NFL Week 17 RB Rankings: What Do We Do with Arian Foster and Chris Johnson?

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Don't immediately assume that if a team has been eliminated, their stud RBs will be rested. Yes, if you have a guy that is nursing an injury, the potential for a DNP doubles, but careful monitoring of the health of your rosters should give you the knowledge you need to make these decisions.

Teams that have sealed up their place in the playoffs, however, are an entirely different story. Teams like Philadelphia, New England, the New York Jets and even Kansas City could well be resting their main horses to mitigate the risk of injury. This is especially true for New England. Anyone remember what happened to Welker in Week 17?

We took a long hard look at the playoff scenario earlier this week, and we are now ready to offer up some rankings based on the knowledge we have as of this writing:

1.  Michael Turner vs. Carolina, 1 p.m. Sunday: This is a must-win situation for the Falcons, so Turner will be out there facing the sixth most-porous fantasy rush defense (and second most over the last five weeks). Turner had a modest Week 16 versus the Saints, but he will rebound in this one. He had 112 yards and three scores in Week 14 versus the Panthers in Carolina.

2.  Steven Jackson at Seattle, 8 p.m. Sunday: If Sam Bradford can pull his head out of his ass long enough to keep ye ol' eight and nine in the box from occurring all afternoon, S-Jax should be able to string together a solid fantasy outing versus a Seahawk rush defense that is allowing the fifth most fantasy points to RBs.

3.  Chris Johnson at Indy, 4 p.m. Sunday: With 175 rushing yards, he could crack the 1,500 mark. Plausible? I suppose, given that it's the Colts rush defense that has allowed the seventh most fantasy points to RBs and gives up an average of 116 rush yards in every game. CJ28 is the focal point of all opposing defenses this season, and that has resulted in more modest fantasy numbers.

4.  Ryan Mathews at Denver, 4 p.m. Sunday: Mike Tolbert will not be going this Sunday, so Mathews should be out there in a nice stat-padding effort to close out the season against the worst rush defense in the NFL.

5.  Ray Rice vs. Cinci, 1 p.m. Sunday: Rice makes a great start in a game that has the NFC North division title on the line. The Bengals do a nice job defending the run at 15th best on the season, but eighth best over the past five tilts. Either way, no one can argue the 56 touches he's seen over the past two games.

6.  LeGarrette Blount at New Orleans, 1 p.m. Sunday: Let's keep one thing in mind relative to this young bruiser...he's only been receiving RB1 snaps since Week 8, and is 50 or so yards away from achieving the 1,000-yard mark. Combine that with the fact that the Bucs are still alive for a Wild Card and facing a Saints rush defense that allows the 14th most fantasy points to RBs, and you have yourself a mid-range RB1 fantasy start in Week 17.

7.  Adrian Peterson at Detroit, 1 p.m. Sunday: He was limited in practice on Wednesday, and the Vikings have nothing left to play for.  If his knee is okay, he should play, but there is a ton of risk. If you are playing in a weekly draft league, I'd look other places, if you are playing in a consolation league in your regular season-long leagues, he'd be worth the gamble. If you are considering playing AP, you need to ride his news breakers up until kickoff.

8.  Rashard Mendenhall at Cleveland, 1 p.m. Sunday: The Browns have a solid fantasy rush defense (14th best on the season), but Mendy had success in Week 5, going for 84 yards and a TD. Pittsburgh needs to win to keep their hopes of a division title going, so expect a full slate of touches for Mendy.

9.  Arian Foster vs. Jacksonville, 4 p.m. Sunday: A pro bowl, 2,000-plus total yards, what's left to prove? The Texans could spoil any playoff hopes that the Jags are holding onto, and Foster looked fine in the Week 16 match. The danger here is that if this game gets out of hand one way or the other, it would be logical for the Texans to rest Foster given various little injuries he's recently been nursing. Still, I'd take a chance on him as a low-end RB1.

10. Ryan Torain vs. NY Giants, 4 p.m. Sunday: He should be fine from his rib injury, but this isn't the greatest matchup as the Giants are allowing the sixth fewest fantasy points to RBs in 2010.

Click here for the top 30 RBs for Week 17 at FFArmory.com!