Who was the number 1 fantasy running back in 2018?

Christian McCaffrey of the Carolina Panthers, with 386 fantasy points in 16 games, an average of 24 points per game, and a best week of 47 that led the entire top ten.

How many fantasy points did Saquon Barkley score in 2018?

Saquon Barkley scored 384 fantasy points for the New York Giants in 2018, an average of 24 per game, finishing second behind Christian McCaffrey's 386.

Which running back had the biggest single fantasy week in 2018?

Christian McCaffrey, whose 47-point week was the highest single-game total among the top ten running backs of 2018. Alvin Kamara's 41 was second best.

What was the tightest finish among 2018 fantasy running backs?

Two spots on the board were razor thin: Christian McCaffrey edged Saquon Barkley by two points, 386 to 384, and Joe Mixon edged David Johnson for tenth place, 243 to 245 in Johnson's favor at ninth. The middle was tight too, with James White, James Conner, and Melvin Gordon separated by only a handful of points at 277, 276, and 272.

Which teams had a top 10 fantasy running back in 2018?

Ten different teams: the Carolina Panthers, New York Giants, Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Los Angeles Chargers, Arizona Cardinals, and Cincinnati Bengals, one player each.

Did the per-game numbers match the total-points order in 2018?

Mostly. The top five ran in order at 24, 24, 23, 22, and 21 points per game, and the middle trio all sat at 17. The bottom pair both averaged 15, so the per-game column split the top ten into four clean tiers.

Top 10 Fantasy RB Seasons of 2018

Christian McCaffrey of the Carolina Panthers had the number one fantasy running back season of 2018, scoring 386 fantasy points in 16 games with a per-game average of 24. Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants finished second at 384 points, just off the lead in a two-man race at the top. The 2018 class stands out for how tightly the top five clustered: every one of them averaged at least 21 fantasy points per game.

What Were the Top 10 Fantasy RB Seasons of 2018?

The full top ten from the 2018 season, ranked by total fantasy points:

The Full 2018 Leaderboard

| Rank | Player | Team | Games | Points | Points Per Game | Best Week | | 1 | Christian McCaffrey | Carolina Panthers | 16 | 386 | 24 | 47 | | 2 | Saquon Barkley | New York Giants | 16 | 384 | 24 | 38 | | 3 | Todd Gurley | Los Angeles Rams | 16 | 366 | 23 | 36 | | 4 | Alvin Kamara | New Orleans Saints | 16 | 348 | 22 | 41 | | 5 | Ezekiel Elliott | Dallas Cowboys | 16 | 329 | 21 | 37 | | 6 | James White | New England Patriots | 16 | 277 | 17 | 31 | | 7 | James Conner | Pittsburgh Steelers | 16 | 276 | 17 | 38 | | 8 | Melvin Gordon | Los Angeles Chargers | 16 | 272 | 17 | 35 | | 9 | David Johnson | Arizona Cardinals | 16 | 245 | 15 | 37 | | 10 | Joe Mixon | Cincinnati Bengals | 16 | 243 | 15 | 29 |

How Did the 2018 Race at the Top Take Shape?

The battle for first came down to two points: Christian McCaffrey's 386 against Saquon Barkley's 384, with both carrying an identical 24 points per game. Todd Gurley made it a three-way breakaway at 366 points, and Alvin Kamara at 348 and Ezekiel Elliott at 329 kept the entire top five within striking distance of each other. What separates McCaffrey in the record is his best week: a 47-point game that no one else in the top ten approached, with Kamara's 41 the next highest.

Barkley's 38-point best week tied James Conner's, and Gurley posted a 36-point week of his own. Elliott's best week of 37 actually sat above Gurley's, one of the places where the single-game column disagrees with the total-points order.

Where Was the Drop-Off in the 2018 Top 10?

The clearest cliff in the 2018 numbers sits between fifth and sixth. Ezekiel Elliott closed the top five at 329 points, and James White opened the back half at 277. Below that, sixth through eighth were nearly interchangeable: White at 277, James Conner at 276, and Melvin Gordon at 272, all averaging 17 points per game. A second, smaller gap separated Gordon from ninth place, where David Johnson's 245 and Joe Mixon's 243 formed their own tight pair at 15 points per game.

The shape of the list is unusual: rather than one dominant season followed by a long fade, 2018 delivered a compressed elite of five, a matched middle trio, and a matched bottom duo. Only at the very top, where McCaffrey's 47-point week towers over every other best week in the table, does a single season clearly stand apart.

Common questions

Who was the number 1 fantasy running back in 2018?: Christian McCaffrey of the Carolina Panthers, with 386 fantasy points in 16 games, an average of 24 points per game, and a best week of 47 that led the entire top ten.
How many fantasy points did Saquon Barkley score in 2018?: Saquon Barkley scored 384 fantasy points for the New York Giants in 2018, an average of 24 per game, finishing second behind Christian McCaffrey's 386.
Which running back had the biggest single fantasy week in 2018?: Christian McCaffrey, whose 47-point week was the highest single-game total among the top ten running backs of 2018. Alvin Kamara's 41 was second best.
What was the tightest finish among 2018 fantasy running backs?: Two spots on the board were razor thin: Christian McCaffrey edged Saquon Barkley by two points, 386 to 384, and Joe Mixon edged David Johnson for tenth place, 243 to 245 in Johnson's favor at ninth. The middle was tight too, with James White, James Conner, and Melvin Gordon separated by only a handful of points at 277, 276, and 272.
Which teams had a top 10 fantasy running back in 2018?: Ten different teams: the Carolina Panthers, New York Giants, Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Los Angeles Chargers, Arizona Cardinals, and Cincinnati Bengals, one player each.
Did the per-game numbers match the total-points order in 2018?: Mostly. The top five ran in order at 24, 24, 23, 22, and 21 points per game, and the middle trio all sat at 17. The bottom pair both averaged 15, so the per-game column split the top ten into four clean tiers.