What You Need To Know - Top 10 Running Back Rankings Including Saquon Barkley, Jaylen Warren, Christian McCaffrey, and more

November 20, 2023

The top ranked running back fantasy football scorers - are these RB trade targets, risers and sleepers from Week 11 of 2023? Kyle reacts to the best fantasy RB performances and how to best assess your squads for the rest of the 2023 fantasy season.

After Week 10 left us without several high-powered offenses in action, as the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins, and Philadelphia Eagles were all out. Now that all four offenses have returned, we are all hopefully in for a treat on Monday Night Football with the Chiefs playing the Eagles. With how brutal the NFL's primetime schedule has been, they definitely owe us one. Here in Week 11, we have just three weeks left until the start of the fantasy football playoffs.

Week 11 saw Ravens RB Gus Edwards continue his impressive 2023 season as well as Giants RB Saquon Barkley having another solid performance in an upset victory. We also had another week of both Detroit Lions running backs finding the end zone and of course, the week wouldn't be complete without 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey scoring a TD.

Week 11 featured the Atlanta Falcons, Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, and New Orleans Saints all on a bye. The good news is no teams will be on a bye during Week 12. Here are the top 10 RBs based on half-PPR fantasy scores in Week 11 (excluding Monday Night Football). For those of you who are in need of some real-time stats, bookmark our live fantasy scoreboard to your browser. You'll get live updates, top performances, and more -- because who doesn't basically want some nonstop live fantasy action?

Top 10 Running Backs Of The Week

Here are the top 10 running backs from Week 11 of the 2023 NFL season in half-PPR scoring:

1. Saquon Barkley, New York Giants

After missing time earlier this year with an ankle injury, Saquon returned to form on Sunday with 14 rushes for 83 yards on top of four receptions for 57 yards and two TDs. The Giants beat the Commanders 31-19 after losing seven of their last eight games. There is still some concern about the Giants potentially shutting some of their stars like Barkley down at the end of the season if the season doesn't turn around, but at least for today, we can relish in Barkley looking like his old self. The Giants will play the Patriots in Week 12 before heading into their Week 13 bye.

2. Jaylen Warren, Pittsburgh Steelers

Seriously, how did Warren end up playing his college ball at Snow Community College in Utah? He went undrafted in 2022 but has carved out a nice role for himself in the Pittsburgh offense and seems to have overtaken RB Najee Harris. On Sunday against the Browns, Warren had nine rushes for 129 yards and one TD on top of having three receptions for 16 yards. His best play of the day came on a 74-yard scamper where he got past several defenders and took it to the house. It's still hard to get excited about the Steelers' offense at this point, but Warren has proven himself to be a very capable player.

3. Gus Edwards, Baltimore Ravens

Despite having just two receptions for eight yards, the Gus Bus rolled on in Thursday Night Football in Week 11. In his last five games, Edwards has rushed for nine touchdowns! Edwards tallied 12 rushes for 62 yards and two TDs in this one. Rookie RB Keaton Mitchell has started to become more involved in the offense, but the bulk of all goal-line carries belonged to Edwards. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson hasn't been running it on the ground as much as years past and it's opened things up for Edwards to have more rushing TDs.

4. Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

For the eighth time this season, CMC has finished as an RB9 or better for fantasy. Even in his worst games, CMC was at least the RB15, just incredible! He's easily been the fantasy MVP of the 2023 NFL season and the 49ers play the Seahawks here in Week 12 on Thanksgiving Night. CMC will only have three days rest, but should still perform nonetheless. On Sunday against the Bucs, CMC rushed 21 times for 78 yards and had five receptions for 25 yards and one TD. He's just been on an incredible run this season.

5. Devin Singletary, Houston Texans

After Dameon Pierce has struggled mightily in 2023 to cement his place as the RB1 in the Texans backfield, Singletary has had 52 rush attempts over the last two weeks. On Sunday in a win over the Arizona Cardinals, Singletary rushed 22 times for 112 yards and one TD. He also had two receptions for six yards. Houston's offense has greatly exceeded expectations this season and it's hard not to be excited thinking about what we could potentially get from Singletary the rest of the way.

6. Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions

For the fourth straight game, Gibbs has finished as an RB7 or better for fantasy. While he didn't get anywhere near as many carries in Week 11, it still didn't matter. Jahmyr finished with eight rushes for 36 yards and one TD, but where his fantasy value lies is as a receiver with six receptions for 59 yards. Despite the potential volume concerns with David Montgomery back healthy, Gibbs has the ability to be ultra-efficient with touches even if they're less frequent than they were when Monty was out.

7. Joe Mixon, Cincinnati Bengals

Just when it felt like the Bengals offense was finally back in top gear again, QB Joe Burrow went down with a season-ending injury. This is unfortunately a big blow to Mixon's fantasy value as it's hard to expect Cincinnati to be as potent of an offensive weapon, but nonetheless, Mixon looked good on TNF. He rushed 16 times for 69 yards and had five receptions for 31 yards and one TD. If you are unable to sell-high on Mixon if your league's trade deadline has passed you are probably just stuck playing him at this point.

8. James Cook, Buffalo Bills

After all the hoopla in Buffalo this week after offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey was let go, Cook tied his season-high with 17 carries in a game where he rushed for 73 yards and had three receptions for 29 yards and one TD. Cook has found the end zone just three times this season and could be a positive regression candidate the rest of the way. The Bills have a brutal schedule coming up for fantasy with the Eagles in Week 12.

9. David Montgomery, Detroit Lions

If this holds after Monday Night Football, the Lions will have had both of their RBs finish as Top Ten backs for the second week in a row! Monty had 12 rushes for 76 yards and one TD on top of having two receptions for 22 yards. This was a revenge game of sorts for Montgomery, who was squaring off against his former NFL team. As mentioned with Gibbs, in this offense it's very realistic that both RBs can be viewed as RB1s the rest of the way.

10. Brian Robinson Jr., Washington Commanders

After a solid Week 10 outing, Robinson had himself another solid game for fantasy. On Sunday in a tough loss to the New York Giants, Robinson had 17 rushes for 73 yards but flashed as a receiver with seven receptions for 58 yards. Just like in Week 10, Robinson was heavily utilized in the passing game and has had 15 targets over the last two weeks. While their record is sitting at 4-7, the Commanders' offense has been a lot better than expected.

Looking Forward to the Rest of the 2023 Season

Rejoice! Week 12 won't feature any NFL teams on a bye and we'll have a full slate of games. How did your teams fare in Week 11? If you have any potential trade questions, as well as questions involving waivers or start/sit, be sure to follow us here at RotoBaller with up-to-date fantasy news and team reports. Best of luck the rest of the way!

Are there any running backs not on this list who you expect to bounce back in Week 12? If you have any FAAB or waiver questions as well, feel free to get at me on Twitter/X.

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