Running Back Strategy in Salary Cap Leagues

The great thing about salary cap leagues is that you can take your team in any direction you want. Your strategy options are completely wide open.

Our Footballguys staff recently sat down to discuss their favored options at running back when playing in a salary cap league.

Assume these league settings:

• $200 cap
• 12 teams
• Full PPR
• Starting Lineup
  • 1 QB
  • 2 RBs
  • 3 WRs
  • 1 TE
  • 1 flex (RB, WR, TE)

How do you approach the running back position in a salary cap draft?

Jeff Haseley: My focus is on targeting at least one second-round value running back as my top back. I also like to target players with an injury discount. Christian McCaffrey is a good example of that this year. Kyren Williams is another whom I am targeting because of the perception of regression around fantasy circles. Chances are, when he is nominated, more people than not will ignore him, thus making him a potential high-value find in the auction.

I figure $38-42 for my RB1, and then $20-28 for RB2, and then fill in the gaps with my remaining budget of $90-100. A running back stable of McCaffrey, Williams, Zach Charbonnet, and maybe TreVeyon Henderson if the price is right. That would be a nice group of four with a few others speckled in at $2-4 apiece. 

Meng Song: In general, if you're reading roundtable discussions in the preseason, consider yourself a fairly prepared or intermediate-level fantasy manager. Assuming you're an active manager in-season, I've found the best auction strategy to be the "stars and scrubs" approach. Bidding high on a couple of elite running backs who would be early-round picks in normal snake drafts will, in theory, give you two strong starters to open the season. You can then load up on high-upside backup running backs for your bench for relatively cheap prices. If you're churning the waiver wire properly in-season, it won't matter if those initial bench running backs don't hit.

Think about every position, especially running backs, in tiers. Just because the RB10 costs $30 on average doesn't necessarily mean that the RB12 should cost around $28. If there's a tier drop due to much lower projected touches or injury concerns, there might be a wide gap in what you're willing to bid despite players being only a couple of spots apart in positional rankings.

Jason Wood: Running backs have historically been the premier position in salary cap drafts and often account for the largest percentage of budgets. If your league has a history, always check to see how much any position group costs in terms of overall spend and build accordingly. I could make a compelling case for spending more on wide receivers in a league that starts 2RBs, 3WRs, and a flex with PPR scoring, since the extra receiver slot increases their weekly value. But if your league traditionally spends 50–55% of budgets on tailbacks and only 25–35% on receivers, you are going to miss out on great running backs completely if you do not adjust your price thresholds.

Maurile Tremblay: I build Hero RB: one elite anchor around $45-55, a sturdy RB2 for $25-35, and a flex-capable RB3 if the room lets me for $5-15, then round out with $1-$3 flyers. I think in tiers, attacking before a tier dries up. In full PPR, I prioritize pass-catching workhorses, stay flexible if prices surge, and prefer limiting myself to one elite RB over chasing two unless a clear discount appears.

Ryan Weisse: To go with my one elite back, I want four more to form a committee for my RB2 spot. I'm usually willing to pay $20 for one, and $10 a piece for the other three. So if all goes well, I am between $90 and $110 in on my running backs. This seems like a lot, but I can still pay a decent amount for two good receivers, or one receiver and a good tight end, with an expected cost of $25 each. 

That leaves me with $40 to $50 to fill out my roster with a quarterback, there are always good quarterbacks available at a discount, and the rest of my receivers. We say this every season, but it holds true: wide receiver is deep, and I have no concern landing guys at the back end who can be my WR3 and flex.

Craig Lakins: For the running back position, I show up to the draft with the players broken up into a few different tiers. The first tier consists of 4-6 of the top RBs available. I will acquire one of them. Tier 2 is made up of high-usage running backs with clear paths to an RB1 finish that don't have quite the ceiling of Tier 1. Guys like Chase Brown, Jonathan Taylor, Josh Jacobs, and James Cook are strong examples. They can comfortably be drafted for around $30. To fill out the rest of my backfield, I lean heavily on the $1 portion of the draft pool. I'm confident that I can find underrated but reliable veterans, talented rookies, and one-injury-away players that will prove valuable throughout the season. 

Drew Davenport: Despite the trend in fantasy drafts to go hard at the wide receiver position,  running back points for the coveted backs in salary cap rooms have typically been more expensive than comparable wide receivers (Ja'Marr Chase is an exception this year). My approach in recent seasons has been to continue to trim my running back budget to keep up with the wide receiver craze, but my thoughts have shifted a bit this year. There is an opportunity for some exceptional value at the running back position, so I'm more open to spending a bit more than in past years.

I also think there is an opportunity to acquire a borderline Top 12 running back for $25-$30, which would give us a lot of flexibility in building the rest of the roster. Guys like Josh Jacobs, James Cook, and Kyren Williams can return lower-level RB1 or upper-level RB2 numbers, and they allow you to spend $75 to $90 on two elite receivers and feel as though your running back situation is in good hands.

If you don't have the stomach for that plan, those same guys make some dynamic RB2s for your roster, and other mid-level RB1s like De'Von Achane and Derrick Henry are able to be rostered for around $40 in most leagues. It's hard to justify going after the top running backs who will command $55 or more in some cases when you can pair two of the players I listed for $65 or $70.

How much of your budget do you allocate to running backs?