Every week of fantasy football presents its own wrinkle. Some weeks, some of the better guys have less-than-desirable matchups. Some weeks, there are a lot of byes. Some weeks, there are a lot of injuries.
This week, you have every last problem possible. Matt Forte is hurt. Le'Veon Bell and Jamaal Charles and Arian Foster are done for the year. Six teams are on bye. For the most part, the guys we would use in their stead are not facing the greatest of matchups.
Can I interest you in a Kendall Gaskins?
To illustrate the problem this week: A story. Those of us who do rankings each week have a spreadsheet in which we all work. We also have an email chain that we use to: a) gripe about how impossible rankings are, and b) announce if we've added a name to the spreadsheet. Tuesday, one of our rankers, John Daigle, announced that he added David Cobb to this week's spreadsheet, despite little indication that the Tennessee Titans plan to activate Cobb in time for Sunday's game.
I was intrigued, so I inquired:
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/4228267/Ranks.0.jpg)
It went on from there, and started to include bad words.
I don't have any big "But!" coming. This week is awful. If you can run your regular running backs out there with no issue, or if your good players made it through last week healthy, consider yourself lucky.
This is the season's only week with six byes. It comes at an awful time. Good luck.
With that, on to our Week 9 running back rankings for standard leagues.
Running backs for standard leagues, Week 9
(DK: Daniel Kelley; DC: Dan Ciarrocchi; AM: Andrew Miller; JD: John Daigle; SK: Scott Kaliska. Arizona, Baltimore, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City and Seattle are on bye.)
| Rk | Consensus | Tm | Opp. | DK | DC | AM | JD | SK |
| 1 | Todd Gurley | STL | @MIN | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Devonta Freeman | ATL | @SF | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Adrian Peterson | MIN | STL | 4 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | Mark Ingram | NO | TEN | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | Chris Ivory | NYJ | JAC | 6 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| 5 | Doug Martin | TB | NYG | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 7 | LeSean McCoy | BUF | MIA | 8 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 9 |
| 8 | Jeremy Hill | CIN | CLE | 9 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 7 |
| 9 | Lamar Miller | MIA | @BUF | 15 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 8 |
| 10 | Latavius Murray | OAK | @PIT | 12 | 9 | 15 | 11 | 11 |
| 11 | Dion Lewis | NE | WAS | 14 | 8 | 18 | 9 | 10 |
| 12 | Jonathan Stewart | CAR | GB | 13 | 10 | 17 | 12 | 12 |
| 13 | DeAngelo Williams | PIT | OAK | 11 | 17 | 9 | 15 | 13 |
| 14 | DeMarco Murray | PHI | @DAL | 10 | 14 | 13 | 17 | 16 |
| 15 | Darren McFadden | DAL | PHI | 21 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 15 |
| 16 | Eddie Lacy | GB | @CAR | 7 | 19 | 19 | 16 | 14 |
| 17 | Ronnie Hillman | DEN | @IND | 16 | 18 | 7 | 18 | 18 |
| 18 | Danny Woodhead | SD | CHI | 17 | 15 | 14 | 20 | 19 |
| 19 | LeGarrette Blount | NE | WAS | 23 | 16 | 20 | 14 | 17 |
| 20 | Giovani Bernard | CIN | CLE | 20 | 21 | 21 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | T.J.Yeldon | JAC | @NYJ | 18 | 25 | 16 | 24 | 24 |
| 22 | Jeremy Langford | CHI | @SD | 22 | 24 | 22 | 22 | 21 |
| 23 | C.J. Anderson | DEN | @IND | 19 | 23 | 24 | 23 | 23 |
| 24 | Frank Gore | IND | DEN | 27 | 20 | 26 | 21 | 22 |
| 25 | Duke Johnson Jr. | CLE | @CIN | 24 | 26 | 23 | 27 | 27 |
| 26 | Melvin Gordon | SD | CHI | 33 | 22 | 33 | 25 | 25 |
| 27 | Antonio Andrews | TEN | @NO | 31 | 27 | 35 | 25 | 26 |
| 28 | Charles Sims | TB | NYG | 25 | 31 | 32 | 28 | 30 |
| 29 | Ryan Mathews | PHI | @DAL | 29 | 34 | 27 | 29 | 28 |
| 30 | Shane Vereen | NYG | @TB | 38 | 28 | 25 | 30 | 29 |
| 31 | James Starks | GB | @CAR | 34 | 32 | 29 | 33 | 34 |
| 32 | C.J. Spiller | NO | TEN | 28 | 33 | 37 | 34 | 33 |
| 33 | Karlos Williams | BUF | MIA | 26 | 41 | 28 | 37 | 35 |
| 34 | Matt Jones | WAS | @NE | 41 | 30 | 34 | 32 | 31 |
| 35 | Rashad Jennings | NYG | @TB | 32 | 36 | 40 | 31 | 32 |
| 36 | Orleans Darkwa | NYG | @TB | -- | 29 | 30 | 36 | 36 |
| 36 | Alfred Morris | WAS | @NE | 35 | 35 | 36 | 38 | 38 |
| 38 | Kendall Gaskins | SF | ATL | 30 | 38 | 31 | 46 | 45 |
| 39 | Isaiah Crowell | CLE | @CIN | 44 | 37 | 38 | 35 | 37 |
| 40 | Dexter McCluster | TEN | @NO | 37 | 43 | 42 | 42 | 40 |
| 41 | Darren Sproles | PHI | @DAL | 39 | 44 | 46 | 39 | 39 |
| 42 | Tevin Coleman | ATL | @SF | 49 | 39 | 47 | 40 | 41 |
| 42 | Ahmad Bradshaw | IND | DEN | -- | 40 | 39 | 43 | 43 |
| 44 | Christine Michael | DAL | PHI | 45 | 50 | 45 | 41 | 42 |
| 45 | Robert Turbin | CLE | @CIN | 46 | 42 | 48 | 45 | 46 |
| 45 | Chris Thompson | WAS | @NE | 43 | 45 | -- | 44 | 44 |
| 47 | Pierre Thomas | SF | ATL | 36 | -- | 50 | 47 | 47 |
| 48 | Taiwan Jones | OAK | @PIT | 47 | 46 | 41 | -- | -- |
| 48 | Mike Tolbert | CAR | GB | 42 | 47 | 49 | 49 | 49 |
| 50 | Jonas Gray | MIA | @BUF | 40 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | Denard Robinson | JAC | @NYJ | -- | -- | 43 | -- | -- |
| -- | Tre Mason | STL | @MIN | -- | -- | 44 | -- | -- |
| -- | Zac Stacy | NYJ | JAC | 48 | 48 | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | David Cobb | TEN | @NO | -- | -- | -- | 48 | -- |
| -- | Bishop Sankey | TEN | @NO | -- | -- | -- | -- | 48 |
| -- | Marcel Reece | OAK | @PIT | -- | 49 | -- | -- | 50 |
| -- | Shaun Draughn | SF | ATL | 50 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | Andre Williams | NYG | @TB | -- | -- | -- | 50 | -- |
* * *
SB Nation presents: NFL Week 9 fantasy football waiver wire targets