Week 8 saw running backs like James Robinson and Alvin Kamara slice through opposing defenses like a hot knife through butter, while formerly elite backs Ezekiel Elliott and David Johnson continued their struggles this season. To see where those four players rank, as well as the rest of the National Football League’s top running backs, check out our Week 8 RB rankings below.
NFL Top 25 Running Back Rankings, Week 8 | 25-16
25) James Conner, Pittsburgh Steelers
James Conner is a capable starter that the Steelers can consistently rely on, but it’s hard not to think to yourself, “Imagine if that team had a running back on par with the rest of the offensive talent,” whenever watching the Steelers. With Roethlisberger playing well, a loaded offensive line, receiving core, and defense, the Steelers should consider giving Benny Snell — who is currently ranked second overall among all running backs in Pro Football Network’s Offensive Value Metric — more carries to see if it can take their offense to the next level.
24) David Johnson, Houston Texans
Not too long ago, it would have been expected that David Johnson would be in the elite tier of these Week 8 RB rankings, but he has been the victim of a dramatic fall from grace. Knee injuries have robbed him of some of his athleticism that made him such a special runner, and he can no longer slalom through defenses like he used to. However, he is still an effective starting running back both on the ground and through the air.
23) D’Andre Swift, Detroit Lions
Rookie D’Andre Swift had about the worst start to his career imaginable, as he dropped a would-be game-winning touchdown in Week 1 and struggled to make much of an impact early in the year, gaining just 114 all-purpose yards in the first four weeks.
He’s turned that narrative around over the past two weeks, though, after racking up a combined 171 all-purpose yards and three scores against the Falcons and Jaguars. The difference for Swift is that he’s been running much more instinctually, perhaps as a result of working with a mentor like Adrain Peterson at practice.
22) Damien Harris, New England Patriots
If Damien Harris hadn’t been on injured reserve for the first three weeks of the season, he would easily find himself among the top 20 backs in these Week 8 RB rankings. Unfortunately, as it is, he has only played three games so far this season, but against the 49ers and Chiefs, he was practically unstoppable. New England may have invested more in Sony Michel, but there is no doubt that Harris is the best of the two backs at this point.
21) Jamaal Williams, Green Bay Packers
With Aaron Rodgers setting the NFC ablaze as an act of revenge towards the Packers for selecting a quarterback in the first round, Jamaal Williams has quietly been doing the same thing, though his revenge is directed at Green Bay’s second-round pick, power running back A.J. Dillon. Williams has been unstoppable this season, posting the highest rating in OVM grade among running backs with at least 50 carries.
20) J.K. Dobbins, Baltimore Ravens
Mark Ingram remains the Ravens lead back, but it feels like Dobbins is gaining on him with each week that passes. Dobbins is the most versatile out of all the ball carriers in Baltimore’s deep backfield, and he’s also been incredibly efficient on the limited number of carries he’s seen so far. Dobbins has played so well that if he was not being utilized as a part of a backfield-by-committee approach, he’d likely be much higher in these Week 8 RB rankings.
19) Melvin Gordon, Denver Broncos
Melvin Gordon has played like a top-15 back for most of the season, but his performance against the Chiefs was especially dreadful. He was thoroughly outplayed by Lindsay, who averaged more than twice as many yards per carry as Gordon before exiting the game with a concussion. To make matters worse, Gordon had two grizzly fumbles that put six points on the board for the Chiefs while taking points off the board for the Broncos.
18) James Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguars
Who thought that the undrafted running back from FCS-school Illinois State would be in the running for Offensive Rookie of the Year almost halfway through the season? James Robinson has been a revelation for Jacksonville this season as both a pure runner and as a pass-catcher. The flashes of greatness he’s already shown trump anything fourth-overall pick Leonard Fournette did during his time in Florida.
17) Mike Davis, Carolina Panthers
Mike Davis hasn’t been able to totally make up for Christian McCaffery’s absence, but outside of maybe Alvin Kamara, who would be able to? The journeyman running back has been terrific for the Panthers while showcasing much more speed, athleticism, and elusiveness than he had shown in his previous stops. Davis looked good at times against the Falcons in Week 8 and could be on the rise in these rankings next week.
16) Le’Veon Bell, Kansas City Chiefs
One of the most exciting elements of the Chiefs’ beatdown of the Broncos was seeing how rejuvenated Le’Veon Bell looked. Since signing with the Jets, it felt like Bell fell off the map entirely, but now that he’s with the Chiefs, he’s sure to be relevant, and it also helps that he looked like his old self with how he sliced through the defense on a few of his carries in the Denver blizzard.
NFL Top Running Back Rankings | 15-6
15) Todd Gurley, Atlanta Falcons
Technically speaking, Todd Gurley’s accidental touchdown run late against the Lions led to the Falcons losing that game, but it’s hard to rake Gurley over the coals for barely not being able to drop to the turf quick enough to stay short of the goal line when he played so well for much of the game. In Atlanta, Gurley hasn’t been able to recapture the peak form that made him an MVP candidate, but he has seen some resurgence and looks like he has more juice than he did in 2019, which is enough for him to sneak into the top 15 of the Week 8 RB rankings.
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Week 8 was a struggle for Gurley, as he managed just 46 yards on the ground despite getting 18 carries. The last three weeks have seen Gurley averaged under three yards per attempt, which is a serious concern given how good Brian Hill looked on Thursday. Gurley could be on his way down the rankings next week.
14) Chris Carson, Seattle Seahawks
The stats haven’t been what they typically are for Carson, considering the Seahawks’ newfound offensive philosophy of building their offense around their best player as opposed to an outdated ground attack. However, Carson has performed admirably in his new role as he’s grown a lot as a receiver out of the backfield, and he also averaging the most yards per carry of his career.
13) Mark Ingram, Baltimore Ravens
Mark Ingram’s career has found a second run in Baltimore with Greg Roman’s creative and inventive offense. Over the past season and a half, he’s served as the ideal counterbalance to Lamar Jackson’s speed and elusiveness, and as a result, has helped the Ravens have one of the most prolific stretches of run game dominance in NFL history. His role has been diminished this season, but for now, he remains Baltimore’s top back.
12) Kareem Hunt, Cleveland Browns
The Browns have an embarrassment of riches in the backfield with D’Ernest Johnson, Nick Chubb, and Kareem Hunt. Chubb’s injury earlier this season was a crushing blow to the Browns’ offense, as they haven’t been able to find a consistent passing attack, but Hunt has managed to keep them afloat the past couple of weeks. What makes Hunt so special is the fact that he can do everything the Browns ask of him, whether that be pass protecting, pass-catching, running between the tackles with power, or running outside with finesse.
11) Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts
You have to feel bad for Marlon Mack, who opened the season with rookie Jonathan Taylor nipping at his heels in an effort to steal the starting job before suffering a season-ending Achilles injury in Week 1. That injury opened the door for the rookie, and it’s hard to see the Colts looking back now. Taylor ranks eighth overall in PFN’s OVM ratings among running backs but ranks third when you limit results to running backs with at least 55 carries so far this season.
10) Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys
Most years, Ezekiel Elliott would find himself in the top three of these Week 8 RB rankings, but he hasn’t been the same player this season. He has rushed for 60 yards or more just three times this season while fumbling the ball five times so far. He was also dominated this weekend by a Washington defensive line that refused to allow even an inch of daylight and held Elliott under four yards per carry.
To be fair to Elliott, the offensive line he’s been asked to operate behind this season is nothing like the fronts he’s been used to. Injuries and age have taken the Cowboys from being the NFL’s most dominant offensive line to potentially being its worst.
9) Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Kansas City Chiefs
Clyde Edwards-Helaire hasn’t taken Kansas City’s offense to the next level like many expected when he was drafted, but he’s given their offense a valuable element that they didn’t have before, which in turn allows the Chiefs to beat you in even more ways than they were previously able to.
That was exemplified the past two games, as Patrick Mahomes threw for just 425 yards and three touchdowns combined, easily the worst two-game stretch of his career. The Chiefs’ solution was to turn to Edwards-Helaire, and their plan worked flawlessly as he racked up 232 all-purpose yards and a touchdown over the past two weeks.
8) Joe Mixon, Cincinnati Bengals
First overall pick Joe Burrow is getting better each and every week, but don’t let that distract you from the fact that Joe Mixon is this Bengals offense. For the past two seasons, he has been the team’s best running back and their best pass-catcher too. A claim that only one other running back, Christian McCaffery, can make as well.
Mixon has managed to achieve that level of success despite playing behind a patchwork offensive line that features Bobby Hart in a starring role. That is a nightmare scenario for any running back that has undoubtedly limited Mixon’s success throughout his career, and yet he’s still managed to dominate. Mixon is out in Week 8, but following the team’s bye, he should be able to get back on the field and make an impact in Week 10.
7) Darrell Henderson, Los Angeles Rams
After losing Todd Gurley this off-season, the Rams counter-intuitively renewed their focus on the run game and found great success with Darrell Henderson. Henderson didn’t pop in 2019, his first year in the NFL, but his vision has improved a lot in the off-season, as has the Rams offensive line.
As a result, Henderson is playing like Gurley used to for the Rams, and with his home-run speed and ability to go from 0-60 faster than a Ferrari that’s fresh off the lot, he’s become one of the most dangerous running backs in the NFL. Henderson ranks sixth among backs in PFN’s OVM rating and second among running backs with at least 55 carries so far this season. If Cam Akers can replicate Henderson’s second-year leap, the Rams could quickly find themselves better off in the backfield than they were when Gurley was at his peak.
6) Josh Jacobs, Las Vegas Raiders
Josh Jacobs doesn’t have the same gaudy stats as some of his contemporaries in these RB rankings, but he counters the lack of stats by being the engine that powers the Raiders. In the Gruden era, the Raiders were a plain-faced laughing stock until the addition of Jacobs gave the franchise an identity which they will be able to build around for years to come. Now that he’s paired with Henry Ruggs and Darren Waller, the Raiders offense presents opposing defenses with the impossible dilemma of deciding who to divert the most attention to.
NFL Top RB Rankings, Week 8 | 5-1
5) Aaron Jones, Green Bay Packers
With Aaron Jones and Aaron Rodgers playing at the level they’re currently at, the 2020 Packers’ offense is playing flawlessly outside of their beatdown suffered at the hands of the Buccaneers. To operate this Shanahan-style offense at such a high level, you need an elite back, and the Packers have that with Jones.
Jones is a threat in the receiving game, and he’ll run you over just as soon as he’ll cut three yards to the right without breaking stride, making him an impossible puzzle for oncoming tacklers to solve. As a result, Jones has scored 26 touchdowns over the past year and a half, by far the most in the league.
4) Ronald Jones, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Two years into his career, the second-round selection of Ronald Jones was looking like another horrific blemish on Buccaneers’ general manager Jason Licht’s record. In 2018 he couldn’t get on the field, and while he managed to crack the rotation in 2019, it was debatable as to whether or not he was the team’s lead back.
That’s changed with the addition of Tom Brady, as Jones is now one of the league’s best running backs by almost any metric you want to measure running back success. He ranks first in the league in DYAR (defense-adjusted yards above replacement), third in DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average), and second in effective yardage, which translates DVOA into a yards-per-carry stat. His dominance makes Bruce Arians’ decision this week to have him split snaps with Leonard Fournette especially curious.
3) Dalvin Cook, Minnesota Vikings
In Gary Kubiak’s offense, Dalvin Cook has gone from being a really good running back to being a great running back. His excellent performance this season is only made more impressive by the fact that the Vikings’ offensive line and Kirk Cousins have struggled immensely this year, and the defense has put the Vikings in sizable holes, which leads to the offense favoring the passing game.
Cook has overcome that adversity, though, and has dominated the league so far. He runs like the ideal one-cut back that fits so well with Kubiak’s scheme, but he runs with an incredible amount of power without sacrificing his elusiveness. So far this season, Nick Chubb is the only other running back with at least 50 rushing attempts to average 3.5 yards after contact per rush.
Without Cook in the offense last week, the Vikings offense and rushing attack ground to a halt against an awful Falcons defense. Minnesota averaged fewer than three yards per attempt and put up their second-lowest point total of the season.
2) Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints
Last season, Alvin Kamara wasn’t the same player we saw through his first two seasons in the league, but he’s come back with a sense of vengeance this season. The New Orleans Saints are no longer a team that runs through Drew Brees. This team now runs through Alvin Kamara.
Kamara is perfectly designed to flourish in today’s NFL. The player he most closely resembles would probably be Le’Veon Bell, considering Kamara is a massive asset in the passing game thanks to his hands, route-running ability, and pass protection, and that as a runner, he possesses high-end speed, power, and shiftiness. He perfectly exemplified those abilities on this 17-yard scamper against the Panthers on Sunday.
With Michael Thomas out, Brees is a completely different player, and with the defense having fallen off a cliff since 2019, Kamara has been forced to carry the Saints almost singlehandedly. So far, he has done so with ease, carrying them to a 4-2 record.
1) Derrick Henry, Tennessee Titans
When we think of the ideal running back for the modern NFL, we typically think of a speedy slasher that is able to run routes and catch passes like a wide receiver, a la Christian McCaffery or Saquon Barkley, but since 2018 few players, let alone running backs, have been as unstoppable as Derrick Henry.
Henry runs with a ferocious and violent style that makes the viewer feel like they’ve fallen backward 30 years into the past. He truly is the NFL’s personification of the DeLorean, as you have to go back to runners like Earl Campbell and Jim Brown, as lofty as that comparison is, to find running backs that make the defensive players look truly juvenile.
Despite that dated style, Henry continues to thrive in 2020’s football landscape, as proven by the fact that when the Titans needed a fourth-quarter comeback, they didn’t turn to one of the NFL’s most efficient quarterbacks over the last two seasons, Ryan Tannehill, they turned to Henry. Henry rewarded them by putting the team on his back and bringing them within a missed field goal of completing a double-digit comeback against one of the few remaining elite defenses.