Week 17 Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1917)

December 24, 2025

AI Summary

5 min read

🎙️ The Voices & The Context

The Format: This host-led roundtable dives into championship week running back rankings for fantasy football, blending data-driven analysis with real-time rank debates to arm listeners for final lineup decisions in a high-stakes pod format. Analytical and enthusiastic.
The Format: Host discussion.
The Key Players:
Just Hosts: Chris Welsh steers the ship with sharp questions, while Pat Fitzmorris (Fitzy) and Andrew Erickson deliver contrasting ranks through playful banter and league war stories, creating lively chemistry around RB start/sit dilemmas amid championship chaos.

🗝️ Key Themes & Topics

The episode unpacks fantasy football's championship running back landscape, from roster trends to granular ECR debates, emphasizing matchup exploits, injury impacts, and boom/bust risks.

Topic 1: Championship Roster Trends. Hosts celebrate stable elite RBs like Christian McCaffrey, James Cook, and De'Von Achane dominating finals, guessing Kenny Gainwell as the surprise deep-league staple due to his PPR reliability despite backfield shares.
Topic 2: Top-Tier RB Ranks (RB1-12). Consensus locks like Jahmyr Gibbs (#1), Bijan Robinson, and Saquon Barkley lead, but fireworks erupt over Ashton Jeanty's RB10 ECR after his RB1 explosion vs. Texans, with Erickson all-in on his Gian

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What you'll learn

1 **(00:35) Episode Intro: Championship Week RB Ranks**
2 **(05:49) Overall RB Rankings Overview**
3 **(06:25) Ashton Jeanty (ECR RB10)**
4 **(10:39) RB2 Tier Kicks Off: Javante Williams, RJ Harvey, Bucky Irving**
5 **(11:06) Omarion Hampton (ECR RB17)**
6 **(15:17) Rhamondre Stevenson (ECR RB16)**
7 **(18:41) Michael Carter (ECR RB21)**

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Chris Welsh, Pat Fitzmaurice, and Andrew Erickson are breaking down Week 17’s biggest running back ranking differences, engaging in debates, and highlighting the expert consensus for Week 17!

Don't miss our deep-dive into this week's rankings, must-start options, and value plays to dominate your fantasy matchup!

Timestamps:

Intro - 0:00:00
RBs 1-12 - Ashton Jeanty - 0:05:30
RBs 13-24 - Omarion Hampton - 0:10:05
Rhamondre Stevenson - 0:15:06
Michael Carter - 0:18:04
Kenneth Walker - 0:21:06
BettingPros Premium - 0:23:55
RBs 25-36 - Breece Hall - 0:24:32
David Montgomery - 0:28:58
Audric Estime - 0:32:01

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