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Matt's running back (RB) fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks for Week 18 of 2025. His RB lineups advice for Week 18 fantasy football start/sit decisions.
Whether you play DFS or hope to win your fantasy football championship this week, you need to cut through the noise. Ask: Which teams have something to play for? Which players have something to prove?
When looking at this week's starts and sits at the running back position, I am looking to start players on teams still jostling for playoff position rather than those whose season has come to an end, with one exception.
With last week's standouts and surprises fresh in mind, let’s turn to your key RotoBaller running back start/sit decisions for Week 18. Let’s set those lineups with confidence.
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Week 18 - Potential Fantasy Football Booms
Kyren Williams and Blake Corum - RB, Los Angeles Rams vs Arizona Cardinals
Insert either Rams running back here. Before facing the Falcons to close out Week 17, Kyren Williams and Blake Corum had a fairly even backfield split. Since Week 12, Williams has 52.8% of the Rams' carries (76 attempts) and 10 targets. Corum has 51 rushing attempts and three targets in that span.
The volume still leans in favor of Williams, but the efficiency suggests there is enough here for both backs to be successful. From a fantasy lens, Corum's 68.8 fantasy points (13.8 fantasy points per game) over the last five games is a microscopic difference in comparison to Williams’s 70 fantasy points (14.0 fantasy points per game). Breaking it down, Corum had five touchdown runs in his previous five contests, whereas Williams hit paydirt on four occasions, each averaging 70 or more rushing yards per game.
Touchdown Blake Corum! 💪#ProBlue | NFL+ https://t.co/8YFKbq32K6 pic.twitter.com/4b1JCcLqqI
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) December 7, 2025
Fantasy managers can rarely trust two backs from the same backfield. This is one of those unique cases due to their usage and success. Both face a favorable matchup. The Cardinals have allowed 32.6 fantasy points per game and nine touchdowns to backs over the last six games. The last time the Rams faced the Cardinals, Williams had a touchdown and 84 yards rushing on 13 carries while Corum churned out 128 yards on 12 carries and a pair of touchdown runs.
Chase Brown - RB, Cincinnati Bengals vs Cleveland Browns
I really fought the urge to bench Chase Brown after he did me dirty in the finale of the Kings Classic last week. Anyone who has followed along in the RotoBaller Discord from the beginning of the season to this point knows I’ve been in Brown’s corner since Day 1. So it was only fitting that Brown ended my championship aspirations with that 29.1-point performance.
Brown turned things around in Week 8 and hasn’t looked back. In the past 10 weeks, only Christian McCaffrey and Jahmyr Gibbs have outscored Brown’s 21.5 fantasy points per game at running back. Brown’s 962 scrimmage yards rank ninth, and his nine touchdowns are sixth. Fantasy football is a "what have you done for me lately" business, and five touchdowns in the last two weeks have made fantasy managers forget about those seven weeks to start the season.
Chase Brown extends the Cincy lead!
AZvsCIN on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/V6upsl16nm
— NFL (@NFL) December 28, 2025
Cleveland started the season as strong as any team in terms of defending the run. Even as we speak, the 114.8 rushing yards per game they are currently allowing rank 14th. However, over the last three games, that number has spiked to 145.7 rushing yards per contest, and since Week 12, Cleveland has allowed 679 rushing yards, 172 receiving yards, and nine total touchdowns in six contests. That works out to 27.2 fantasy points per game, the third-most.
Bucky Irving - RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Carolina Panthers
It will be interesting to see if all is forgiven in Tampa, as many saw the back-and-forth between Bucky Irving, Tristan Wirfs, and the Buccaneers' offensive line last week in Miami. Assuming cooler heads have since prevailed, Irving is in a great spot to close out the fantasy season against a Panthers defense that has been surrendering 26.9 fantasy points per game to opposing running backs over the previous five contests.
In those five contests, the Panthers have allowed 613 rushing yards on 126 rushing attempts (4.87 yards per carry) along with seven rushing scores. Carolina has also been guilty of allowing 133 receiving yards on 13 receptions, pushing that fantasy mark to the fourth-highest over that stretch.
Both teams need a win to claim the division and a playoff spot. The Bucs need Irving and their run game to step up. Last week, Irving was frustrated after his nine carries for 19 yards. He’ll look to match what Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet did against Carolina, when they combined for 161 yards and two scores on 33 attempts.
Week 18 - Potential Fantasy Football Busts
RJ Harvey - RB, Denver Broncos vs Los Angeles Chargers
With a running back of Harvey's skill set, it’s not all about rushing upside. Harvey offers fantasy managers production in the passing game that is often too hard to ignore. However, as good as the Chargers have been in limiting production on the ground, they’ve been just as good when it comes to shutting down backs out of the backfield in the passing game.
Over the Chargers' last five games, they’ve held opposing backs to 362 rushing yards (52.4 per game). They’ve also allowed just 11 catches for 54 yards. That’s 83.2 total yards and 11.7 fantasy points per game dating to Week 12, the lowest in the NFL.
Omarion Hampton - RB, Los Angeles Chargers at Denver Broncos
Sticking with the Broncos and Chargers contest, Omarion Hampton of the Chargers also finds himself on the fantasy sidelines, along with Harvey. These are two of the top 10 run defenses in the NFL, facing off one another as the Broncos allow just 89.7 rushing yards per game while the Chargers concede 104.7 per contest.
Much like the Chargers' defensive front, the Broncos have been nearly as good at defending both the run and the pass. Since Week 12, the Broncos have allowed opposing backs to average 67.3 yards per game on the ground while surrendering 56 receiving yards on 15 receptions. Hampton is in a slightly better spot than Harvey, but 16.9 fantasy points per game allowed, that’s the third-fewest since Week 12, and that can not be ignored.
Also working against Hampton this week is the fact that the Chargers will rest Justin Herbert in an attempt to make sure he is as close to 100% before the Chargers enter the playoffs. That means Trey Lance will assume the quarterbacking duties in this one, which could lead to the Broncos stacking the box with more frequency than usual.
Travis Etienne Jr. - RB, Jacksonville Jaguars vs Tennessee Titans
Among running backs with at least 10 games under their belt this season, Travis Etienne Jr. is perched as the RB11 in fantasy, averaging 15.6 fantasy points per game, and since Week 9, the 17.5 fantasy points per game he has averaged are the eighth-highest over that eight-game sample. In fact, only once in those eight contests has Etienne failed to top 11 fantasy points.
So why is Etienne a sit in Week 18, when the Jaguars have an opportunity to clinch home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs? There is nothing the Tennessee Titans would love more than to take all that away from the Jaguars, and the Titans' defense can negate Etienne from the game plan.
Let’s not forget, the one game in which Etienne failed to break the 11-point fantasy threshold came against this Titans team back in Week 13, when Tennessee limited the Jaguars back to 41 yards of total offense on 13 touches (5.1 fantasy points).
Over the Titans’ previous six contests, they have held opposing backs to 408 yards rushing (3.68 yards per carry) and 18.3 fantasy points per game, the fifth-fewest.
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