Maybe you aren’t ready to be done with fantasy football yet and have joined a playoff league. A lot of the playoff formats use cumulative scoring, so it’s not just about picking good players — it’s about picking good players who are going to play multiple games.
In a season-long fantasy league, you’d never pick Gabe Davis ahead of Tyreek Hill, who’s a far superior player. In a playoff fantasy league, it might be worth taking Davis ahead of Hill because the Bills are expected to play at least two playoff games and perhaps as many as four, while Hill’s Dolphins are double-digit underdogs this weekend and will probably only play one game.
Here are my tiered positional rankings for cumulative playoff leagues. And here’s a closer look at Running Backs.
Check out our consensus rankings for the Wild Card Round and full 2023 NFL Playoffs 
Fitz’s NFL Playoffs Rankings & Tiers: Running Backs (2023 Fantasy Football)
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Christian McCaffrey should probably be the top pick in any cumulative playoff draft. He’s likely to play at least three games, and he’s probably going to average more than 100 yards from scrimmage per game.
I debated whether to give Joe Mixon his own tier. His per-game production isn’t on par with Austin Ekeler‘s, but Mixon’s Bengals are solid favorites against the Ravens this weekend and have a reasonable chance to win at least two games, while Ekeler’s Chargers are road underdogs this weekend. Miles Sanders is the lead back for an Eagles team expected to play at least two games, but he has a first-round bye and doesn’t offer much as a pass catcher.
I’m above consensus on Chiefs RBs Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon with my playoff rankings. Maybe other rankers were alarmed by the amount of work Ronald Jones got in Week 18, but I think it was a one-week anomaly, and the Chiefs are my pick to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.
Travis Etienne might only play one game — Chargers-Jaguars shapes up as one of the more competitive games of the first round — but I love his matchup against a Chargers defense that has given up the second-most rushing yards and seventh-most fantasy points to RBs.
Two running backs to fade: Kenneth Walker and Raheem Mostert. Walker has had an impressive rookie season but gets a hellish wild-card matchup against an impregnable 49ers run defense. Seattle is also highly unlikely to knock off San Francisco on the road. Mostert broke his thumb in Week 18, leaving his playoff status in doubt.
If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup based on accurate consensus projections – to our Waiver Wire Assistant, which allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team and how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.
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