From CMC to Dart Throws: Divisional Round Fantasy Football RB Tiers

Fantasy football in the playoffs is … weird, for lack of a better word. Even though this is technically a “start/sit” article, I imagine the vast majority of people playing fantasy in the playoffs (and reading this article) are playing some kind of DFS instead of a traditional fantasy format where you have to set a lineup. 

With that in mind, instead of designating individual players as “starts” and “sits,” I'll be breaking the Divisional Round running back options into tiers based on how confident I would feel relying on them in any fantasy format. This will make more sense with some examples, so let's get right into it. 

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Tier 1: Christian McCaffrey 

• Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

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Last week, I ranked McCaffrey in a tier of his own. Of course, that just meant that his range of outcomes was the best of the week, not that he was actually guaranteed to be the RB1 … but he was. It wasn't close, either, as he outscored the next-closest back by over six half-PPR points. 

CMC does have a tough matchup this week against the Seahawks' defense — they held him to just 8.7 points in Week 18, by far his worst outing of the season. But he also scored 18.7 points in his first game against them, and his dual-threat workload is so elite he can get there in any game script. He is — once again — easily the best RB play of the week.  

Tier 2: Other Bell Cows, aka the Buffalo/Denver Game

• James Cook, Buffalo Bills

• RJ Harvey, Denver Broncos

Last week, this tier was fairly healthy, with a solid five members. But four of those members were eliminated, and one more saw usage uninspiring enough to earn himself a downgrade. Even with Harvey coming off bye as reinforcements, he and his opposite number Cook are the only true non-CMC bell cows left in the playoffs. 

Even Harvey himself isn't likely to see truly great usage. But the Bills' defense is weak enough against the run — allowing the eighth-most points per game and third-most yards per carry to RBs — for him to still belong in this tier. Cook, meanwhile, is coming off a game in which he saw literally every one of the Bills' RB carries. If he weren't facing an elite Denver defense, he might even have had a shot at joining McCaffrey in Tier 1. 

Tier 3: Top Committee Backs (and Woody Marks)

• Kyren Williams, Los Angeles Rams

• D'Andre Swift, Chicago Bears

• Rhamondre Stevenson, New England Patriots

• Woody Marks, Houston Texans

• Kenneth Walker, Seattle Seahawks

• Zach Charbonnet, Seattle Seahawks

Williams is the aforementioned player who fell down after being in Tier 2 last week. The Rams implemented a near-perfect drive-by-drive rotation between him and Blake Corum in their win over the Panthers, so he's no longer a legit bell cow. 

With that said, this is still a very solid tier to be in. Along with Williams, we have two more 1A's in Swift and Stevenson, who both see roughly 60% of their backfields' work. Marks sees far more than 60% of the Texans' RB usage, but he and Houston's offense as a whole are inefficient enough that he clearly does not belong in Tier 2.

Finally, we have the Seattle duo of Walker and Charbonnet. It should be no surprise that they are the only teammates to share a tier (outside of the final tier) this week, as the two young backs saw near-identical usage and produced near-identical numbers this season. It is very possible for them to both get there against the 49ers' injury-ravaged defense, 

Tier 4: Lower Committee Backs

• TreVeyon Henderson, New England Patriots

• Blake Corum, Los Angeles Rams

• Kyle Monangai, Chicago Bears

This trio of young backs (two rookies and a second-year player) is an obvious grouping. It would be an upset if any of them lead their backfields in expected fantasy points this weekend. But it would also be a massive surprise if any of them didn't see a respectable number of touches. 

As mentioned, Corum is closer to being Williams' equal than his backup at this point. The same can be said for Henderson — last week was actually his first time seeing fewer carries than Stevenson in New England's last three games. Monangai is more clearly a true 1B, but Chicago's offense is run-heavy enough that we can still count on him to be involved. 

Tier 5: Dart Throws

• Nick Chubb, Houston Texans

• Jaleel McLaughlin, Denver Broncos

• Kyle Juszczyk, San Francisco 49ers

• Brian Robinson Jr., San Francisco 49ers

• Tyler Badie, Denver Broncos

• Ray Davis, Buffalo Bills

These are the only other backs even worth considering this week. Most of them will see somewhere between zero and five touches, so you're just hoping they break a big play or fall into the end zone. 

Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasySP. Find him on Twitter and Bluesky @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.