Fantasy Football Week 7 Running Back Preview: Waiver adds, deep stashes, starts, sits, and more

We say this every year, but it's true again in 2024: It's been a really strange year. One of the things I've noticed the past couple of weeks is the number of players we think are going to play but don't. Or vice versa. It happened again with James Cook on Monday night. There have been far more instances of us adding or removing players from the rankings on Friday or Saturday than we're accustomed to. That was fresh on my mind when doing running back rankings this week. The reason why is Javonte Williams.

Williams' Broncos play the Saints on Thursday night football, and he serves as an inflection point in the rankings. That's because guys like Austin Ekeler, Ray Davis, Antonio Gibson, Alexander Mattison, and Tyrone Tracy all project for more Fantasy points than Williams. But they could all be negatively impacted by a player returning from injury this week, and we won't know that by Thursday night, most likely. 

What this means is that you will see a big difference between my projections, which assume certain players are out for this week, and my rankings, which are more of a reflection of who I would start in a certain situation. Of course, who you should start should ultimately be determined by you, your risk tolerance, and what your backup options are should an injury change. As always, the rankings and projections get updated throughout the week, so don't make any final decisions based on what you see Tuesday afternoon.

As for Williams himself, this should be a great place to get going. The Saints are banged up on a short week and just made Sean Tucker and Bucky Irving look like Jim Brown and Nick Chubb, giving up 297 yards and three touchdowns to the duo. Speaking of Chubb, we're expecting him back this week, but he'll also rank behind Williams until he's officially activated.

Now, let's get to the rest of the Week 7 RB Preview:

Week 7 RB Preview

The following players are not being projected to play Week 7 at this time. Here's what it means:

• 136 -- Sean Tucker ran for 136 yards on 14 carries in Week 6. Rachaad White ran for 187 yards on 51 carries the first five weeks of the season. 
• 15.6% -- Breece Hall ranks third amongst all running backs with a 15.6% target share. That may decrease with the addition of Davante Adams.
• 1 -- Tank Bigsby only has one target on the season. Even with Travis Etienne likely out, it's hard to get too excited about Bigsby in full PPR. D'Ernest Johnson will have a role.
• 11 -- J.K. Dobbins has 11 rushes of 12 yards or more, only Derrick Henry and Jordan Mason have more.
• 4.04 -- Tony Pollard is averaging 4.04 yards after contact per rush, the second-highest mark in the league. With Tyjae Spears out, Pollard is ranked in the top 12 again.
• 2 -- Jeremy McNichols only had two touches in Week 6. If Brian Robinson is out again, we're going right back to Austin Ekeler.
• 57.5% -- Ray Davis had a 57.5% opportunity share in Week 6. He's a must-start if James Cook is out.
• 3.0 -- The Ravens are allowing a league-low 3.0 yards per carry. It will be tough sledding for the Tampa Bay backs this week.

My full set of Week 7 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. You'll find them here. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 7. Projected stats for all starting running backs are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.