Finding two viable running backs every week can challenge even the most experienced fantasy football managers. Playing the right matchups is critical to maximizing your scoring in your fantasy leagues. At Sportkeeda, we'll rank the running back landscape with weekly rankings and highlight the best matchups to help you make those tough lineup decisions for Week 7 action.
Fantasy Football RB Rankings: Week 7
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Fantasy Football RB Picks: Best Matchups of the Week
1] Kyren Williams vs Las Vegas Raiders
By now, fantasy managers know that Kyren Williams is not Cam Akers. The only thing both backs have in common is that they wore the same uniform.
Still, Williams was a popular player to avoid by the fantasy community last August during draft season. It might had something to do with the residue of the former Rams fantasy back who burned managers in the previous season. Akers was famously cut by the Rams last season and is now with his fourth team in four years. Meanwhile, Williams is our best running back option in fantasy football this week against a porous Raiders run defense.
Williams is one of the hottest running backs in the league and has scored in all five games this season. He has scored a touchdown in seven consecutive games dating back to last year and is coming off his best performance with a 102-yard game against Green Bay.
The third-year back is 11th in the league in rushing yards (360) despite missing a game due to an early bye week. Williams ranks sixth among running backs in fantasy points per game (19.8), second in the league in goalline carries (10), and second in touches per game (21.8) through five games this season.
Williams will get a crack at a Las Vegas' defense that has been generous to running backs. The Raiders lost its primary run stuffer and vital free agent DT Christian Wilkins to a foot injury earlier this season, which should explain its struggles in run defense. Las Vegas has allowed a touchdown to opposing running backs in every game but one this season.
The Raiders have also allowed three 100-plus rushing yard performances through six games to J.K. Dobbins (135), Chuba Hubbard (114), and last week to Najee Harris (106). We're all in on Williams to keep his streak alive against a team coming off a tremulous week with the Da-Diva Adams drama ending in a trade to New York. The Raiders have never won a regular season game at SoFi Stadium since it opened its doors in 2020.
Also read: Isiah Pacheco's injury update for Week 7 Fantasy Football
2] J.K. Dobbins vs Arizona Cardinals
In honor of the Dodgers in the NLCS, Los Angeles gave us fantasy managers a curveball late in the week. The Chargers placed veteran back Gus Edwards on injured reserve with an ankle injury and changed the outlook of its backfield starting last week against Denver.
With little time to adjust, proactive fantasy managers added rookie Kimani Vidal as a speculative addition before kickoff against the Broncos in Week 6. Vidal found the endzone on a passing touchdown, but Dobbins dominated the Chargers backfield with 27 touches in a divisional win. Was this a sign of what was to come for Dobbins, who increased his usage to a season-high 73% percent of the offensive snaps last week?
Dobbins also received a season-high 25 carries, turning them into 96 yards and a touchdown. He was four yards away from his third 100-yard-plus rushing performance in five games in this Los Angeles run-heavy offense.
He will face a Cardinals rush defense that has allowed the third-most rushing yards (918), the third-most rushing touchdowns (8), the third-most attempts per game (32.8), and the fifth-most touches per game to running backs this season (324). Dobbins has averaged 15.8 fantasy points per game this season but could be elevated into the RB1 territory with the increased usage and matchup outlook in Week 7.
3] Tony Pollard vs. Buffalo Bills
Tony Pollard appears here for the second consecutive week, and the veteran will again have an attractive matchup in Week 7. Last week, Pollard came through with his best performance of the season on the ground against divisional rival Indianapolis, with 93 yards and a touchdown. We're returning to the well this week, as Pollard is potentially taking on an increased workload against the Bills squad that has struggled to stop fantasy running backs all season.
So far this season, Pollard has led the timeshare with Tyjae Spears in a 65% to 35% split through five games. However, Spears has already been ruled out with a hamstring injury that the team deems a week-to-week injury, which should change the outlook of this backfield. Pollard already had 44 touches in the last two games and has scored in two straight games for the Titans.
The Bills defense has allowed the eight-most rushing yards (841), the second-most explosive runs of 10-plus yards (26), and has allowed a touchdown to running backs in three consecutive games. Baltimore's Derrick Henry destroyed this run defense for 199 rushing yards in Week 4, and Breece Hall turned 23 touches into 113 rushing yards and five catches for 56 receiving yards in Week 6.
Pollard has been a solid RB2 this season for fantasy managers with his 15.2 points per game average. Pollard ranks inside our RB1s this week, and you should start him confidently in Week 7.
Also read: Week 7 Buy Low Sell High Trade Targets
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