed Derrick Henry to rush for 144 yards and three touchdowns in Week 1.

Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

After what we saw last week, we have McCaffrey 10 spots below consensus, even in a projected great matchup against the Miami Dolphins. With CMC dealing with mysterious injuries and Kaelon Black handling more carries than him in Week 1, we don't trust that the volume will be there.

He should still do well against the Dolphins, but he's not a locked-in RB1 for us in Week 2. On the other side of the coin, Black could be an interesting flex option in this matchup.

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