{"id":120890,"date":"2026-01-23T21:44:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/?p=120890"},"modified":"2026-01-23T21:44:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:44:48","slug":"nfl-afc-nfc-championship-game-running-back-fantasy-football-outlook-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/fantasy\/nfl-afc-nfc-championship-game-running-back-fantasy-football-outlook-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Conference Championship Running Backs: Fantasy Outlook for Every RB"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the AFC and NFC Championship Games.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Full AFC & NFC Championship Game Fantasy Football Previews<\/h3>\n<div class='jtrt_table_MotherShipContainer'><div class='jtTableContainer jtrespo-scroll  ' ><div class='jtsettingcontainer' style='display:none;position:absolute;left:-9999px;'><textarea data-jtrt-table-id='120768' id='jtrt_table_settings_120768' cols='30' rows='10'>[[[\"Matchup\",\"Time\"],[\"<a href='https:\\\/\\\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\\\/fantasy\\\/patriots-broncos-afc-championship-fantasy-football-preview-nfl-worksheet-rich-hribar-2025\\\/'>Patriots @ Broncos<\\\/a>\",\"Sunday -- 3:00 p.m. ET\"],[\"<a href='https:\\\/\\\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\\\/fantasy\\\/rams-seahawks-nfc-championship-fantasy-football-preview-nfl-worksheet-rich-hribar-2025\\\/'>Rams @ Seahawks<\\\/a>\",\"Sunday -- 6:30 p.m. ET\"]],[{\"row\":0,\"col\":0,\"visualRow\":0,\"visualCol\":0,\"prop\":0},{\"row\":0,\"col\":1,\"visualRow\":0,\"visualCol\":1,\"prop\":1},{\"row\":1,\"col\":0,\"visualRow\":1,\"visualCol\":0,\"prop\":0,\"jtcellstyle\":{\"font-weight\":\"bold\"}},{\"row\":1,\"col\":1,\"visualRow\":1,\"visualCol\":1,\"prop\":1},{\"row\":2,\"col\":0,\"visualRow\":2,\"visualCol\":0,\"prop\":0,\"jtcellstyle\":{\"font-weight\":\"bold\"}},{\"row\":2,\"col\":1,\"visualRow\":2,\"visualCol\":1,\"prop\":1}],[],[]]<\/textarea><textarea data-jtrt-table-id='120768' id='jtrt_table_bps_120768' cols='30' rows='10'>[]<\/textarea><\/div><table id='jtrt_table_120768' data-sorting='false' data-paging='false' data-paging-size='10' data-paging-menu='10,20,50,100' data-filtering='false' data-jtrt-table-id='120768' class='jtrt-table  ' ><thead><tr><th>Matchup<\/th><th>Time<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><a href='https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/fantasy\/patriots-broncos-afc-championship-fantasy-football-preview-nfl-worksheet-rich-hribar-2025\/'>Patriots @ Broncos<\/a><\/td><td>Sunday -- 3:00 p.m. ET<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href='https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/fantasy\/rams-seahawks-nfc-championship-fantasy-football-preview-nfl-worksheet-rich-hribar-2025\/'>Rams @ Seahawks<\/a><\/td><td>Sunday -- 6:30 p.m. ET<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/div>\n<!--TOC-->\n<h2>Kenneth Walker<\/h2>\n<p>Walker will have control of this backfield on Sunday with <strong>Zach Charbonnet<\/strong> suffering an ACL injury last week.<\/p>\n<p>The Seattle running game has ramped up to close the season.<\/p>\n<p>They have rushed for 171, 163, 180, and 175 yards over the past four games after averaging 113.0 rushing yards per game prior (22nd).<\/p>\n<p>Walker has posted games with 164, 133, and 145 total yards over that stretch, which includes rushing 11 times for 100 yards and a touchdown with 3 catches for 64 yards against the Rams in Week 16.<\/p>\n<p>In the Week 11 matchup between these teams, Walker rushed 16 times for 67 yards and a touchdown, catching 3 passes for 44 yards.<\/p>\n<p>Walker worked as the clear lead back with Charbonnet inactive in Week 3.<\/p>\n<p>Before that game got out of hand against the Saints, Walker handled 8 of 9 backfield touches in the first half and 17 of 18 through three quarters.<\/p>\n<p>In the third quarter and first drive of the fourth quarter last week, following Charbonnet\u2019s injury, Walker accounted for 12 of 12 backfield touches and played 75% of the offensive snaps.<\/p>\n<p>The Seattle depth chart at running back is down to <strong>Velus<\/strong> <strong>Jones<\/strong> and <strong>Cam<\/strong> <strong>Akers<\/strong>, with <strong>George Holani<\/strong> potentially coming off injured reserve.<\/p>\n<p>In a win-or-go-home game, I would expect Seattle to ask a lot of Walker on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>The Rams held Walker to a 33.3% success rate as a rusher in the two games between these teams, but Walker found his way to big gains.<\/p>\n<p>He had runs of 17, 25, and 55 yards (TD) in those games.<\/p>\n<p>Walker has been his best this season on outside zone runs, which account for 38.8% of his attempts (12th).<\/p>\n<p>On those outside zone runs, Walker has rushed for 5.1 yards per carry with a run of 10 or more yards on 18.3% of those attempts.<\/p>\n<p>Walker rushed for 5.3 YPC on 11 outsize zone runs against the Rams this season.<\/p>\n<p>Walker\u2019s two highest yardage totals through the air this season came in the two matchups against the Rams, anchored by receptions of 23 and 46 yards.<\/p>\n<p>He has at least 3 receptions in six of his past nine games while running a route on 39.4% of the dropbacks.<\/p>\n<p>In that Week 3 game without Charbonnet, Walker was on the field for 55.6% of the team's dropbacks through three quarters.<\/p>\n<p>We highlighted Darnold\u2019s reduction in depth of target to close the season.<\/p>\n<p>That has increased the usage of the running backs in the passing game.<\/p>\n<p>Darnold has thrown to running backs 19.5% of the time over the back half of that split (13th) compared to a league-low 10.3% rate before.<\/p>\n<p>Darnold threw to his running backs 11.9% of the time in Week 11, then 22.6% of the time in the Week 16 matchup.<\/p>\n\t<div class=\"sf_postarticle_read\">\n\t\t<h3 class=\"title-heading-center\">To continue reading this article<\/h3>\n\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t<p><p>and gain access to The Worksheet as well as all of our postseason betting recommendations, click below to learn more about our Postseason Package.<\/p>\n<\/p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/postseason-betting\/?utm_source=site&utm_medium=article-paywall\" class=\"fusion-button fusion-button-pill button-large button-1 pink-border-button custurl_metabtn\"><span>Learn More<\/span><\/a><\/div>\t\t<div class=\"sflogintext\">\n\t\t\tAlready a Subscriber?<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/login\/?redurl=https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/fantasy\/nfl-afc-nfc-championship-game-running-back-fantasy-football-outlook-2025\/\">Log In<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"sf_image_divider\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/themes\/Avada-child\/img\/red_lines-separate.png\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t<div class='sfa-image-adds' style=\"margin-bottom: 20px;\">\n\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/newsletter\/'>\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Sharp-Football-Analysis-Newsletter-Ad.jpg\" class=\"attachment-size-full size-size-full\" alt=\"Sharp Football Analysis Newsletter\" \/>\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar,  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":120904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Best Conference Championship Running Backs: Fantasy Outlook for Every RB","_seopress_titles_desc":"Rich Hribar runs down the best fantasy football running backs for the AFC & NFC Championship Games. Fantasy outlook for every Conference Championship running back.","_seopress_robots_index":"","mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-120890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy","tag-articles"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls":{"medium":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-300x200.jpg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-150x150.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-768x512.jpg","custom-size":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-694x683.jpg","custom-size-content":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-300x300.jpg","podcast-custom-size":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-350x350.jpg","homecustom-size-content":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-500x500.jpg","viz-thumb":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-255x140.jpg","amp-wp-small":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-100x100.jpg","amp-wp-large":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-738x430.jpg","amp-wp-normal":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-230x160.jpg","blog-large":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-669x272.jpg","blog-medium":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-320x202.jpg","recent-posts":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kenneth-Walker-NFCCG-2025-700x441.jpg"},"appp_media":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120890"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120909,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120890\/revisions\/120909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}