10 PPR Running Backs to Target in Your 2017 Fantasy Football Draft

Theo Riddick, Detroit Lions

Standard Running Back Rank: 34
PPR Running Back Rank: 26
Average Draft Position (PPR): 7.09 (RB33)

Despite missing six games in 2016 with wrist and ankle injuries, Theo Riddick finished sixth among NFL running backs in receptions (53) and tied for first among running backs in receiving touchdowns (5). (And, despite only playing 10 games, he still finished as the Detroit Lions' leading rusher, with 357 yards.)

He saw at least five targets in 9 of the 10 games he appeared in during 2016 and averaged a career-high 16.18 fantasy points per game in PPR leagues (versus 10.9 per game in standard leagues).

With the absence of Anquan Boldin, who commanded a 15.99% market share in the Lions' passing game and saw 95 targets in 2016, Riddick could continue to build on his workload in 2017.

The shifty 26-year-old back signed a three-year extension last summer after an 80-reception season in 2015. This summer, the Lions are treating Riddick with caution during camp when it comes to making sure he's totally healthy, because they realize how valuable of a weapon he can be in the passing game.

"We try to play to guys’ strengths,” head coach Jim Caldwell said in June. “Theo’s carried the ball for us some, but he’s also been deadly out of the backfield. We’re certainly not going to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to put him in the backfield and run him 50 times and throw the ball to him two times.’ That’s not his strength. So we still try to play to guys’ strengths. He’s been talented for us in both areas, but he’s been deadly in the passing game. So I think that’s going to continue, at least we hope."

If you're a fantasy player, that's promising rhetoric for a proven pass-catcher going at RB33 in drafts.