Fantasy Football Week 16 Running Back Rankings: Jonathan Taylor back; Can you trust Roschon Johnson?

Chris Towers walks you through his Week 16 RB rankings

By Chris Towers

Dec 24, 2023 at 11:26 am ET • 2 min read

We'll start out with who isn't expected to play this week: Rhamondre Stevenson (ankle), Brian Robinson (hamstring), Zack Moss (forearm), Jerick McKinnon (groin), and D'Onta Foreman (personal) are all not expected to play at this point. Ezekiel Elliott is in the RB2 conversation with Stevenson out, as is Isiah Pacheco (shoulder) in his expected return from a two-game absence. Jonathan Taylor (thumb) is also back from his three-game absence and is in the RB1 range with Moss out. I'd prefer to avoid Washington's backfield, with both Antonio Gibson and Chris Rodriguez in the RB3/4 range of the rankings.

The toughest spot to figure out there is Chicago. We've seen little consistency in how they've used their backs recently, but with Foreman expected to be out, we'll see a consolidated backfield split, at least. I'd expect rookie Roschon Johnson to be the lead back for the Bears, but I think it's fair to keep expectations in check; he played 74% of the snaps in Week 12 and turned that into 10 carries, five targets, and 12.5 PPR points. He should have a similar role this week, and it is a good matchup, but I can't rank him much higher than the RB3 range given how little we've seen from him. Khalil Herbert is more of a "pray-for-a-touchdown" play.

We've still got some questions about whether Josh Jacobs (quad), Kenneth Walker (shoulder), Alexander Mattison (ankle), and A.J. Dillon (thumb) are going to play, but those aren't complicated situations at this point. If Walker and Jacobs play, you start them; if they don't Zamir White and Zach Charbonnet belong in the RB2/3 range. Mattison and Dillon seem likely to be the smaller part of a platoon in their backfields if they play, behind Ty Chandler and Aaron Jones, respectively, and I wouldn't view either as much more than a desperation RB3.

Here are my full rankings for Week 16 at running back for PPR leagues: