Early Top 15 RB Rankings + Pre-Draft Vibes - Fantasy Football Podcast for 4/14

Getting bored of companies who spend 30 seconds listening to their awards? So are we. Here's what you actually need to know. Capital.com is rated 4.6 on Trustpilot and 4.8 on TradingView. That's based on real reviews by people just like you. Join over 750,000 plus traders who use Capital.com. Capital.com. Trade with clarity. 62% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. Is your dog scratching, itching or rubbing? When they're suffering from an itchy skin condition, finding an at-home remedy that brings relief can seem impossible. That's where your vet comes in. They're the only one who can diagnose the cause and offer effective relief to bring your itchy dog a source of comfort. See your vet to find a source of comfort for your itchy dog. Learn more at itchydogcare.co.uk Welcome in. Tuesday, April 14th. Welcome into the fantasy footballers. Mike Wright is here. Jason Moore. Accounted for. I'm Andy Holloway. Welcome in one and all. Great show for you today. It's never too early for the early top 15 running backs. Not when you call them early. No, we have prefaced it. These are the early top 15 running back rankings episode or I guess we have running backs today. Wide receivers on Thursday. Getting into early rankings. These early rankings are really about the heart. You know what I mean? Because like when our fully established rankings come out when, you know, at June 1st, the ultimate draft kit, we've statted everybody out. This is like, this is more vibes. You know what I mean? I'm like, I like this guy more. I don't have him statted out yet and I'm not sure 100% that like that's how the chips are going to fall. But if you made me draft today, I'd probably draft this guy. Yeah, exactly. So we're going to go through our top 15. Buy consensus. So we have some differences of opinion and they get averaged out here. So that's the main event today. We got some news to talk about as well. A reminder, you can watch the show over on YouTube. YouTube.com slash the fantasy footballer subscribe. Click the bell. We do some live events over there that way you know what's going on. Magic wall. And we have a magic wall. That's what we should just call it. We do. We have a magic wall. That's what we should just call it. We do. We have a magic wall. If at any moment magic Mike's wall, if we want to just be in the middle of the Caribbean. No, it's just it's good for search engine stuff. Okay. He wants the he wants the naming rights on the wall. He wants to be magic. Magic Mike's. I think you're going to get different results. You know what I mean? We're not going to crack that. I'm just trying to get a new audience. All right. We're going to go over the magic wall. Mike's magic. Mike's magic. No, no, no magic Mike's. That's what it is. The draft kit is ultimate draft kit.com. If you want to go preorder it is the best possible price right now. You will get instant access to the dynasty pass. If you pick up the ultimate draft kit and you know that we're almost to the draft. We're 10 days away, which is crazy. And we're we're rapidly approaching crazy season. And we're even still being surprised at times. That's what I mean. We're we're in it where you're a group think in and just like in fantasy football when you get in the tops, like some group think does start to take over and NFL mock drafts. It's hard to not have, you know, I'm going to be peek at my friend's paper and see how they're doing things over there. But we just had Daniel Jeremiah, who's great at his job. I love Daniel Jeremiah always had you like to start a conversation about somebody because he just great at his job. But no, we don't ever see that. Okay. Good point. Like Papa Josh is a guy. That's the that's the end you go from there. Okay. But he had Jeremiah love not only falling in the in the top 10, which I did. I do believe that that could happen. That could happen. Sure. But the but going to the Kansas City Chiefs at nine after making Ken Bone Walker the fourth highest paid running back. It just is like that's what teams teams do wild stuff. But that would just be such a use of your assets to make your team better to just lock them all into the running back position. I mean, that really would be the closest thing to the running back version of Michael Pinnick's junior to the yes. Where you spent the off season spending huge money on somebody. Now you don't normally do that at running back, especially when you look at that team and you're like, well, they could use Mackay and limit. They could use Jordan Tyson. They could use carnal tape. One of those guys would be there at nine. Certainly at least one will be there if not all three on Sadiq. So don't don't put Sadiq to the Chiefs. Jay. Why? Because we can't survive it. I know. All of us who are holding the wall of like, can you Sadiq has some red flags? In his profile, he is as a prospect. You're like, golly, it's really hard not to push up the chips all the way into the middle of the table with what he can do. Just who he is as an athlete with my homes. But then you put them on the Chiefs and it's like, it'll be quite Edwards a layer all over again. You'll just any red flag, you'll split them in half and you'll go right through them and say, what, what, what problems sees on the Chiefs. That's everything that the draft represents. That level of conversation and insanity and there will be, it might not be Jeremiah loved of the Chiefs, but there will be so Kido. Oh, we got a magic mic wall. Oh, goodness gracious. We did not ask for that. This was not. I'm out of here. What? See, we got a new audience coming out. Al comes back from vacation and he's just. Things you can do anything. Am I wrong that I'm mad at how long it took? If that was the gag, that was a while. It should be pretty quick. I think he doesn't have all the protocol down for mics or magic. My wall. Yeah, there's just no reason for any of this to have happened today. Um, okay. We got news to talk about. We'll do it right now. News and notes from around the league. The Eagles have acquired, uh, Johan Dotson. Oh wait, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's this year's Johan Dotson. It's Dontavian wicks from the Packers. They already acquired this year's Johan Dotson when they picked up Hollywood Brown. Oh, so this could be and different and Elijah Moore. Oh, they just also on the team. Don't forget what? Cause I did one Elijah more plus one Hollywood plus one Dontavian wicks equals one traded AJ Brown. It feels that way. It really feels like this is all preparation for him saying sayonara. I mean, I look two picks. It was a fifth, fifth round and a sixth round for a fifth round this year, six run next year and they gave him a one year, 12 and a half million dollar extension, which I don't remember Kyle. Do you remember what the Hollywood Brown contract was? Wicks is the best player not named AJ Brown and Devonte Smith in the wide receiver room. On a team that doesn't throw the ball with the volume that we're excited for in fantasy combined with, you know, do they take, I mean, they've been rumored to be a home for Tyson or one of these young wide receivers. They will draft one as well. That's what I'm saying. They're going to draft a wide receiver. AJ Brown will be a patriot. That's what I believe. Okay. Racini told me and. Hey, we don't have any answers people. We got questions. Yeah, we got the same questions you do. I can tell you like danger field on that. I can tell you boots on the ground. I have been to that resort. Mike has been to that same. He has inside. I went with my wife to this resort. It is a romantic. It is a very romantic spot. It's just telling you I've been there. Not saying one way or the other. But I've been. Gosh, I believe you said that that the spot of that photograph was on top of a room. It is a private balcony that all the rooms have. Yeah. And Mike did research. No answers. Just questions. Hollywood Brown was a one year five million. Hollywood doesn't matter. So Wix is. More really doesn't matter. Wix could matter a little bit. You have to convince yourself that the number two or three guy on this receiving room. I mean, Dallas got it. Is he still a question mark? He's a question mark because he's never done anything until last year. I'm just saying from a past catching standpoint, it's just hard for me to believe Wix will be relevant regularly. Of course. What's his ADP? Wix will probably be left into the double digit rounds of someone who's interesting to take a shot. He's the last round pick guy. Also, the Green Bay Packers implication. That one is almost more interesting because when they, so Dobbs left and it was like, oh, Wix might hang on and actually be somewhat relevant on the Packers. So they trade him away. So you have Watson Reed and Matthew Golden are your primary wide outs. Tucker Kraft comes back from the ACL injury, but it's like, if your team golden, just keep, hope they keep shipping these wide receivers out. Yeah. I know. I think, I think Christian Watson, I mean, before this move, Watson was climbing up my boards as a true light. I agree. Early my guy candidate that is happening, you know, Wix leaving. It makes it even more of a just, is he going to be healthy? And if he's healthy, he's probably going to be good. Devon HN not close to agreeing on a contract extension so far. That makes sense. It's April and he just stopped showing up. So don't work on that. Travis Hunter expected to be a full time quarterback this upcoming season. Oh man. Now, let me tell you a little story. Once upon a time, moments before this, moments before this news formally broke. There have been, there's been speculation that this might be the case. Still there was talk about Brian Thomas Jr. getting traded. Like that's still a rumor. So I thought to myself, like maybe, maybe I could get Travis Hunter super cheap. Oh, interesting. In a dynasty. Okay. Because of the rumors and maybe I'm like, this guy's too good of a wide receiver to keep him off the field. Anyways, I pulled that trade back. Yeah. As soon as this news broke and I'm very, very happy that I did. Yeah. It would have been, it would have been a problem. It is a very interesting question in dynasties. What do you do if you have Travis Hunter? You invested a early pick. You know, he was, he was a first round pick last year and now you're worried, presuming you're not in an IDP league where you can use him as a cornerback. You're worried that he might literally have no value for the rest of his career for fantasy. My whole thought on it was that one, where he was drafted and two, he's, he was the, wasn't he the bulletinikov winner at wide receiver? Is that the, maybe that's a tight end award. Isn't bulletinikov wide receiver? The bulletinikov is wide receiver. But I don't remember if Hunter won it. He won the Heisman. Yeah. Thank you, Kyle. Also, you also won the bulletinikov award. Spell bulletinikov. As the nation's most Jason. Yeah. Please spell bulletinikov. B. Okay. I. Litinikov. Yes. That is correct. He was the, he was the nation's most outstanding receiver. To me, you look at that situation and you're like, how do you keep that guy off of the offensive side? One injury, one, one situation. I think he, I think his days contributing on offense are not over. I will say that, but I'm not trading what I was offering. Okay. So what would you trade him away for if you had him? A future second? No, I'd still need a first. Oh, I don't think you're getting a first. But then I'm not trading. I'm saying like that you have to come, I have to recoup something. I was offered Travis Hunter for a couple of future seconds and I turned that down and countered with a, like a 2028 third and a 2027 second. And then I pulled that away when this news broke. But I think this, this news is a bit, could be premature. I mean, Travis Hunter is debating, disputing it, isn't he? Yeah. He'd said something on Twitter, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Bayshall, Tuten rumors. Let's just stay with Jacksonville. Roll an opportunity going to see a major hike. Amazing, amazing breaking news here. Travis H.H.J. Jr. Yes. Was traded. That's, no, he just signed by the same. So that's kind of, this is our first attempt at properly pronouncing his name. I'm going to go ahead and put myself out there on a limb and say, I'm going to get it wrong. Yeah. That's all right. So we're going to try. Yeah. So we'll give it a go. Um, formerly, the artist formerly noticed Travis ETS, uh, Travis H.H.J. Jr. in New Orleans. Yeah. The opportunities of course going to go up for Bayshall too. Can I report stuff like this? John Shipley did. But it's also, he believes. We're not, we're not a hundred percent. Sure. This is on us for mentioning it. Bijon Robinson's fifth year option has been picked up. He's going to be expensive soon. Uh, we're going to go ahead and kick it off here. We're going to get right into the running backs. Running backs. I can't, I can't believe we're here guys. Our top 15 running backs, early rankings. We get to discuss a number of these players that will. We should also layer in like, could they get messed up in the draft? Yeah. If there's any other names in there. Um, Kyle put together some stats for us. What makes the top 15 running back? The average for a top 10, top 15 running back 312 opportunities, 250 rushing attempts, about 1100 yards on the ground, 10 rushing touchdowns. On average, 60 targets, 47 receptions, 365 and three in the receiving game. So over the last five years, 77% of top 15 running backs, average at least 18 opportunities a game. So you, you need workload. Yep. 77% had at least 10 total touchdowns. So between the, you know, the rushing work and the receiving work, at least 10 touchdowns. And then, um, you know, they were also on winning teams. This one, this one matters though. Top 15 running backs were on NFL teams that average 8.9 wins. Like when you're going through the list, there's, there are definitely guys who will break through because they, you know, like, uh, like Devon HN or now I'm, now I'm messing his name. It's not Devon HN. It's not Devon ETN. That's for sure. I froze there. Devon HN. You're any HN in the conversation. Oh my gosh. We'll get it. Uh, but it's like the dolphins, they don't project to be a great team. Let me ask you this. Some guys can break through. Is HN, is it a, is it like a Louisiana way of saying ETN? Like, Kind of. We do, we have Papa Josh here who grew up in Louisiana. He did confirm this. The way they pronounce things is very different. Thank you. Thank you. Um, so anyways, you're going to mess up. Poor Devon HN is going to get messed up. If he already did. I was like, Oh crap. If you didn't see Kyle Brant talking about the, the, uh, the name swap, well not swap, the, the correction of HN, him bringing up Brett Farve was like the funniest part. Cause it's like, yeah, hold on now. Yeah. Those are in the wrong order. The letters, they're backwards. The problem isn't the name at all. The problem is, I wish we would have known sooner. Yeah. When you go to the NFL, combine, or at least like the NFL draft, when you're drafted, that should be part of the processes. Okay. Now tell us second contract name changes or not. I'm not cool. The only time that it's acceptable is if you're basically adding a senior, you had a son. Now you could, you can amend your name. I think it's, you know, there's, there's, there should be rules in life. But I'm, you're bringing up a good point. Like how is the NFL? Do they not do this? They must not. Like when they, it seems pretty easy to solve. Everyone comes to the combine, give me your name. See I do. State your name. Maybe you change your mind. On how you say it? Maybe you. Well they called him ETN for so long that maybe it was just like, whatever, he's, I can't keep correcting people. But now we got paid. Yeah. And it's time to straighten people out. But this is your last one. None of this chosen Anderson stuff. We're not doing this 10 times. We're not doing this 20 times for you. All right. You guys ready to get started? Yep. We'll include number one and number two in the same discussion pretty much because the debate is going to be these two guys. But number one on our list, B-John Robinson, number two, Jameer Gibbs. We did not all agree with the order here. You guys both had B-John at number one. I have Jameer Gibbs at number one. That is, that is just a product of the Mongolia. How dare you. I know. It's unacceptable. But yeah, I just like Detroit's offense more. That's it. That makes sense. I mean, you just talked about these top running backs usually come from good teams. Right now it's a seven and a half win total for the Falcons. They haven't had a winning season in quite some time. Since 2017. Wow. Gross. Sorry, Kyle. Not sorry. I'm a Cardinals fan. Yeah. Cardinals are like one in 10 years or so. Yeah, that's not. Sorry. That's congrats. I mean, the team is pretty good. But yeah, I mean, the question between B-John and Jameer Gibbs is splitting hairs. I think the more explosive games will come from Jameer Gibbs. You don't see as many breakaway touchdown runs from B-John usually, although he did last year. Yeah, he did. Have a couple. You know, he's been last year and now this offseason training with CMC. I don't seem like you got a little bit more explosive last year. Maybe that'll be. I just think B-John is the better running back. The just overall, you know, if I was building a NFL team, I would draft him over Gibbs. Yeah, he is a video game character. Number one enforced missed tackles on Russia attempts. Number one in yards after contact. Number one among all running backs and percentage of teams first read targets. You know, I don't know or like their quarterback situation. So we'll see how their offense is able to move. They agree. They agree. Jameer Gibbs also is getting, I know we like to joke about the blobfish, but the running scheme, I trust it in Detroit. So it's splitting hairs. I lean the Gibbs way. It's hard to repeat it. Number one, you do see changes and I like them winning more games. I just think that there's no one to compete with Gibbs at all. B-John's amazing flip a coin. The really ironic and insulting thing here is we're talking about who between these two guys should be the running back one. And it's those two. And we're not even considering the guy who was the running back one, Christian McCaffrey, who very well might just continue scoring more fantasy points than every other player out there as he has done multiple times in his career. Is this just age? Gibbs was tied with McCaffrey in the first read targets, you know, getting the receiving work. So we like that as a special recipe. But yeah, I think it's age injury risk. I mean, it's not a small difference. Number three is Christian McCaffrey. We'll take a quick break and come back and talk about last year's absolutely dominant victory lap for Mike. Is your dog scratching, itching or rubbing? When they're suffering from an itchy skin condition, finding an at home remedy that brings relief can seem impossible. That's where your vet comes in. They're the only one who can diagnose the cause and offer effective relief to bring your itchy dog a source of comfort. See your vet to find a source of comfort for your itchy dog. Learn more at itchydogcare.co.uk. All right, Jason, you brought it up. Christian McCaffrey, right now we all have him at three. So that's including Mike. Mike is one of us. Yep. And he has him at three. It was an incredible year. He had 413 touches, which is the most since DeMarco Murray in 2014. I remember that DeMarco Murray season. And I remember it wasn't that good forever. CMC has been good forever. It's wild. I mean, it was everything that Mike could have dreamed and more. 21.5 fantasy points per game and all the touches he could handle. He and 17 weeks. Yep. That's the thing is he stayed healthy. There's numbers of running backs who get this many opportunities, then they get hurt the next year. This was part of the conversation for Seyquan Barkley going into last season. But it's like, I don't know for sure if this is truly a correlation or causation event of you. Well, I had all these opportunities. It sort of makes sense, but it's just every running back gets hurt. When you play all 17 games, as much faith as I had in McCaffrey, I didn't expect 17 games. That's preposterous to expect it from anyone at the running back position. When you draft him, you should think, I hope I'm getting 15 games from this player. And I hope they're not out in championship week. He only played, he's played 17 weeks twice. And both times it was after a seven game season and a four game season. So he definitely didn't, you know, you talk about workload. This will be the interesting one. He's not the same player. This is not McCaffrey of two years ago. Watching him, you know, that where he always had kind of a sneakier burst and like, oh, yeah, Chris McCaffrey really is faster than I remember. That's going down. It, but he's going to catch the ball so much. You have the George Kittle, Torna Killies is a situation because it's a weird of, well, if he's out, I would expect McCaffrey to catch the ball more. But if George Kittle is out, it's not as good for, for Christian McCaffrey in the San Francisco 49ers. Their offense, they really need guys there. Like who's really in Mike Evans. I think helps their passing game a lot because the, the recession is like, it's one, like you lost George Kittle and now you're bringing in Mike Evans. I mean, there's, so you really only, you have like one alpha player besides Christian McCaffrey. Yeah. It's funny when they got in the red zone, they passed the ball to McCaffrey. McCaffrey led the league in red zone receptions, type of almond raw, which that's the first running back to ever do that. And so I do think in the red zone, Mike Evans is going to be a pretty important piece of that offense and Kittle coming back eventually. So they'll have both in the red zone. Yeah. So I mean, that's, you can't really say much negative on Christian McCaffrey other than just with that much work. And at his age, he carries a lot of risk and we've seen that before, but if he's on the field, he's going to score more fantasy points than everyone else. Yeah. To Mike's point about not being the same guy during his prime season, his average long run was like 26.5, 20.5 last, last year there were, it was like 13. Like he didn't, and that, that's just looking at all the long, you know, every game, what was his long run in every game and averaging it out. He didn't have as many explosive plays. I think the second to last game of the season, he had a 44 yard run. He had a 41 yard run, but before that, his long on the year was 24. So he really, he wasn't ripping off the normal chance. What was his yards for carry? 3.9. Yeah. So this was a product of volume. And so if the volume comes down, whenever the volume eventually comes down for McCaffrey, you're going to see those numbers come down. He's not going to do it forever, but he can probably do it again on a team projected to win 10 and a half games. We just talked about that recipe for success. They're not going to go away from him unless injury comes his way. So you know, Mike, considering what he represented value wise last year, compared to what he's going to cost this year, how are you looking at the McCaffrey proposition compared to the other names? So right now on underdog, so in best ball, he's going as the running back four. I think we have a three, three or four is fine. I just, I feel my, my confidence level and B, John and Jameer Gibbs is just much higher than it is in McCaffrey because those guys are, they're still younger and they can still rip off the 50 yard touchdowns every once in a while. So this, I'm not, I'm not abandoning McCaffrey, but I just prefer the other two guys if I'm picking one on one. Last year, the number two running back was believe it or not, Jonathan Taylor, who comes in at number four for us in our early running back rankings. I have them at six, Jason and Mike have them at four. It's been an interesting career for him. I mean, sophomore season, he's the number one overall fantasy running back. He goes through a couple of years where he's missed time, banged up, offensive and quarterback problems has kind of a more of a, a weird year in 2024 finishes his RB nine. Anthony Richardson and company figuring out, was that a Carson Wentz here? I don't remember when the Carson Wentz here was, but probably the year before, but we, we just didn't get to see that like top tier Jonathan Taylor again until last year. They got the offense figured out with Daniel Jones and all of a sudden he was a dominator again. It's his best season since 2021 and he was a steal in drafts. He was the RB nine off the board. So I think you, as someone who in our league of record, I had Jonathan Taylor and my goodness, I was, I was ready to sell early in the, in the year. You were ready to bail or storm with the future and I'm like, I can't, I've got Jonathan Taylor. He is single-handedly going to win people championships. The first 10 weeks of the season, when their offense was good, he was lapping the field. Christian McCaffrey was the running back to at 21.4 points. Jonathan Taylor was averaging 25.9. It was so crazy the breakaway runs and you would, you'd be carried by him. He was unstoppable. And so I think the big question mark for Jonathan Taylor is the health of Daniel Jones. We'll, we'll know as we get closer to the season what this offense looks like, but it really is about it. That is the question to me because I think he could absolutely be the number one running back better than Bijon. If their offense is good, if their team is good, which that was the surprise last year. The Colts were not supposed to be a good team. And then it turned out they were the number one seed late into the season. Well, that's two questions then question one is, will Daniel Jones be healthy? And question two is if Daniel Jones is healthy, are they a good team? I think so. I think, I think that they will be. He is competent enough to allow like Daniel Jones is competent enough to allow Jonathan Taylor to not just see stacked boxes. And if you don't stack the box against big old Johnny Taylor, he's going right through you. Yeah. Once Daniel Jones went down, they were, I think leading the league in points per game at almost 30, they went down to 20 points per game with Rivers and Leonard, Riley Leonard. We don't know if Daniel Jones is going to be a hundred percent when the season starts. So that does add some risk to Jonathan Taylor. So but you know, in terms of the top tier names, it's, it's hard not to include him. Number five, James Cook. I have him at four. So I do have him ahead of Jonathan Taylor, Jason and Mike, you both got him at five. James Cook is basically forced himself into this conversation with the consistent play and the way the team is running the football and making that a priority. He is, he's strange because he feels like the anomaly to me of anomaly. Oh, okay. Did I say it wrong? He said it interestingly. Okay. However, I said it, that's what he is because he's an interesting player of, you know, Andy ran through the numbers of like on average, you know, the running backs in the top 15, top 15 are getting 60 targets. Cook is at 40. I never had 60. This is not someone who's just, you know, the hitting you with the PPR scam, just getting pad in those points at the, the end of the half or at the end of the game. That's not been the game. It's just, he just, he's so dominant on the ground and the touchdown regression that, that never showed up. They just, they kept using them the same exact way, but he feels, oh, I, I, James Cook, it's frustrating because he feels more fragile to me, but then you watch him play football. You're like, that's dumb. You should not have any concerns about him physically or his, his consistency. Like physically fragile. No, no, no, no, no. I'm not even talking about his size. I'm talking about how he's utilized in an offense. Like he's, it's more like Derek Henry. It is a, that's a good 190 pounds. That's the, the weird thing is he's, he has not the league, right? Yeah. In rushing, I believe he did. Yeah. So I mean, the other thing that's like, like Derek, what did I say? I said, he had 40 targets. Yeah. Henry's a 21. So I get that's a sizable gap, but it's like both of those are not numbers that are, that you would typically expect from a guy in the top five. He had 11 top 10 finishes. So only CMC had more, which is like the anti fragility argument is that if you finished in the top 10 that many times, you actually were the most reliable. He was, he was pretty dominant all season long. Yes. He also played every single game. So I mean, I didn't expect them to pay him and then he would just walk into the shoes that they paid him to walk into. Yes. Yeah. The size of the contract they gave him based off of how much work they were allowing him to take didn't seem to match and they corrected that. I mean, the nice thing is I agree with you, Mike. He's always the scariest pick to me because it's like undersized, not super involved in the passing game. Do not want to play against him though. No. And he's on a great offense. That's the one thing that we know is that Josh Allen and the bills, they're going to score a lot of touchdowns. So his opportunities to have a lot of touchdowns is much better than say, Bijans. But he's always the one that I'm holding my breath when I draft, even though he is literally leading the league in rushing. Yeah. I'm trying to change that. That's why I got him where he's at. I think he's, you know, we have consistency on the offense with Brady now. So I'm pretty excited about another solid season from James Cook. I don't think DJ Moore is going to talk me out of him in any capacity. You're always going to have Josh Allen as a threat to steal some of those goal line TDs. But over the last two years, it's, it's been wild. Devon ETN at number six. We can't just flip them. No, he's going to confuse us. See, we had to do it. That's the funny thing about it. We had to do it with a chance. Yep. Cause when he was coming out, he was a chain. He was a chain and then he corrected it. So anything to do with a Chan gets corrected. Devon a Chan is 24 years old. I got him at five. Jason, a mic at six. He had 11 plus fancy points in every single game he played last year. He was the picture of consistency. He was the only one of the only watchable parts of that team. I mean, his consistency is outrageous. You look at his, just his game log last year and his worst game was double digit fantasy points. The worst, no real bad games the entire season and a inconsistency. Now he is finding himself in a situation where you expect the offense to be bad. Like I think that this will be a bottom third offense. However, he is all of it. You know, he's going to catch a million passes this next year. And I don't know how it doesn't work when you are, when you are so good at pass catching at the running back position. That's the one area where I think you can be on a poor team and still succeed for fantasy. Because if you're down, you're just getting dump offs like crazy. 1350 rushing yards to go with it. This will be a team with a brand new quarterback, a brand new head coach and offensive coordinator. Probably two rookie wide receivers will be talking about after the draft. I don't know what their names will be, but they'll probably draft at least two worth talking about because they don't have anybody else. No more Tyreek Hill, no more Jalen Waddle. And we will go into the season really questioning their offensive capability. The nice thing about that is I feel like we're probably only going to be able to be pleasantly surprised with the expectations because you just said it and you've been saying it all off season. I don't necessarily think the Dolphins are going to suck on offense, but because they did suck on offense. And so an HM was awesome. So I think that Malik Willis is a, I liked him right in the off season. So I think he, there's the possibility that we get surprised in a positive way. HM to me is still one of those guys that can finish it number one at the position. Not everybody's going to agree with that, but I believe it's very possible with his consistency and big plays. So number seven, O'Marion Hampton. Okay. All right. O'Marion Hampton, I got him at eight. Jason at seven. Mike at 10. A little bit more of a disparity here. He got it going, started to get it going in week three. Najee Harris got hurt. Top 10 finishes in weeks three and four. Then he gets hurt in week five and you don't see him again until week 14. They had established other running backs in the offense. He was not fully healthy. Doesn't really have a big fantasy finish to the year. And here he is at seven. Yeah. It takes a lot of projecting here. He hasn't done it yet. We don't know that he's going to have the workload that you would hope to be drafting him as like the running back seven, but the projection from me is very easy. The dude is awesome. I mean, as a prospect coming out of college, he was a top tier. He's an S class type of running back to me. The fact that he hasn't done it yet means that I think there will be value in the draft. I don't think he's going to, you know, he, he could very well finish super high. I think the offense is good. Justin Herbert is good. Their offensive line, they got the best center in the, in the league out of nowhere. They're getting their left tackle and right tackle back. I'm, I'm just very bullish about the opportunity and the player. So it is projection to say, I think he's going to get the workload. That's the scary part is what if it's, what if it's more of a time share than we hope or want. When I was looking at the top 15 running backs and we, you know, we ranked beyond 15 to get to our consensus. He was very clear that there's only, there's only so many names where you can create the narrative and the path and the story of how it's going to go extremely well from a workload perspective, offense, touchdown opportunities, good team, Hamptons in that category. There's not, you, you drop down this list. There's certain guys that you just can't make the case that they're going to be everything for their team. He certainly could be underdog ADP has them at RB 10. That would be kind of the value you're potentially talking about. You know, in your, in your situation, this is a borderline first round running back for fantasy. Yeah. That's how I view them. And I, I can definitely see it. I want it to happen. Let me, let me be very clear. I really want it to happen. I don't know why I'm as nervous, but I think it's just like you said, we didn't get to see a lot last year. Yeah. They were handed in the keys. He could have been a fantasy MVP. He didn't have even healthy. He didn't see a lot, you know, on the, at the very beginning, when, when he had to get everything, like he wasn't as efficient on the ground, you know, what, of his first five games, he had one huge game, the 12, 428, including a 54 yard run, but it's like each other, each of the other four games, he's 3.7 yards to carry or fewer. Now they had offensive line struggle. So it's just, I think that's all a part of it. And you had as it, it seems ridiculous to be like, okay, we're talking about Hampton, a first round NFL pick. And then we got Kamani Vidal Sassoon, who is just, it feels like he should be an afterthought, but he was quite good for the team. And Harbaugh was talking him up quite a bit. Although, you know, this Harbaugh really talks up his players. They bring in Keaton Mitchell and free agency. I think Hampton's going to be like a workhorse, but I'm a little more hesitant compared to you guys. Number eight, Kenneth Walker, the third. Yeah, baby. Jason and I have him at nine, Mike at seven. Surprise. It's not one underdog. ADP is nine where Jason. I've got a few months. Yeah. Let me craft the narrative. You know, we've talked, I think the most about Ken Walker of all the names on this entire list. So I don't, I don't know how much we need to get into it. My hesitation is only that it has been lined up for him to succeed many times in the past and something gets in the way of it in terms of being an every week dominator, as opposed to an occasional week dominator. I think we are all waiting to see is Mahomes going to be back for week one? Is this offense going to get back on track to be what they are supposed to be? Nine is not disrespectful. Nine is good. I'm happy with nine. It's kind of disrespectful. I mean, for the RB 22 last year, for the Super Bowl MVP. Oh my God. Yeah, like Sony, Michelle. Well, you really liked Sony, Michelle, after it was a Super Bowl MVP. I did. And I've learned my lesson and I've changed. You went in on the wrong guy. Yeah. I mean, this is obviously tough. It should work. It should work. Everything's lined up for him. You know, rookie year, he was the running back 16. In the running back 19 last year, the running back 22. And there's always been, whether it's injury or Charbonne or whatever, something getting his way. The money they gave him was so much that I just don't, I don't think that there's any world where he doesn't dominate total touches. He could still get injured, but on a good offense with Andy Reed, with that investment, I am in. I am willing to get hurt. Yeah. There we go. I had a guy. I say all this. I mean, I've got, he's one of my keepers, Mike, my guy. You know what I mean? My keeper. Sure. So I wonder what I'd love to have you dunk on me all year long while he scores points for me. I wonder what the targets will look like. Cause I went back to look. So cream hunt year two for him, which that was essentially the Mahomes first year. So it's, you know, not as rookie year, but a sophomore year. And I'm going from Alex Smith to Patrick Mahomes, cream hunt drop from 63 to 35 targets. Now there's a game disparity, but there's that that's the only way I think it goes sour as we don't, if we're not getting like a 10% target share, then you'll be more like the running back 10. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That'll be something. And that, that might, what happens in the draft, whether it's a D or or lemon or Tyson or Jordan or a Jeremiah love or Jeremiah love. Oh, that will, that'll make a difference. Oh man. That'll be, I don't want to see that because it's terrible for fantasy. It's terrible for both players. My mental health. I will laugh profusely for so long. I mean, God forbid that Chase Brown and Kenneth Walker impacted Michael. Michael lose it. Take a quick break. We'll come back with the rest. Every retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. Is your dog scratching, itching or rubbing? When they're suffering from an itchy skin condition, finding an at-home remedy that brings relief can seem impossible. That's where your vet comes in. They're the only one who can diagnose the cause and offer effective relief to bring your itchy dog a source of comfort. See your vet to find a source of comfort for your itchy dog. Learn more at itchy dog care dot co.uk. We are continuing our top 15 early running back rankings. Number nine, Ashton Gentie. I've got him at seven, Jason at eight, Mike, dumping on him at 12. Not surprising, but just based on some of the conversations we've had and the concerns that you've had for, I think a committee backfield and again, that are you on a good team factor. Both of those came true last year. Ashton Gentie, he suffered under the thumb of the league's worst team. They got the number one pick. The efferent Adam and Doza on the way for a reason. He had to be a part of a putrid abysmal offense all year long. Some might look at the RB 12 finish as a rookie and say, that's darn impressive for that to be on that team. Sure. Because what did we say? The average team wins nine games. To be a top 15 running back, he was the RB 12. On the team that got the number one pick. I lean a little bit to that glass half full side of things. The hard part for that is the way you overcome being on a bad team is workload. Ashton Gentie was 39% of the team's rushing attempts and targets. That is McCaffrey, Johnny Taylor and Bijon are the only running backs who had a higher percentage. He was the entirety of the running back position. Because the team was so bad, you only had a couple of spike weeks from Gentie. He didn't finish as he was drafted as you had hoped. The offensive line was putrid. Now they went out and they got a linda bow from the Ravens. That certainly helps. But the metrics on their offensive line is pretty close to dead last in yards before contact stuff rate, rush success rate. And these things were all bad for running backs behind this line. And the stat that you're alluding to, Andy, so running backs with a rookie quarterback over the last decade, teams with a rookie QB who have started 10 or more games, aka their rookie quarterback is the full time starter. The running back one for those teams averaged seven and a half total touchdowns. That is a very scary number when you're looking at the other running backs who are in this range. The thing with him is it might not be Mendoza for a while. And we do like the new head coach, Kubiak coming in. So those are, I agree. It's just how long until Mendoza comes in. Yeah, it could be the year. When Kirk Cousins is there, one of the things that was great about Gentie and the usage that you were just alluding to is that Geno Smith checked the ball down a lot. Geno Smith would throw. I don't know that Mendoza will do that as a rookie to the same degree, but Kirk Cousins will. Kirk Cousins will check it down a ton. I think the touchdown totals could be higher. Hopefully you get half a season before that transition is made. I believe your Bijon was excellent. Yes. And that was Kirk Cousins as the quarterback. I'm a bad team. I definitely believe that cubes wants a committee here. I do not believe he can do it. They don't have, there's not a free agent to sign right now that could hurt him. And really, this is not a running back class where nine days from now I'm afraid of what happens to Gentie. So I think he will have a solid workload and obviously he has the talent to be talked about as just a pure running back like Bijon like Gibbs. That's a big part of it is believing in the talent that he possesses. Number 10 is Chase Brown. I've got him at 10. Jason at 10. Mike at 9. Jason at R.E. 13. So we're above at least best ball ADP with Chase Brown. I'll bet people are afraid of the draft. I'm afraid of the draft with Chase. Yeah, I think I think chase. It was last year. Very fair. I was afraid last year and we got, we came out unscathed and he ended up being the worst player in fantasy for a few weeks until Mike could acquire him and he could dominate the right. I put a call in. Yeah. I was like, dude, Jake Brown, get him in there. Take your value real quick and then be awesome. I mean, he was a true workhorse. The RB7 averaging 17.3 fantasy points per game on a hundred total yards per game from week six on first five weeks. Very powerful in the psyche of fantasy football players. They make a big impact. We just talked about Tucker Kraft. It felt like Tucker Kraft was a part of a majority of last year. Yeah. He wasn't. He was a part of like six weeks, but those first six weeks with all the anticipation, that's it makes a big deal and a big impact on fantasy players. So Chase Brown started slow, ended hot, was truly dominant and if he's alone, he should be fine. If he's alone, he's fine. I mean, this, this is the player definitely most liable. I am terrified for his value. If love were to fall to 10, which I know is not likely, but if that happens, they will take him. This is a team that has brought in a lot of running backs for top 30 visits. They are looking at this position as one of a position of need. And you know, I know I just said that this isn't a great draft class for the running back position, but there are a couple of guys out here that, I mean, I just don't think Chase Brown can be great if he's not getting a ton of work. I don't, I don't think you're going to like him in fantasy as a 50-50 guy. They did bring back P. Ryan. Yep. Who was in addition later in the season last year? Yeah, but yeah. So P. Ryan and the, and they've drafted Taj Brooks. So last year. Yeah. As we are going through this argument, there were, there were Brooks supporters who were like, that was it. That's the guy that's going to come in and fully disrupt this backfield and take over and make Chase Brown irrelevant. So it, if they, like let's say it's round three, Jay, it's a, it's round three. It's a guy you already don't like. Are you going to let that influence how you feel about Chase Brown here? I think I would. If it's round three, meaning day two, if it's a day, if it's a day two pick, yeah, that will, that will lower him in my rankings. Even if it's, you know, Mike Washington in round three, I'll be like, yeah, they're not drafting him to not give him the work. Taj was what, like fifth round, sixth round? He was a, he was day three. Yeah. I mean, they didn't invest in him a sixth round pick. So that would be very different to me if they use a top three pick on a running back. Um, I think, I think I'm, well, I'm a little bit afraid. I think, I think Chase Brown's probably going to be okay. And I think that this team would be wise to go into the season leaning on him for another year versus drafting the non defensive player. It's like, if love is there, I get it. Yes. I totally get it. Yes. That'll end it for him. Other than that, so they, right now the Bengals have picked 10, 41 and 72. 41 won't be priced. He'll be gone already. And just for this team, what they need on the defensive side of the football would be, which is 11 new guys. I think we had a pretty similar discussion about Chase Brown last year. That's the funny thing is we were like, oh, we were looking for the big name to ruin it, but they didn't waste the pick there and they were fine. So, you know, I think we tried for a lot of years to make Kyren not a thing. Like Kyren's going to the time and it just kept happening. I don't know if that'll be the case here. 11 Josh Jacobs, who I feel like, you know, he's got his own little CMC light story going to a degree where like you, you know, you had the down year in Las Vegas. You want to be out on him. He's not the new hotness. He's the old busted, but he just plain gets it done. This is clearly the key cog in the entire offense for Green Bay. They just traded away too wide receivers. Are you going to bank on Jaden Reed who's always hurt? Matthew Golden has never done it and Christian Watson who's always hurt. Are you going to bank on Josh Jacobs being the kind of centerpiece of this backfield once again? Yeah. I mean, 15 touchdowns two years ago, 13 touchdowns last year. He is their goal line machine. That's going to be pretty important for scoring fantasy points. I feel like I'm too low on Josh Jacobs. I do too. Mike's got them at eight. We both got them at 12. I don't like it. I was pretty surprised. This cluster of players, when you don't have your like actual stats for them, it is difficult. Yeah, it is. It is because you, we've been around the block with Josh Jacobs. You'd love to find the narrative. This is where like it scares me the most. Hampton, Jacobs. Right. That situation could be one of the most like clearly you should take. I don't want to play with you anymore. You should just take Jacobs. That's the answer to that, but no one's going to do that first. I'll take Hampton. Hampton's going to go ahead of Jacobs in every draft. What if this year he could score 13 or 15 touchdowns? You know? Right. Right. Exactly. I mean, because we have them ranked this way. And then I was like, if I was like, hey, you know, you got to draft one of these guys and you got to guarantee their fantasy productions higher than the other one. I've got to guarantee. And your life's on the line. Yeah, I'm taking Josh Jacobs. You're taking Jacobs. Yeah. These are like the silly ones sometimes. So be careful. Jacobs is just a machine. The offense is good. I mean, I just mentioned like Matthew Golden and two hurt wide receivers. Well, guess what his depth chart is? It's Marshawn Lloyd guys. Marshawn Lloyd looked at another guy pulling his hamstring and that pulled his hamstring. It was a mirror. He's an empath, man. Yeah. It's like the people that throw up when someone else is still up. He pulls his hamstring. If somebody else is pulling his hamstring. Yep. Emmanuel Wilson is a Seattle Seahawk. I mean, they just, they got it. Add somebody here. You, it would be surprising if Green Bay is like, okay, we'll go one more time into the year believing that Marshawn Lloyd is going to be the backup. And you got more sure they hope they hope he was a, what a third round pick two years ago and we've really not any minute now. Now the next two names will lump them together. Seahawk and Henry. Oh man. Seahawk on at 12. Saw 300 plus opportunities. He's done that for four straight years. Saw 50 targets. Cool. The Eagles offensive line is elite, but they were missing a key piece of their line for the majority of the season. It was a down year big time for Seahawk. He's now the RB eight in best ball. So we are, we are low on him as well. And that's another one. Hampton or Seahawk. Look at that situation and you're, you can at least say look at last year. Yeah, you can. It was, it was trouble and AJ Brown, if he's out the door, do we figure out the offense? I don't know. It's still say one Barkley is my point. It's a hard name to pass on. It is. I think having a down year, you know, he'll turn 30 this year. That's a little scary. You know, we talked at an Ozium coming off of his RB one finish two years ago about the efficiency and what happens after that much work. He had a massive workload going deep into the playoffs. And you know, it was unsprising. Now, was that all Lane Johnson? Was that, you know, missing Lane Johnson? And once he's back, it's, it's all fixed and it's a great offense. They changed the office of coordinator, which helped a couple of years ago. So there's ways that it could get corrected, but I guess I don't expect the efficiency to get better as he gets older. It should get worse as he gets older. And so I, you know, I would like to have say, Juan, but I don't think he's going to be, you know, a top three back. Yeah. The biggest counterpoint is the guy that we're talking about next to 32 years old, who we he's never slowed down. We okay. That might be fair. Derek Henry is still playing running back in the NFL. He's 32.2 years old. He was, he's been old for five years. He was the RB because he's been old for five years. RB seven and listen to the fantasy. I mean, look at the fantasy finishes from week six on, right? That's when the old guys get better, right? The later part of the year. Well, that's when the weather gets colder. 10, eight, nine, 23, six, five, 10, 23, 19, eight, one, 11. So from week six on just, I mean, guys, he was on pace for 1800 yards. He's not going to catch the football. 2319. That was an issue. I mean, wait, what? I don't know. I didn't hear. Yeah. You were going down through your list of all his rankings, five, 10, 2319. 2319 is a big issue. It's a code, code red. That's a, that's a human sock. Oh, this is a monster's ink. Wow. You got me. Yeah. You just out. I'll cultured me, bro. Is that being out cultured? Yeah. Pop culture. Okay. I want to leave the show. 1414, 13. Derek Henry. Yeah. Who's going to do it? Who's got the stones? Who's got the stones to say this is the, that we're done? I don't think it's, I don't think it's over. I mean, you could, you could say the aforementioned. Harbaugh, Harbaugh, it's gone. Maybe they, they mix it up a little bit committee wise. They lost their center changing. Oh yeah. They lost their fullback Patrick Ricard. Let me ask you this. Are the Ravens going to be bad? Because that's possible. I don't. It's possible the Ravens aren't good. If the Ravens are good, Henry is good. We've seen this his whole career. Yeah. I think the Ravens are good because they have Lamar Jackson. I mean, if you've got a great quarterback, it's very difficult to have a great quarterback and be a bad football team. It can be done, but it's rare. So the bad year in Tennessee, the single bad year in Tennessee, he, oh no, he played eight games. He probably would have been fine. He probably would have been fine. Yes. He's played 17 games, three consecutive years. His body is a wonderland, a temple. It's spectacular, but they do have significant offensive line. The Ravens, fullback situations. Ravens projected win total is 11 and a half. Don't they still need to pay Lamar? That's coming up. They still need to pay Lamar. The nice thing is, maybe they get that passing game going. The nice thing is he's not a new hot sexy name, so he'll be lower in the draft. You're talking about maybe having a value. I would guess he's near the back of the second. Right now he is the back of the second RB12. Yeah. So if I can get him near the two, three turn, I feel like he will outproduce that. Last two names on the top 16. Andy real quick, it's what I'm going to say in a bit. He's got this year and next year under contract. Next year though, the cap for Lamar sky rock is to 84 million. He's good. This is the negotiation window. Right. I'm just saying like they can go through the entire year and not do anything technically. He won't be back if they do that. But that would be dumb. So expect a new contract for Lamar relatively soon. Last two names. Travis H.N. Jr. Williams to finish our top 15 early rankings. H.N. is going to be the guy on a team that we are curious about in New Orleans. Jason. Yeah. Jason has him at 18. Mike has him at 13. I don't. I've always been the hater. I don't know. You love him. You're the highest. Yeah. Are you against, you don't like the name change. If I think Alvin Camero is going to be more involved than we think right now. So you do believe he'll be involved. Yes. Yeah. I mean that's the question. That is all of it to me. The entirety of my low Travis H.N. ranking is I think H.N. Oh my gosh. Travis H.N. Jr. I would say I'm going to throw out a suggestion. Try going H.N. Jr. Okay. That's what I did. You noticed that because at least I was throwing the junior in there to get a new memory. At least you'll know. And then it like we can. Travis H.N. Jr. Yeah. His one one of his best abilities. Especially for fantasy is catching the ball. But that is shared with Alvin Camero. And I think Camero will be involved in the passing game in a way that it hurts. He was. No. It was. Not. Good. I think. It's. There's a reason. The team. It's. All. For. Camero. The team. almost universally when a contract of that size is given out to a running back, they inherit the vast majority lion share of the workload. And it seemed like when it happened that people were saying that Camara's not even going to play like maybe retire, walk away, whatever. But then it came out that he's going to play and I just don't think they're going to take this saints legend and be like ride the bench. You're not involved. There is a middle ground to retirement and the expectation that he plays on the saints. There have been a lot of trade rumors that have surfaced regarding Alvin Camara in recent days, including and this one maybe you guys would be okay with. It's a lot better than Jeremiah Love going to your Giants. It's Alvin Camara going to the Giants to solidify that backfield. That's one of the big trade rumors that have come out recently. I don't think you pick up Travis H. Ann Jr. with a plan to keep Camara. That's still my view. That's why I haven't ranked higher than Jason. I mean that way too. If you go into the season and H. Ann looks like he's going to be there with Camara, I'm going to lower him in my rankings. I agree with all the principles of your ranking being if Camara's involved. Because you can't not use Camara in the receiving game. The way out I would see for the saints is you have what year two of coach, Kellen Moore, who all he knows as a coach was Camara not being very good. It's like does he feel that I owe this player when we just gave H. Ann Jr. a truckload of cash? Until that's confirmed, I'm going to keep betting on H. I think he's going to be solid. It's such a weird thing to spend that kind of money in free agency without a definitive plan for that situation. Do you think it was just an acquisition of opportunity? I think so. Just like, oh, we can get this guy, so let's do it? Because he's from the area. Yeah. And then we'll figure it out. I would think it was, hey, yeah, they got a phone call. I was like, no, you can actually get him if you offer him money. And they went, oh, really? And they know that Camara's not good. Right. Camara's old. They have to have a replacement for him, even if it's not this year. It could be more delayed. Dennis Allen was like, don't you dare give Kendra Miller a chance. And they listened. Givante Williams the final name. Whatever surgeon last season, they went out and they signed him to an extension. He was third in yards after contact per attempt. He is maybe the least sexy player you can draft and yet is so deserving of a pick and will contribute every week. I feel like he is such a locked in RB two for fantasy where that's, you know, he's not going to carry your team, but he's also not going to kill you ever. No, I mean, he had 1200 yards, double digit touchdowns on the ground over 300 opportunities, even though he's about time the least efficient past catching running back of our generation. He's just going to get 51 targets and turn that into 137 yards. Just terrible. Wow. I have less than three. Yeah. Less than four. That I mean, that's just awful. And really, he's done this for a long time. He was doing the same with the Denver Broncos. That's the fewest yards for any player with 50 targets in the last 40 years. That's what it seemed like. I mean, but they're going to like Chuba Hubbard had to look at them and like that. That's amazing because Chuba was 54 targets into 171 yards. And that was bad. Well, this is, this is worse. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, but we saw this incredible the year before and he doubled down. Look, he's just a tried and true solid running back. I mean, some of our other early rankings just to throw the names out there. Bucky Irving came in at 18 in our consensus. Travion Henderson came in at 20. Scatt at 21. Judkins at 22. The aforementioned Chuba down at 24. Technically, there is, is there another couple players tied with this spot? I guess technically Kyren and Bruce Hall are in that same conversation as well. So we will be going through our early wide receiver rankings on the Thursday episode of the show. So make sure you join us for that. You can follow us on Instagram, instagram.com, slash fantasy footballers. And we got some stuff planned in the next few weeks before the draft gets started. Man, what is, I gotta crack myself as nine days away. It's not 10. Okay. Nine days away. Nine days by the moment. And no, it should be fun. I'm excited. I want to see where Mendoza goes. I have no idea. All right. That'll do it. Jason, you can practice your Travis A. Chan Jr. in the mirror. Yeah, I'm going to need if you can get that going. Maybe he'll come out and say, never mind. I hope so. See you. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join the foot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers. If your team isn't using your CRM, it isn't working. Pipe Drive is a simple CRM. It's easy to use so you can focus on closing. Get 30 days free at pipedrive.com forward slash audio. Is your dog scratching, itching or rubbing? When they're suffering from an itchy skin condition, finding an at home remedy that brings relief can seem impossible. That's where your vet comes in. They're the only one who can diagnose the cause and offer effective relief to bring your itchy dog a source of comfort. See your vet to find a source of comfort for your itchy dog. Learn more at itchydogcare.co.uk