Fantasy football running back rankings: Top 60 RBs in standard leagues for Week 9

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Kate Magdziuk shares her Week 9 running back rankings for standard scoring leagues and highlights several streaming options.

Welcome to Week 9, fantasy football managers! If you’ve made it this far, don’t give up — another fantasy win, and hopefully, a fantasy championship are in your future. Well … probably. As long as your roster hasn’t been decimated by injuries like the rest of ours (it probably has).

The San Francisco 49ers and Pittsburgh Steelers are both on bye this week, with only one of those teams having a surprisingly fantasy-relevant RB (Najee Harris) at this point in the season, but hopefully, the consensus No. 1 overall pick in 2024 drafts, Christian McCaffrey should return to our lineups. Until then, however, we’re here to help you out with some RB flex plays and Week 9 RB rankings.

Week 9 RB flex plays

Rhamondre Stevenson, New England Patriots vs. TEN

Stevenson has been the picture of inefficiency this season, and especially over the past two weeks, having averaged 2.4 and 2.6 yards per rush attempt in Weeks 7 and 8 respectively. However, his usage last week was particularly encouraging, as it marked the first time since Week 2 that he had more than 13 carries in a game. The Titans’ run defense has been a middle-of-the-pack unit this year, but their own struggles on offense have allowed opposing teams to run on them — a lot.

Expect this to be a friendly game script for the Patriots to continue to feed Stevenson as much work as he can handle, especially if there’s any doubt in QB Drake Maye’s availability with a concussion, should they look to take the air out of the football to take any pressure off of the passing game.

Alexander Mattison, Las Vegas Raiders vs. CIN

This is going to feel a bit icky, but bear with me. Alexander Mattison forced Zamir White out of the RB1 role in the offense and he’s been seeing elite usage … even if he hasn’t been overly efficient with those opportunities. Dating back to Week 5, Mattison ties workhorse Kyren Williams for the fourth-most rush attempts (66), having been one of just 14 RBs with 10+ red zone carries and a firm grasp as the primary goal-line back, with 6 of the Raiders’ 8 rush attempts inside the five in that span.

This week, they’ll head to Cincinnati — a middling matchup for opposing runners. The Bengals rank ninth in rushing yards per game (139.3) allowed and third in EPA per rush attempt (0.07) while ranking bottom 10 in stuff rate (15.6%), and light box percentage (46.7%) per NFL Pro.

Week 9 sleeper RB of the week: Zack Moss, Cincinnati Bengals (vs. LV)

Yes, Moss has been demoted to the “sleeper” category here. Moss has lost some appeal in recent weeks, having ceded a greater chunk of the RB snaps and touches to teammate Chase Brown. Dating back to Week 5, Brown has had 49 carries to Moss’ 26; Moss has struggled with efficiency in a big way, averaging just 2.12 yards per attempt, also ranked behind Chase in other efficiency categories such as yards after contact per attempt and avoided tackles per rush attempt.

So, what’s the good news? They’ve got a pretty favorable matchup this week against the Las Vegas Raiders and Moss has maintained a hold on the goal-line opportunities (for now). The Raiders have allowed the ninth-most fantasy points in standard-scoring leagues, giving up 4.67 yards per attempt and 7 TDs to opposing RBs on the year.

Fantasy football: Week 9 standard RB rankings

Kate Magdziuk is an editor and contributor for Yahoo Fantasy and co-host of the Locked On Dynasty Football podcast. She is also the managing editor for Behind The Steel Curtain, SB Nation’s exclusive Pittsburgh Steelers blog. Her previous bylines include Pro Football Focus, NBC Sports Rotoworld and 4for4 Football, among others.