Week 17 is an odd one in the NFL, with most teams having nothing to play for -- and some actively looking to rest players for the playoffs. Those in one-week fantasy leagues or ones where Week 17 is important may be looking to latch onto a solid No. 2 running back.
Among the candidates for big games are backups in Pittsburgh, Houston, Dallas or New York -- teams who are locked into their playoff seeding and may give most snaps to reserve players. Over the last couple of years, though, there haven't been many backups who have done anything noteworthy in the finale.
The table below shows every running back who's rushed for over 50 yards in Week 17 the past two years. The vast majority of them were clear starters on their teams -- you knew going into the week that they were starting, because they'd been in the lineup all season or in recent weeks because the starter was out for the season. Not much in the way of Fitzgerald Toussaint or Mike Gillislee types, who took over mid-game and then went on to post big numbers. (Those players are in bold.)
I was thinking about using Gillislee in a one-week league, but I'm not sure I will. Maybe it will be LeSean McCoy still clearly the best back in Buffalo, with minimal production from the No. 2.
| WEEK 17 RUNNING BACKS, 2014-2015 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Team | Att | Yds | TD | Status |
| 2014 | Lamar Miller | MIA | 19 | 178 | 1 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Rashad Jennings | NYG | 27 | 170 | 1 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Frank Gore | SF | 25 | 144 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Justin Forsett | BAL | 17 | 119 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Ronnie Hillman | DEN | 15 | 117 | 1 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Doug Martin | TB | 19 | 108 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Alfred Blue | HOU | 21 | 102 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Christine Michael | SEA | 17 | 102 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Alfred Morris | WAS | 19 | 100 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Jeremy Hill | CIN | 23 | 100 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Eddie Lacy | GB | 26 | 100 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | DeMarco Murray | DAL | 20 | 100 | 1 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | LeSean McCoy | PHI | 17 | 99 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Jeremy Hill | CIN | 16 | 96 | 1 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | C.J. Anderson | DEN | 15 | 95 | 1 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Shonn Greene | TEN | 11 | 94 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Terrance West | CLE | 18 | 94 | 1 | No. 2 |
| 2015 | Darren McFadden | DAL | 12 | 92 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Matt Asiata | MIN | 19 | 91 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | C.J. Anderson | DEN | 13 | 87 | 3 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Donald Brown | SD | 21 | 81 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Chris Ivory | NYJ | 6 | 81 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Matt Forte | CHI | 17 | 76 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Devonta Freeman | ATL | 25 | 76 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Frank Gore | IND | 19 | 76 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Spencer Ware | KC | 16 | 76 | 1 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | David Cobb | TEN | 19 | 73 | 1 | No. 2 |
| 2014 | Branden Oliver | SD | 14 | 71 | 1 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | DeMarco Murray | PHI | 12 | 69 | 1 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Joseph Randle | DAL | 4 | 69 | 1 | No. 2 |
| 2014 | Charles Sims | TB | 18 | 69 | 1 | No. 2 |
| 2015 | DuJuan Harris | SF | 16 | 67 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Adrian Peterson | MIN | 19 | 67 | 1 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Kerwynn Williams | ARI | 17 | 67 | 0 | No. 2 |
| 2015 | Tim Hightower | NO | 16 | 66 | 1 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | LeGarrette Blount | NE | 10 | 62 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Lamar Miller | MIA | 19 | 60 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Joique Bell | DET | 13 | 60 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Marshawn Lynch | SEA | 14 | 60 | 1 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Mike Tolbert | CAR | 10 | 59 | 0 | No. 2 |
| 2014 | Fred Jackson | BUF | 18 | 58 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Mark Ingram | NO | 14 | 57 | 1 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Ronnie Hillman | DEN | 15 | 56 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Jamaal Charles | KC | 13 | 54 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2015 | Isaiah Crowell | CLE | 15 | 53 | 0 | No. 1 |
| 2014 | Robert Turbin | SEA | 11 | 53 | 0 | No. 2 |
| 2014 | Jordan Todman | JAC | 7 | 52 | 0 | No. 2 |
| 2014 | Matt Forte | CHI | 17 | 51 | 0 | No. 1 |
--Andy Richardson