Fantasy Football Daily - Ranking the Top 10 NFL Running Back Units | Take Talk Podcast

Episode Date: June 17, 2023

In Take Talk 58, Steve O'Rourke (@callmesteveo7) and Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) select and debate their top-10 RB rooms in the NFL. Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. Use our code FANTASYPTS to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Everyone, and welcome into the Take Talk podcast. My name is Stephen O'Rourke, and this week I am back with my usual co-host, Brett Whitefield. Brett, how are you doing this morning? I'm doing good, Steve. I'm returning from a five-day golf trip, aka a vacation.

It wasn't really a vacation because we played seven rounds of golf in five days. That's a lot of golf. That is so much. How did you play and how are you feeling? Are you sore this week? Are you feeling it in your shoulders? Yeah, my right shoulders torch. Like my hands going numb every night when I sleep.

Oh, God. Yeah, which is nice. But, yeah, I played okay. So it's the tournament's cool. It's 16 guys. It's a yearly invitational. The winner each year gets to pick next year's destination. So like we were in the west side of the state this year because the winner from last year is from Grand Rapids.

So anyways, it's a it's cool tournament because it's handicap adjusted. Well, there's actually two tournaments. There's a Ryder Cup format, which is team players. Nice. My team won the Ryder Cup, which is cool. So I got paid money for that. And then the 16th. team man invitational is handicap adjusted scores.

So handicap adjusted, I took fifth place, which was worse than I did last year. But what's cool, though, is like there's cash prizes for all kinds of things. Like every par three during the tournament has the closest to the pin. Oh, sweet. All the par fives have a longest drive. There's also, we get cash payments for skins on each hole. So handicap adjusted best score in each hole. So I won a couple closest to the pins, a couple longest drives, and like four skins.

So I actually made more money than the trip cost me, which is crazy because the amount of golf we played in the courses we were playing at was nuts. See, that's huge. That's a successful trip right there. Who cares how sorry you are. The fact is you're up. You went on vacation. You came back and you're up and you didn't even go to Vegas. Right, right.

I know. And then we also, speaking to Vegas, we played poker pretty much every night. So this trip was exhausting, Steve, because you're up late every night. You got early tea times. We did 36 holes, multiple. multiple times in one day. So it was an exhausting trip, but I won poker two nights, two out of the four nights that we played. And I cashed the two other nights. So all of all, it was a very profitable trip. Yeah, that's awesome. That's a huge win. We have fun for a week. So, yeah. Well, welcome back. We missed you. Thank you. We held down the floor while you were gone. So I actually, on Twitter, there's this thing that was going around yesterday. And it was.

So I don't even know who this person is. I looked into it. It was like some writer for the Babylon B. But she basically had posed the question, like, I don't understand why men are so into sports, which got me thinking, what can you remember the moment that made you fall in love with football or the NFL specifically?

Oh, man. Yeah, I remember the moment. I also want to take a stab at answering her question. but I do remember the moment. So growing up, I grew up, so living in Detroit, like hockey, we're a hockey town. The lines are pretty much miserable. Although in the early 90s, the lines were actually pretty good. Yeah.

But despite that, like, my dad is a big time hockey player. So I was like really into the Red Wings growing up, kind of into the Pistons too, because we were coming off. So they did their first back to back when I was like three years old. So, you know, we were a basketball town too. So I really, I grew up loving the Red Wings and the Pistons and football was kind of off my radar until, gosh, I think I was 10 years old. My dad had always played in fantasy football leagues. Back then, you calculated everything by hand.

Yeah. With newspaper headlines. So, which is funny. So I think in 1997, my dad asked me, so we did like a father and son league like when I was really little. But like, you know, I was so little. I didn't ever have a say in anything. It was just like I went to the draft with my dad. Yeah.

And then, oh, cool, dad. We got some good players that I've never heard of. That's great. Finally, when like 1997, my dad asked me, Hey, Brett, do you want your own team this year? And I was like, really? My own team? Yeah.

Big moment. That's great. So I drafted my first. So because I was drafting my first team, I had to do all this research and watch football. And I, I freaking loved it. That's when I fell in love with it. It was because of fantasy football.

My first year, I'd never, never played football on a team yet at that point. I didn't play, you know, I didn't play like, well, they start like flag football, like six years old, never played in any flag leagues, never played in, you know, peewee football leagues. Oh, wow. Okay. Trapped in my first fantasy team and then from there on out, I was addicted to football. Yeah, I can remember mine too.

I remember, I don't know why or where, but my dad had gotten this VHS tape from a friend of his and it was probably like it was early 2000s i was probably seven or eight years old it was like probably like 2001 2002 my dad had gotten a VHS from a friend of his and it was like just this VHS of Barry Sanders highlights oh man and so like this is right pretty fresh after he retired and my dad like all right he like got it and he like sat me now he's like all right we're going to watch this he's like we like you know I would I didn't remember like really seeing Barry Sanders play live. I was like five years old in his last season.

So he sat me down and I remember watching that video and I was like, I want to watch whatever this is. I want to watch whatever this is, whatever this sport is forever. And then like, yeah, from there, I mean, from there it took off because then that was right around probably like the year before I started playing like Peewee football in third grade and things like that. So I can just remember it was Barry

Sanders that was. was the catalyst for it all for me. That's awesome. Yeah. Barry, like, Barry, that's, story's true for a lot of people, our age, Steve. Like, Barry Sanders was, I mean, even when I wasn't into football, I remember watching him. Because we still watched, like, every game. I just didn't follow the league, kind of only felt, you know, so, but I remember just watching

Barry as a kid and just, you know, knowing that that dude is a total badass. Right. Yeah. And then fantasy football, I can remember. that like whenever ESPN started doing leagues I was probably you know nine 10 years old at that point I would just I probably was in because I had a lot of free time as a kid I was probably in like eight to 10 leagues as a 10 year old I would just join a bunch of free leagues with whoever and I would just play that was that was all I would do on the draft lobby and just let it rip oh yeah just let it go

just see what you do so that's this this should have been a good segue but we're going to to talk about news first, but you brought up Barry Sanders. We are talking about running back units today. It works out because the thing I'm going to end with for OTAs is going to also lead into running back. So I felt good about how I wanted to segue that as well. Nice. But just a couple new, I just wanted, the way I want to do this is just like, are you

buying or selling these headlines for these couple teams, which, you know, obviously it's all a lot of hyperbole, a lot of like, you know, gassing guys up and whatnot. But still, I want to be like sell, sell, sell. But maybe there will be one that you're like, you know what? I actually like that. So I have just a couple to you, a couple things that like popped out from the past like week or so. Like with the 49ers in camp, you hear a lot about, you've been hearing a lot about

Debo being back in shape, things like that. But a lot, like when you, I read a. A lot of these things I pulled from the athletic and guys' observations and stuff like that. But the 49ers, Lenore, their quarterback, came out and said that, and all the coaches have said that IUC has been bawling out. And Lenore was quoted saying that he will be a top five receiver this year and he is the best receiver in San Fran. Buy yourself. I'll buy it. I will buy that one.

Iyuk has been one of the most underrated receivers in the league for a couple years. he plays on a run-heavy team with bad quarterback play. The dude is an absolute monster, though. He was one of my favorite prospects in his draft class, always been a big lover. I know he was in the dog house, what his rookie year, or maybe that was actually a second year he got in the dog house somehow. But yeah, I'm a huge I-Uk fan.

So I think the dude's a monster. I think he's a more complete set than Debo as well. So I don't think the claim that he's the best receiver on San Fran is that crazy. I think that's actually probably legit. Yeah, and I mean, I think arguably, we talk about Dibos after the catchability

and run ability and all that. I think Iyuk is actually a better after the catch guy than Debo is in my opinion. And that might be a hot take, but that is kind of hot takey. I think I think Ike has a juice after the catch that we don't get to see a ton

but I think they might hopefully they'll incorporate it a little bit more this year. Well, what's nice is you can follow them to all season long. with the Fantasy Points Data Tool that's dropping in a couple of weeks. You can compare their routes run, they're from their alignment. Any split you really want to see. You'll be able to look at it.

What coverage is they best? How many mistackles they're forcing, et cetera. Anything. Anything. All right. Moving to the Windy City. The Bears, DJ Moore is obviously playing really well this year. Everybody's raving about him.

Do you think DJ Moore puts Justin Fields over, 3,000 yards for the first time in his career. Dude, that's such a low bar. It is, but it's a bar. Yeah, of course, I'm buying that. I think Fields probably does that without DJ Moore, to be honest with it. It's just a natural progression. Do you have to be like really bad to be a starting quarterback for three years in a row and knock over 3,000 yards in today's NFL with 17

games? It's just not, I just didn't think it was going to happen anyway. So DJ Moore, yeah. have at least a thousand of that himself. You know, it's like, I totally buy it. Do you think DJ Moore goes over a thousand this year? I do. That was, you do? Yeah.

Yeah. All right. I don't know. I think it'll be close. I think it's going to be real close. Yeah. That's fair. I think close too.

I think I'm just taking the over on the close. I'll go under and we'll keep track of that throughout the year. All right. All right. And then we have many friends of the show. that love this guy. And so I feel like we're doing it again this year, but do you think Sky Moore plays a pivotal role?

Like, do you think he gets a lot of playing time in Kansas City? He's been showing out in OTAs. A lot of people have been raving about him. Do you think he starts for Kansas City? Do you think he sees significant playing time this year compared to last year? I think he should get on the field more for sure. I guess the thing for me is

I don't really know yet where Kansas City sees his role and I feel like he's in competition with MVS as that role Yeah The downfield guy When you just look at the rest of the receiving court You know, Cadarius Tony who has a very specific niche Maybe more plays some of that spot too

Because it seems like they At least at the end of last year I didn't really integrate Tony into the offense very well. So maybe, you know, Tony is a very specific skill set, though. He's similar to Debo in a lot of ways where, you know, you want to get him on in-breakers and outbreakers and manufactured touches, but you're not, like, he's not really running routes with nuance. He's not a downfield threat, at least yet at this point in his career. So, yeah, I think he has a specific role. I think Rishi Rice is going to play in the slot for them.

I don't know where Sky Moore goes from there. He's got to compete with MVS. And like I said, maybe he plays a little bit on Tony in Tony. spot there but he should play more this year i just more should play more i just don't know how i'm not willing to commit to anything extravagant as far as he goes would you buy him would you buy a 50% snap rate sure all right yeah yeah i be like obviously he had his issues last year with just integrating himself into the offense it seemed like andy reed didn't really fall in love with him as much as people were helping.

So it'll be interesting to see this year if he's kind of pushed that a little bit. Yeah, lack of detail in his route running, I think, kind of separated him from the rest of the group. You saw it in that playoff game. Mahomes was clearly frustrated with him. They just couldn't get on the same page as far as, you know, where more is supposed to be. And Mahomes is really, you know, he's a stickler about that stuff. Yeah, a lot more than I think people kind of realize, like,

The best, like, Brady was a huge, was, I mean, everybody knows that was a huge proponent of, like, be there on time. And I think that you see Mojom's create a lot that I don't think people realize how important that is to him, too, as well. Yeah, so I forget what coach it was, I heard, but one of the best ways to play out of structure is to, it sounds crazy, but it's like, it's really, it's easier to improvise when you, kind of plan really well. Yeah. So if everyone's where they're supposed to be doing what they're supposed to be doing and fulfilling their roles, improvisation becomes easier and easier.

A lot of people think improvisation is when plays start to break down. Well, sometimes it's like, it's a comfort thing. It's like a jelling thing. And if the quarterback and the receiver isn't jelling, Mahomes is going to be shy about trying to improvise because he doesn't trust that you're going to end up where you're supposed to be. Right. So I think it's easier to be unplanned when you plan really well.

I know it sounds funny. Right. The best way to play out of structure is to have really good structure. Exactly. Washington, Sam Howell has been reported as the QB1. Do you buy him being QB1 come week one? Yeah, sure. I think he's a really talented guy.

His tape evaluation for me was really strong coming out. Like I was really hot on him early. I thought, you know, initially I had him as a first round pick. The more people I talked to, the more I realized there was like some leadership and character, not character issues, but personality issues there. So I've only backed off Sam because of that. And then obviously he falls in the draft, not really sure why. But yeah, I think he's a super talented guy. So I can definitely see him being QB1.

The thing that's crazy, though, is Jacoby Brissette's not bad. So Powell beats him out one to one. that's actually a really good sign for Howell, in my opinion, because Brissette's a veteran quarterback who's played well in, like, multiple cities right now. I mean, last year, it was better than Deshaun Watson, like, way better. Yeah, for all intents of purposes, he played very well in Cleveland. I mean, they had a few defensive lapses. That their season could have been completely different.

And like, not really any of it was a lot of on Brissette's shoulders. He played, he did what he had to do. And if you go, if you go and look at the advanced statistics, which you'll be able to do using the fantasy points data tool. You'll be able to look at all of last year and kind of gauge where people at. You'll see that he was teetering at least in like the top 12 to 15 quarterbacks in the NFL. Yeah. And the thing about the Howell discussion too is like does Howell actually need to outplay him through camp to win the job?

Probably not because like it's all about upside right and ceiling. And like we know what Brissette is. So you can make the argument that Howell's ceiling is higher just because it's unknown. Right. So you can see a coach leaning into that a little bit to try to get the most out of the situation where Peret's a fine backup. He's used to be in a backup. It's like you're not going to hurt his feelings if Howell wins the job and then, you know, say he sucks. And then by week seven, it's back to Peret.

I don't know. I think Howell has an advantage for that reason, though, because he's younger. I agree. So this will kind of segue into our. our thing for the our running back rankings but there's been a lot I mean Delvin Cook getting cut

the whole Sequin Barclay contract situation we do you think that next season because I don't it's not happening this year next season do we see a reset in the running back market and with that do you think that Saquan Barkley sits out this year

no sick one doesn't set out this year well he's gonna be like the third highest paid running Mac there's no way he's sitting that out I know but there's the whole there's he just doesn't have any leverage you know I know and that's the issue and again like with Delvin Cook I mean

it's it's June 15th and he's still sitting on the open market and you haven't really heard any news about him well so two things with Dalvin so one the transaction didn't actually process to like Saturday morning or something something, the release of him. Right.

He's really only been a free agent for a few days. I think with the medicals there and with Dalvin being at the stage of the career he is, I think he's going to be picky about where he goes. And I think the teams that want him are going to be picky too because of the medicals. So it's like a, it's a double picky situation where I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't sign anywhere for a little bit. He's going to take his time. And he should.

This is going to be his last, you know, hurrah. So, well, he's not that. old, but you know what I mean? It feels like he's been around for a long time, but then you look, he's 26. Well, you know, a lot of these guys are getting close to aging out

from that draft class. McCaffrey, Aaron Jones, Joe Mixin, Alvin Kamara. They were all in the same class. So, yeah, I mean, that class is aged. It's crazy. They came and went so fast. Yeah.

They came in. They blew up the league. They took, basically took over fantasy rankings for what, the last five years. Yep. And with that, just because we're on running backs, let's dive into our running back rankings. Actually, real quick, I don't mean to stop you from doing your job. But Dalvin Cook, where do you think he should go? I got one spot that I think he would just be an absolute monster in still at this point of his career. I mean, everybody money to see it. Everybody loves Miami.

Yeah, I don't like that for him. I mean, he'd be fine there, but they don't need him, so. Right. They've got Jeff Wilson. They've got Raymooster. Denver? Was he Denver? Especially with Javante, it's being,

I knew we were getting fools gold with him, by the way. It sounds like Javenthe's not right yet. Yeah. Dalvin Cook with Sean Payton in like the Alvin-Kamar role. would just be disgusting. Camara, or I'm sorry, Cook is such an underrated receiver too. He's so explosive.

Even still, so explosive. I would just, I would love to see it, man. So, especially if he's actually healthy. They're saying he's the healthiest he's been in years. Yeah, I think,

I agree. Like the minute you said Denver, it is like pairing him with Peyton, Peyton knows how to utilize his running backs in different facets in a way that a lot, like not a lot of coaches are. the best at sometimes when they realize that when they have a really good athlete at running back and i think Peyton is one of the few that has deployed those guys in in very useful roles throughout

his career yep i will say this because we're about to talk about our top 10 running back units if any of the teams not currently in my top 10 signed delvin cook they will be they will end up in my top 10 because i still think delvin cook is that good I think that's fair. I mean, if you went to Denver, Denver would probably, like, even with, you know, Williams kind of being not in the best shape, even if he came back halfway through the year or even, you know,

like that still, like they'd probably be a top. I'd probably put them in the top three. Yeah, possibly. Yeah. Dallas would be another nice spot for Delvin. I mean, that would be such an upgrade from Zeke. And then it's, you know, one of the biggest things with Dallas last year was you put Zeke out there, you put Pollard out there, you kind of, it was somewhat of a tell in ways. With that, it completely neutralizes that aspect of it.

It's just that McCarthy is calling the plays. So I'm still not. I'm lower on the Dallas offense this year than I want than I would like to be because McCarthy calling plays is nerve-wracking. That's fair. All right, let's dive right in then, Steve. Let's go with the, throw out your number one unit. How about that? Number one for me was San Francisco.

Oh, me too. I mean, it's pretty straightforward. You have Christian McCaffrey. You can still do it all, still has the pop in his game, both in receiving and running, and then you have Elijah Mitchell behind him. I mean, you don't even really need to go much further than those two. you get into Turing and Davis Price and Jordan Mason. But I mean, Elijah Mitchell and Christian McCaffrey,

that's about as good a duo as you can get right there. TDP was a third round pick last year. So it's not like they view him obviously in high regard. So he just missed the whole year with an injury. But yeah, McAfry is still the best running back in football. I guess we should lay out some criteria here too. So unlike most positions, I don't factor rookies in very strongly, but running back is one position I do because rookies.

I mean, running backs are at their best on their rookie contracts. That's just the way it is. It's one position where it doesn't matter if you're a 21-year-old rookie or not. You can come in and dominate at your position. So I've, you know, consider rookies in high regard if I like them. Also, backups don't play a little bit, but I was also looking for diverse skill sets. Like, affecting the past game is very important to me. So I definitely accounted for that very highly in my rankings.

Yep. But, yeah, McCaffrey is the best back in football. still so they get the number one nod there and Mitchell's no slouch as a backup that dude especially in that scheme he's he's tailor made for that scheme so um I think I think they're the easy first choice yeah they're a great one two punch all right who's your two my two I I toiled with this a little bit but I ended up going with Green Bay who I still think I still like the combo of Aaron Jones and AJ Dylan I think Aaron Jones I think Aaron Jones still has a lot of utility as a receiver and as a runner.

AJ Dylan is useful in the role that he plays. And I just think that you'll see, like, they had one of the best running games in the NFL last year. And I think that getting Aaron Rogers out of there and maybe letting the offense breathe a little bit, I think that that could be helpful for Aaron Jones and AJ Dylan this year. And I think that you'll see them be up near the top in rushing rankings. I think that Aaron Jones will be, hopefully utilize a little bit more in the past game this year. Yeah, so they're my number three unit.

So we are pretty close there. I agree with you. I mean, Jones is still one of the best backs in the league. He's very underrated. He affects the past game at a high level as well, which is important for me. But I really, really like how Jones and Dylan complement each other. These two, this is like a yin and yang combination. Yes.

If you look at Fantasy Points data, you'll see that Aaron Jones ranked first in the entire NFL in outside carries last year, in yardage on outside carries. Yep. Fifth and explosive run rate, A.J. Dillon, on the other hand, 65% of his yards came in the A or B gap as a runner. So, like, very good compliment. Jones is a monster on outside runs, and, you know, Dylan's really good in that inside zone or gap. or gap scheme, some power in there as well, but he's, you know, very effective. Dylan's efficiency metrics aren't nearly as good as Aaron Jones, actually. But when I kind of took into the data, what I saw was Dylan, on average is getting way

heavier box counts. He typically comes in with heavier personnel groups. And he had like almost 20% more of his carries had eight, nine, 10, or 11 man boxes than Aaron Joneses did. So that's a pretty significant. disadvantage. It's hard to be super efficient when you're getting loaded boxes on every carry. We saw this with David Montgomery versus Khalil Herbert debate as well. Same thing here with Montgomery. So same thing here with AJ Dylan. And with, I mean, you've seen it like it's similar to some of the other teams like the Cowboys and things where it is kind of a tell when AJ Dylan is in the game.

You know, he's he is more of their bully back. But still he's effective. the job that he does and that's just playing bully ball. I just would like to see if he could get a little bit better at breaking anything a little bit longer. I mean, 36% of his rushes went over five yards and just 8.1% of his rushes went over 10 yards. Yeah. So there's, I mean, there's just little to no explosiveness with him. All right Throw out your

Who's your number two? Yeah Yeah So my two is the Detroit line Steve All right I had them at six You had them at six

Okay So Detroit for me Two Two really important things One they have a phenomenal Pass protector in there in David Montgomery And two

They have a phenomenal pass catcher in there And Jemir Gibbs Both guys are very very good runners as well. I've always been higher on Montgomery than most. In fact, if I look at my all-time RB scores, so Montgomery's, I've been doing this since,

the 2015 class, Montgomery's got the 19th highest score for me ever for a running back. Jamir gives the highest score for me ever for a running back. Both of these guys I've liked, I think Montgomery has been underrated in Chicago. he's played behind a terrible offensive line. He played next to Khalil Herbert in Chicago the last couple years, who's been radically efficient. I've pointed out on Twitter why that efficiency is so much better than Montgomery's. There are some variables in there that point to really good causation.

So I don't think Herbert is like this far and away better player than Montgomery. I think Montgomery is actually a stud. I think you're going to see how good he is behind the Detroit lines offensive line. So that said, I really like Montgomery. I obviously loved Gibbs. He's the fifth best running back I've ever scouted and almost 10 years of doing this. So, yeah, I mean, I just think they have a dynamite one-two punch.

Maybe the best one-two punch in the league. You know, I think Jones and Dylan gets the nod right now. But I think maybe by the end of the year, we're talking about Gibbs and Montgomery is the best one-two combo. Yeah, I don't think that's anywhere outside the realm of possibility. I think that David Montgomery, you're going to see, I mean, if anybody's paid attention to what's kind of come out of the Detroit Lions, like OTAs and mini-camp and whatnot, is that Ben Johnson has kind of gone on the record and said that while the run game, like, they were pleased with the run game last year,

he still felt like they left a lot of meat on the bone. And I think you kind of saw that with, you know, some of the runs that Jamal Williams had. He doesn't have, you know, the shiftingness, the explosiveness that Montgomery will bring and then Swift. he was sometimes hesitant as a runner and i think that they think that the that both of these guys are an upgrade over their predecessor and the guy that was in there before and that you can see this unit take like this run game take a step even further yeah i agree this year totally agree uh who's your third the third i put the tennessee dions I still think

until Derek Henry shows that he's starting to fall off, I still really like Derek Henry. I worry about their offensive line this year. Obviously, their offense in general is not going to be amazing, not going to be that explosive, I don't think. But still, I really like Derek Henry. And I think that Tai J. Spears, while there's some injury concerns and there's some issues with it being what bone on bone in his knee so that could

limit him. I still think he's a very effective player. I still think he can help that pass game quite a bit. He can be a useful player out of the backfield for them. And so I think that like, again, this could be a good one-two punch of Tai J. Spears is the elusive back that he kind of showed he can be in college. Yeah. I have the Titans at, let's see, eight.

So I agree their top 10. For me, like, I really like Henry. I think he's a phenomenal player. My issue is he just doesn't do anything for you in the past game outside of the occasional screen he takes for 80 yards. He's good for one of those every, like, three or four weeks. Yeah. Then everything else is just kind of meh.

So that's my main issue there. Like, I really value the past game stuff a lot. So I would say of all the run heavy only type of guys, he's definitely the highest. Yeah, looking at my list right now. Yeah. So I toyed with moving them up a little bit because I do think he's such a good runner, but ultimately I left him at eight. And the other team I was going to put in at eight ahead of him was the other good runner

that doesn't do anything in the past game. That's Nick Chub and the Cleveland Browns. I left them out of my top 10, but that was who I considered at 8 instead of the Titans. Yeah. But yeah, I agree. I mean, Brown, we'll see what Tadjay Spears does too because he has some past game ability. So if he can compliment Henry, if they're committed to like making that a little bit more of a timeshare than we've seen the past few years in Tennessee, then I think that could actually really help this unit be more effective. And I think that's what I'm hoping for.

Yeah. I mean, you don't run it back to high else otherwise, right? Right. So. Yep. Plus, I mean, I think the understanding is that the clock is ticking on Derek Henry now. Yep. Is this, you know, their view is that.

And like, I hope that they utilize that in using Spears more to give Derek Henry more life and give him more runway for this year and going forward. For sure. All right. My three was Green Bay. Who was your number three? My number three was Titans around number four. No, your number. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Who's your number four? Number four, I went with Atlanta. They're also my four. Yeah. Bejohn Rob, like this is one of the, one of the backfields that they have Bejon and Cordero Patterson still, and who's still there.

and, you know, they, it's, and they have Alijir as well. Like the three deep with guys that all, well, you know, Patterson and Al Jir produced, have produced before, but Bejan Robinson is, you know, he's expected to come in and explode. And I don't see a reason why he won't. I think he's an incredible player. I think he can hopefully take this offense to another level. I think that his utilization in the past game is going to be super important. important as a runner he's very explosive he's got good vision he's effective i think that

overall like the falcons run game could be and really like insane this year and then just like utilizing their running backs in different positions in the past game can be super helpful too what like their run game and then you're also adding like ritter into the mix as a runner as well their the run game could be disgusting or should be yeah yeah i agree so bijon i don't really need to talk about him. I've talked about him at nauseam across all the fancy podcast. I'll leave that one off. Patterson, obviously, good, good in the past game. Also kind of bullish between the tackles. Algear's a good rundown guy. People are going to ask why the Falcons behind Detroit. Basically, it comes down to this. I like Montgomery

more than Patterson and Alger to the extent that I like the gap between Montgomery and those two guys to me versus Bijon and Gibbs. is significant. So that's why I went Detroit ahead. I just think Detroit's one-two punch is better in totality. But I do think Bijan's obviously the best player of that bunch. Yeah. Atlanta's run game should possibly break records this year.

All right. So your fifth was Detroit, you said? It was six, but I'm changing it on the fly. I'm moving them up to five. So your Detroit's year five. So my five, Steve, is the Seattle Seahawks. Okay, I had them at seven. Okay.

Still, we're no misses here yet. We're all on the same page. This is funny. I'm sure when we get down to the bottom of the list, we'll, you know, we'll have some differences here. But, yeah. Seattle for me, so Kenneth Walker, the third, was my number one running back last year. over Brees Hall, loved him. Zach Charbonnet was my number three running back this year.

I think both those guys are exceptionally good players. They do different things really well. Walker's an explosive monster. You know, he can take a run looking like it's going to go negative yards for 70 on any play. Charbonnet is more of your consistent, every down grinder. Charbonnet is also pretty good at the past game, really good pass protector. He's got soft hands for a big guy. and then they like they low-key fill out their death chart with pretty effective guys

DJ Dallas has a role in the past game and Kenny McIntosh one of my favorite pass catchers in this year's draft and I love that they grabbed him with the late round pick just to make sure that this team because it is their identity like running the ball is what Pete Carroll wants to do and they're just making sure that they're never going to have a running back shortage again like they did last year and McIntosh gives them significant depth as a third down back slash speed speedy guy who can you know maybe hits some outside zone runs as well. So I really like the way this depth chart rounds out.

It's solid top to bottom with two really good playmakers at the top. Yeah. And if you see, I think we will see. Kenneth Walker take a step in, you know, last year he was a huge boomer bust runner. Like, I think his stuff rate was at, you know, like a pretty crazy, like 60%. And his explosive run rate was at seven. and a half percent. Like it was,

it felt like he was either getting stopped at the line or he was, you know, going for five plus yards. And I think that this year, I think you'll see a step up just in the evolution of their offensive line. They have a lot of young guys that are, you know, a year older,

a year better. I think that you'll see him start to break off. So break off more runs this year and less of the stuff rate. year than with than he did last year. Yep. Yeah, that boom or bust stuff with Walker was definitely problematic. 55.3% of his runs got stuffed. Yeah.

Which is not great, but he also had like a top eight explosive run percentage and had 481 of his yards on explosive runs. Very boom or bust. Some of that had to do with Seattle's interior offensive line just blocking was not great, but some of that was also on Walker. He routinely would try to spill runs to the outside when he didn't really need to. I think a little bit of coaching is going to help him a lot,

but obviously Charbonnet is going to help too because he's more of that every down kind of grinder type. Yeah, like you said, maybe potentially getting Charbonnet, which I think that's what they wanted with Penny early in the year before he got hurt is, you know, have Kenneth Walker, similar to Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon, have Kenneth Walker be your outside. outside, outside runner have, you know, Charbonnet, be your inside pounder a little bit.

Yep. All right. Throw out your number six. Number six, I went with the New York Giants. Okay. This is our big discrepancy. And it's just that I think that Sequin is still one of the best backs in the NFL. And I think that, you know, he showed what he can, he was healthy last year.

He played really well. Him plus really Daniel Jones is probably their second best runner. Brita has some usefulness here and there. But I think that Sequin is his utilization in the past game and what he can do in the run game, I think is he's a top tier running back by himself. And I think that that it was enough to put them in the top 10 for me. Gotcha. I did not have them in the top 10.

Mostly because I, Sequin just doesn't, I think he's a little overrated, to be quite honest. I don't think he is what he was when he was younger. Like his force mistackle rate dropped off a cliff this year. His yards after contact dropped off a cliff. Stuff rate was insane. I mean, actually similar numbers to Kenneth Walker. You know, stuff rate versus explosive rate. So a little boomer bust there and just a consistent down and downout stuff.

I didn't like some things I saw on tape. I thought he was reverting back to, you know, bouncing those runs outside like he was at Penn State. I know that the Giants offensive line needed to be improved, and they did make those improvements, so we'll see if he bounces back. And then my big problem with them is just after him. I don't like anybody on that. I don't like Breedah. I don't like Brightwell.

Eric Gray's fine. He's a six-round rookie. We'll see what happens there. But just the lack of depth behind Barclay, who, you know, probably had his worst season as a pro from an efficiency standpoint. I just couldn't get on board with the top 10. And they'd be close, though. They'd probably, you know, if we did the next five, they'd definitely be in there. But yeah.

Yeah. Then that's fair. It was a debate for me. But like I said, I think that with the improvements they've made on the offensive line, and I think just the evolution of one more year in the offense, I think that Saquan Barkley is going to have a better year from the efficiency metrics and then probably, you know, a better year over of overall stats as well. Yeah.

That's fair. Um, all right. My six was the Jacksonville Jaguars. Okay. I did, I did not have them in the top ten. So there you go. There you go. Yeah, so Etienne,

another one of these boomer bust kind of guys, ironically. Yeah. I think he's a pretty good player, though. He had moments last year where he just looked like an absolute stud. obviously wasn't consistent enough. They felt the same way. They went out and drafted Tank Bigsby, who was one of my favorites in this class.

I think those two complement each other really well. I think Biggsby can do things in the past game that Etienne can't, which is really going to help balance them. He's also a really, really good runner. So with some good burst, some good home run hitting ability as well. I think these two together form a really, really solid duo here. And it's like it's legit depth to me.

They also brought in Jim Michael Hayes, well, they have Jim Michael Hasey from last. year they brought in the dude from from cleveland though right um de ernest johnson yes yeah so de ernest johnson another guy who's just underrated when people say things like running backs don't matter or you don't have to draft the running back high that's why it's because guys like him exist you find him undrafted and he ends up being a really good player i think he's underrated snoop conner had moments last year where he looked decent just think they have a really good depth chart and two two guys at the top that are pretty darn good So that is why I went Jacksonville at six.

So you had Seattle, what, seven? Yeah, you had Seattle? Yep. And then, so my seven was the Chargers. Okay, I had them at nine. Okay, this was tough for me, similar to, like, the deal with the Giants and Seekwon. Yep. They just don't have any depth.

Like, Josh Kelly's obviously not very good. Isaiah Spiller did nothing as a rookie last year. Roundtree, he's nothing. Yeah. I just think Austin Eccler's damn good. Yeah. He's still really good, not as much as a runner, but he's so good in the past game. I do really like Austin Echler as a player.

So I would rank him ahead of Sequin head-to-head, which is probably the only reason he gets in the, they get in the top 10 here versus the Giants. Which that's fair. I would have Sequin ahead of Austin Echler. just because of his running ability. I think that he's a little bit step below in the past game overall just because of how good Echler is at basically using checkdowns as an extension of the run game. But I think Barclay as a runner put him a little bit ahead.

Yeah, that's that is fair. Who is your eight? Number eight, I went with the Philadelphia Eagles. Nice. I have the Eagles at nine. I think that they, you know, they don't have the, you know, top tier talent necessarily that like a lot of that some of these other teams and that our top 10 have. But they have someone to play every role.

And they have someone who's good at those roles too. DeAndre Swift out of the backfield as a. Pass catcher, he is good, he's useful. If he ever takes a step in his mental fortitude of overcoming injuries, he could, I don't know if it'll ever happen, but he really could explode as a runner and as a pass catcher and just playing an entire season. You'd love to see the production there. Rashad Penny, again, a guy who is in between the tackles, outside of the tackles run game

is really good. he's a very effective runner. Every time he plays for the first six weeks or whatever, he's always up at the top of the efficiency rankings and for running backs. Again, it comes down to health for him. Then you get down to Kenneth Gainwell and Boston Scott, who both, again, are pretty good receivers out of the backfield

and they both run the ball effectively. They don't do it a ton, but they do run it effectively. And then, you know, it's just a very good, they're playing behind one of the best offensive line the NFL, which helps things a lot. And so I think that just overall, they've pieced together this backfield in the way where they don't have any holes of your questioning where they're going to get this or where they're going to get

this or that aspect out of their run game or even the, you know, their running backs in the past game. They have a guy to fill every role. And I think that, you know, that's super useful and super helpful. And it's great for what their offense wants to do. I think that, you know, that Miles Sanders, he was okay. He played pretty well last year, but I think that Swift and Penny would be, are an upgrade over what he was last year and what he, what his ceiling was. I think they offer a higher ceiling for the run game of the past game with those running backs.

Yeah, so I went on a guru in the morning yesterday, although he was absent. I was with John, or Paul Kelly and Adam Kaplan. They asked me about this backfield. and here's the thing I could easily talk myself into giving these guys a top five rating because they're that guy I haven't met nine for what it's worth

because Swift and Penny are absolute freaking killers when healthy the big caveat there is when healthy huge caveat I had to drop them a little bit because of that but man when these guys are healthy they're disgusting last year alone Rashad Penny ranked second an explosive run rate and he was first

in yards after contact per carry his mistackles force rate is exceptionally high as well DeAndre Swift was six, sixth an explosive run rate, and he was also top 10 in yards after contact per carry. Two absolute monsters that do different things. So Swift is going to be more of your outside runner. You can get them involved in some power, outside zone scheme, and then Penny's going to be the inside zone hammer, where you're just deleting people off of that read option. That stuff that Jalen Hertz does.

Both these guys can play a little. Swift's really good in the past game as a receiver. Penny's more of a pass protector. I like the balance there. And then, dude, what's crazy about this team is the depth is nuts, like you said. Gainwell and Boston Scott are legitimately capable backs. And they're like lesser versions of the guys they're backing up. Gainwell's a lesser version of Swift and Scott's a lesser version of Penny.

It's just kind of funny how that works, but just top to bottom, they've probably got the, I would say maybe the deepest running back room in the league, which is good because the two guys we talked about have health issues. So there can any given moment, they might need one of those two guys to step up and be a legit, part of the offense. But man, if those guys stay healthy, this team is, the run game could be crazy good. Just once I'd like to see. And it'd be awesome if, you know, all the stars align, all the playing, it's aligned. And you got it both in the same season.

But, you know, everybody's been wanting to see Swift and Penny healthy for a whole season. I mean, it's been something we've all been begging for because we have seen them as these high upside guys who clearly have shown that they're very effective running the ball. and Swift's very effective out of the backfield. It's just, I really like the patience that Swift shows. I think that it's going to be a lot of fun to watch behind that Philadelphia offensive line. And just if you can, if they stay, God, not even the whole season, if you can get 12 to 14 games in those 12 to 14 games overlap,

we thought the Philadelphia Eagles offense was good last year and we thought their run game was good last year, this would take them to another level that I don't think anybody would be kind of prepared to see. I feel like it's been a not talked about point with their offense going into the season. Yep, agreed.

All right, throw out your 10 here. 10? Yeah, I toiled over this one a little bit. I'm going to go with the Browns. Nick Chubbs, probably the best peer runner in the NFL and has shown real no signs of slowing down. And I don't know, I guess I'm going to kind of buy into the Jerome Ford

hype that's coming out of camp and, you know, his usefulness and what they think he can bring to the offense this year. It just, yeah, Nick Chubb is incredible. And I think that they consistently underutilize him. And I think that hopefully Jerome Ford can bring, you know, another, just that one-two punch to that. And, you know, keep them where they were when they had Kareem Hunt. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't disagree. I mean, I, Jerome Ford's a big time wild card to me. You know, I liked him coming out, but he's a fifth round pick and didn't really play as a rookie. So I kind of got a latency on hand before I need to make any declarations. as far as that goes. But obviously Chubb is a baller. He just doesn't do much in the past game, Steve, which is pretty important to me.

Yeah. My 10 was, this might be a big surprise, but it was the Pittsburgh Steelers. I did debate them there. It was them, the Browns, and actually the Texans that I was looking at. So the Steelers, So, Naja Harris has, we're gotten to a point with Naja Harris slander where it's just out of control.

Yeah. There's only one running back in the league that has forced more mistackles than him the last two seasons, and that's Nick Chubb. One big difference is, Naja Harris played through a Liz Frank injury last year. Yeah. I mean, he had a mangled foot the entire season and still was snapping dudes off at the ankles pretty easily. he can run with power he's got insane agility for a guy his size and then one huge deal here too

is he can affect the past game he's a legitimately receiver especially for a big guy he's also really good in pass protection this Pittsburgh offensive line has been really really bad and they started to click towards the last year if you look at Nagee splits toward the end of the last year

when he started to get healthy when that offensive line started to come together a little bit versus early in the year it's night and day difference. He was actually better during that stretch than at any point during his rookie season. And everyone thought coming out of his rookie year, he was phenomenal.

So they go ahead and add Broder Jones to the mix. They sign Isaac Siamalu. They're just improving this team, this offensive line. I mean, they've improved their offensive line dramatically. You can argue, I think we talked about it on the offensive line show that it's either between them or Denver who's improved their offensive line the most this offseason. Yes.

Pittsburgh is right in that mix. So Nagee should have a, I think he's going to have a breakout season. I think he's going to be really, really good. And then we haven't even talked about Jalen Warren. Jalen Warren was outrageously good last year. Very efficient. Yeah, insane efficiency metrics, force, miss tackles, yards after contact, explosive run right, all of that pops.

He's got a little more, like Harris is more of a powerful, he's kind of like David Montgomery in a lot of ways. Like he's a powerful guy, good vision. you know, not always going to take the right gap where Jalen Warren's got a little bit more pop, a little more burst and explosiveness. Yeah. I think they complement each other well. So I, these two together with this improved offensive line, I think should be very, very good.

And like you said, it's not talked about enough that he, that Harris was playing through, like you said, playing through that injury last year. I don't think people realize how painful that Liz Frank injury is. Yep. Not only painful, it actually ends a lot of people's careers. It did. I mean, pre, you know, like, obviously medical advance of it has taken us a long way, but it was right up there for a while with, like, ACL injuries and stuff.

With, like, what. Hollywood Brown is the first skill player to bounce back from a Liz Frank injury, ever. And now it's like, it's become an ACL now, which is great. But the fact that he played through it when, like, five years ago was a career killer is crazy. to me. Yeah. And like you said, an insanely painful injury. You could see it early in the year, too.

Like he was struggling. Big time. And, lions, bro. You're just like, why he's playing right now? I mean, it got to the point where people were calling for his head and they wanted,

you know, Warren to take over the bulk of the carries. Like, you saw that, you saw that hype start to kind of take over a little bit. Yep. All right. That's our top 10.

Do you have any? other closing thoughts or teams you want to throw out there as like a watch this team see what happens uh the the only other team that we didn't mention that i just would keep an eye on i think is the saints if elvin camere is healthy um jamal williams is there as they're you know pound like they're pound in the middle back and then kendry miller if he shows to be effective as a rookie that could be a pretty effective running back room i you know i debated them a little bit having them in my top 10, end up leaving him out just because I, just because I, like, I don't know how much I'm buying into Alvin Camaro. We haven't really seen it fully the last couple of years,

but, you know, if he's as healthy as people think he is and, you know, Jamal Williams is good at what he does. And then I think if Kendry Miller, like I said, can kind of bounce off and be effective, like that could be a room that could be a fun room to watch. That's a good call. All throughout the New England Patriots, Remandre Stevenson, I think, is one of the top 10 best backs in the league. And I think, based on their depth chart, he's probably going to, he has a chance to lead the league in touches this year. Yeah. If not, be top five for sure.

You're welcome, by the way. I gave him to you in our Dynasty League. Yeah, you did. That trade looks very profitable for you at this point. Pierre Strong Jr., a wild card there. That dude has some legit wheels. if he could be a really good compliment to Stevenson, who's kind of a bigger, bigger, more powerful runner, running style.

But yeah, I think those two got a chance to climb the rankings a little bit here. Yeah. All right, let's get out of here, Steve. Let's do it. Data Tool launching soon. We were famous yesterday, Steve, because the Fantasy Points promo for the Data Tool is me going on a little rant. That was awesome.

I love that video. Shout to us. Shout out to our social guy, Trey. He's been awesome since he's come in. He's behind the scenes guy, but man, he's really, I like what he's doing out here. For sure. I mean, he's scheduling player interviews and I can't, I can't tell you names yet, but I'll say that a very heavily scrutinized draft pick from this year's first round

that I may or may not have gone on several rants about is going to be on. the show Friday with Joe Dolan. So I don't know when that gets uploaded. So maybe not uploaded Friday, but uploaded soon. Definitely check that out. That's going to be good. Yeah, absolutely. Trays the man.

Trey's got things moving here behind the scenes at fantasy points, which is cool. Because I got to the point where I realize, like, I can't do everything, Steve. You tried. I tried. I tried. But, you know, I can only take everyone so far. I can only carry so long. So we needed to get guys in here that could get stuff moving.

Exactly. Because our content is so good, you know. It is. We just need some behind the scenes peeps to just make it pop. And that's exactly what's happening right now. So shout out to Trey. If you haven't seen the teaser trailer, it was tweeted from Fantasy Points account last night or yesterday afternoon. I retweeted it.

Steve retweeted it. You can go find it. But it's pretty hilarious. And it's me ripping on Scott Barrett. So that makes it even better. All right. Are we good? Did we cover everything?

Yeah, I think we nailed it. I'm Brett Whitefield. This is Stephen Rourke, and we are out. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoints.com.