RB Strength of Schedule

Wed May 26 8:44am ET
By JEFF PAUR
Sr Fantasy Writer

Related photo caption below

Taylor might have huge season


Using our rules for our money leagues, we came up with a schedule strength ranking for the running back position. We are using our fantasy defenses report to calculate the rankings. This report can be found in all of our leagues under the "reports" heading. We took the schedule of each team and entered the average number of fantasy points allowed to running backs last season from all of their opponents to get our fantasy points allowed number. This is a good indication of the running backs with the most favorable schedules for fantasy scoring for the coming season.

  2021 RB SOS  
1. Bucs 352.2
2. NY Giants 357.4
3. Panthers 360.2
4. Raiders 363.8
5. Lions 366.3
6. Cowboys 368.9
7. Falcons 370.4
8. Saints 372.3
9. Packers 373.3
10. Bills 375.4
11. Seahawks 377.4
12. Eagles 377.7
13. Ravens 377.9
14. NY Jets 378.9
15. Washington 379.5
16. Patriots 381.4
17. Chiefs 383.7
  Vikings 383.7
19. Bengals 384.5
  Texans 384.5
21. Titans 386.7
22. Jaguars 388.3
23. LA Chargers 391.4
24. Dolphins 391.9
25. Cardinals 393.9
26. Browns 394.8
27. 49ers 395.1
28. LA Rams 395.5
29. Steelers 396.0
30. Bears 396.2
31. Broncos 396.6
32. Colts 407.5

Jonathan Taylor had a breakout second half to last season and will look to build on that from day one this year. He has a good chance to take his game to an even higher level, having the easiest schedule for fantasy running backs. David Montgomery is in the same boat as Taylor. Montgomery finally lived up to his potential late last year and will look to keep that play going this year. His schedule (third easiest for running backs) gives you hope that last year wasn’t a fluke for Montgomery. Cam Akers has the fifth most favorable schedule and will get nearly all the work from day one this year. He has a great chance to become an elite fantasy back this year. And Najee Harris is considered the top rookie fantasy back and his schedule helps solidify that ranking. Harris has the fourth most favorable schedule for running backs. 

A few backs with daunting schedules include Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, Josh Jacobs and DeAndre Swift. And the duo of Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette get the most difficult schedule for running backs. It isn’t known who will start out of those two, so you might just want to avoid them all together.

Take a close at all these rankings and tweak your overall rankings accordingly. These schedules could impact running backs - good or bad.

We also wanted to look at playoff schedules for fantasy running backs. So we crunched the numbers of all the schedules from Week 15-17, which is the fantasy playoffs for most leagues. We know you have to get to the playoffs first, but knowing the running backs with the easiest playoff schedules doesn’t hurt by any means, especially in the big money contests.

  RB PLAYOFF SOS  
1. Titans 321.5
2. Panthers 332.3
3. Eagles 336.2
4. NY Giants 350.4
5. Raiders 350.8
6. Washington 353
7. Cowboys 354.9
8. Chiefs 359.4
9. Lions 360.2
10. Saints 364.3
11. Vikings 365.2
12. Bucs 367.3
13. Packers 372.2
14. Bills 372.6
15. Dolphins 374.0
16. Bengals 384.5
17. NY Jets 384.7
18. Ravens 385.5
19. LA Rams 389.8
20. Seahawks 393.2
21. Steelers 395.8
22. Texans 397.0
23. Colts 398.7
24. Patriots 399.8
25. Browns 400
26. Bears 403.7
27. Falcons 406.4
28. Cardinals 410.6
29. Broncos 417.5
30. Jaguars 428.5
31. 49ers 432.9
32. LA Chargers 440.4

Austin Ekeler has the most favorable schedule for fantasy running backs in the playoffs. He has good potential for a great finish to his season, carrying many teams in the playoffs. The 49ers running back spot is a little unsettled but whoever is getting the most carries in the playoffs could really help fantasy teams. San Francisco has the second easiest schedule for fantasy running backs in the playoffs. The Jaguars, Broncos and Cardinals also have some good schedules for the playoffs.

Derrick Henry was a monster down the stretch last year but could have a hard time repeating his huge finish this year. Henry gets the most difficult schedule for the fantasy playoffs. Christian McCaffrey, Miles Sanders, Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs are other backs looking at tough playoff schedules. These backs are all top fantasy players, though, so it is hard to avoid them but you might want to temper your expectations for them a little in the playoffs.

Jeff Paur is a two-time finalist for FSWA Fantasy Football Writer of the Year and won the FSWA award for Best Fantasy Football Article on the Web in 2011. He also was the most accurate expert in 2012, winning the FSTA Fantasy Football Accuracy Award. If you have any questions for Jeff, email him at [email protected]. Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeffpaur.

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