Fantasy Football 2019: Best RB2 options in middle rounds
Filling the RB2 slot adequately in fantasy football has been a struggle in recent years, but that won’t be the case for the 2019 season.
The RB2 position may be the most important when it comes to being competitive in fantasy football. It’s always make or break for fantasy football owners when they reach Round 5 of their draft and only have one running back on their roster.
Things are about to change for fantasy football owners in 2019, though. The potential RB2 candidates are numerous in the middle rounds of the draft and are of a higher quality than normal. Subsequently, owners can target wide receivers and tight ends early after getting their RB1.
Based off the FantasyPros consensus PPR rankings, there are plenty of running backs backs to choose from when it comes to the fifth round and on in either 10-man or 12-man drafts.
Let’s take a look at the best of that group.
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Josh Jacobs, Oakland Raiders
Consensus Ranking: 67th overall
Josh Jacobs was picked by Oakland in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft to be the bell cow for Jon Gruden’s offense. Jacobs showed at Alabama that he has all that it takes to be the three-down back Gruden was looking for a season ago. He has the most upside of anyone out of the top-50 rankings, as he is listed as the consensus 67th overall choice and the RB27.
Any fantasy football owner would be happy to have Jacobs as their RB2 this season as, with the amount of touches he will be getting, he could push for RB1 numbers.
Kenyan Drake, Miami Dolphins
Consensus Ranking: 56th overall
Last season, Kenyan Drake finished as the RB14 in PPR leagues despite plenty of frustration from fantasy owners who owned him. Drake had to compete with Frank Gore for touches last season due to now-former head coach Adam Gase feeling the need to use a committee.
With new head coach Brian Flores coming over from New England, it would be easy to expect more usage for the Dolphins back. Drake finished with 206.2 points last season on 173 touches. If he can get to 200 or more, he can easily approach 250 points or more.
Mark Ingram, Baltimore Ravens
Consensus Ranking: 59th overall
Four-game suspension. Sharing with Alvin Kamara. These key factors are why Mark Ingram did not have as great of a 2018 as fantasy football owners hoped. Following a top-10 season in 2017, Ingram finished as RB32, scoring 142.5 points for the Saints as the backup for Kamara. Now the former Heisman winner has moved on to Baltimore.
Ingram is 29 years old and is one year away from avoiding the scary age-30 season for running backs. He could be a machine whether it is being the checkdown for Lamar Jackson while also getting 15 carries easily per game. Ingram will be slept on in your drafts but you can trust him as a solid RB2.
David Montgomery, Chicago Bears
Consensus Ranking: 70th overall
Former Iowa State stud David Montgomery was chosen in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft and may be the biggest question mark of the five named here. He also, quite possibly, has the most upside as well.
Montgomery was the complete back in college and is now in a situation that can only be ideal for him. While Tarik Cohen may scare people away, Montgomery has shown that he can run between tackles but also catch passes out of the backfield with great success. If he wins the job out of training camp, he is worth a look as your fantasy RB2 this coming season.
Tevin Coleman, San Francisco 49ers
Consensus Ranking: 84th overall
The most exciting name on this list is one who has shown glimpses of excellence but has not been given a starting job. 2018 was the first time Tevin Coleman received over 200 carries and was able to have success when used properly. Unfortunately for his fantasy football success last season, the Falcons seemingly refused to give him as many carries as he deserved with Devonta Freeman out.
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After finishing as the RB18 overall in an offense who used him incorrectly, head coach Kyle Shanahan is going to utilize Coleman to the best of his abilities. Coleman can easily be a top 20 back in fantasy football this year.