Fantasy Football Today - 🚨 Gus Edwards RB1? Dobbins & Ingram Test Positive for COVID

Episode Date: November 23, 2020

Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins are on the COVID list. We break down what it means for Gus Edwards, who immediately becomes the top priority on waivers. How good can he be in Week 12? Is he a top-15 RB? How much FAB should you be prepared to drop to get him? You can also download and subscribe to the full-length Fantasy Football Today podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-podcast/id261735167 Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

all right so the bad news is jk dobbins fresh off of his breakout game out for week number 12 will not play on thanksgiving neither will mark ingram good news there's good news there is good news gus edwards available in 58 of cbs sports.com fantasy football leagues and he will be the lead back presumably for the Ravens against the Steelers Thanksgiving night and Morgan news emergency pod coming at you right now. Dave Richard, Chris towers, breaking it all down. Chris, what do you think about Gus Edwards? Do you think he can come through with a big game?

He had a pretty big game against Pittsburgh last time he played and he wasn't splitting the reps. Like he was splitting reps, but he's not going to split many reps on Thursday I mean yeah if the if Dobbins and Ingram are out like it seems like they will be I think you have to be pretty excited about Edwards yes it's a tough matchup against the Steelers but the Ravens running backs accounted for 200 rushing yards on 31 attempts the last time they faced them. And the thing about Edwards is pretty much every time he's gotten an opportunity, he's been good. You know, he's had 16 games with at least 10 carries in his career. He's got 400-yard games, like five or six with at least 70 yards.

I think if Gus Edwards is the starting running back for the Ravens, he's probably maybe not a top 12 running back, but he's probably going to be top 12 running back but he probably gonna be pretty close I I currently have him I'm doing you know Mondays are the days that we do our rankings I've got him as a top 15 guy as of now and you're right that 200 yard game looms large that was back in week eight Edwards at 16 carries 87 yards and a touchdown in that game he also had a target ooh um but I also went back just to see how the ravens run game did last year against pittsburgh and there was a week 17 game where

didn't really matter what they did it was pretty meaningless rg3 started gus had 21 carries for 130 yards in that game along with the target uh justice hill rushed for a touchdown earlier in the year in a more meaningful game not as great results for the ravens run game but they did score a rushing touchdown it was mark ingram 19 carries 44 yards that game was back in pittsburgh uh what week was it doesn't really matter who cares so there is a track record of ravens running backs doing well against pittsburgh and the steelers over the last four, are allowing over five yards per carry. It's pretty different.

It's a different world for the Steelers running backs at this point. So I would assume that if you needed a running back off the waiver wire in Week 12 and you had some fab left, Chris, you would spend all of it? Depends what kind of spot I'm in. If I'm comfortably in the playoffs, he becomes less of a priority. But if I'm two weeks away from the start of the playoffs and I'm a game out or tied for a playoff spot, absolutely. I think he's someone that you should spend nearly all of your fab on. He is, you know, you have to assume he's going to get close to 20 carries

in this game. You probably figure Lamar Jackson gets another 8-10. Lamar's actually run the ball really well against Pittsburgh which I think only helps Gus Edwards uh and yeah in the 16 games where he's had at least 10 carries he's rushed for 1200 yards 247 attempts and five touchdowns so I think that yeah that's 4.9 yards per carry I think Gus Edwards it's look it's an effective running game even with you know how weird this season has been there still have been you know really big games for them overall and the fact that he's running next to lamar jackson it only helps and you know i yeah i think top 15 running back those don't come around on waivers very often and even if

it's only for one game like it likely will be uh gus edwards probably should be by far the number one priority everywhere he's available and i i'll tell you if i need a running back for one week and if i don't love my other run if i've got todd girley penciled in to be one of my starting running backs i'm dropping a lot of fab on gus edwards if i really have not spent much of my fab all year, I'm probably looking at at least 50%. I mean, there are going to be people in your league and you can check the fab budgets of everybody else

that are in your league. And if they don't have a lot left to spend, you can probably gauge a good amount that can beat everybody's max bid. And that might be a decent way to start to figure out what you would need to spend to get Gus Edwards on your team with that. But I would imagine there's going to be somebody in every league that will go over the top with this with a max bid.

It could even be 100 percent. They could have spent nothing and they would spend 100 percent just to get Gus on their team. And there's no guarantee that Dobbins or Ingram would be back for week 13 and beyond. Do you agree? Todd Gurley goes behind Gus Edwards in the rankings in week 12 I think that makes sense yeah Gurley's not as not a big part of the passing game and he's not as an effective rusher as I expect Gus Edwards to be Gus Edwards or Giovanni Bernard running against the Giants I think you probably go with Edwards That Bengals offense is going to be pretty bad. Maybe in PPR you go Bernard. I'm going to go with Gus Edwards either way.

James Conner has been playing well. Now he's going up against Baltimore. Who do you like better there? I think I would still give the edge to Conner, but I think it's close. It might be another one where it's a PPR versus non PPR thing. Ravens have allowed five total touchdowns to running backs in their past four games, along with 4.5 yards per carry. What happened to these defenses being dominant, Chris against the run? They haven't been lately. I think there's an opportunity for both backs to do well. I think I agree with you that I would lean toward James Connor, but I'm a little bit nervous because he hasn't been uber productive in his last few games.

It might come down to whether Brandon Williams and Calais Campbell are able to play for the Warriors. That's a great call, because if they're back, then I think it makes it a lot harder for James Conner to pick up numbers. And we'll see. We'll see if they're ready to go. But for now, Gus Edwards, the top priority off the waiver wire, and the guy that you should prepare to spend mega fab dough on, on Tuesday night and Wednesday night when your waivers run. And speaking of waivers, we will get in depth with the waiver wire on Tuesday's pod. Don't forget about that one. Don't forget about FFT and five.

That'll come at you early Tuesday morning. It'll help you get your mind right for week 12. We're making that playoff push with you. Good luck off the waiver wire. Good luck if you need a win on Monday night in that Bucks-Rams game. I almost said Ravens. You know where my mind's at. For Chris Towers, I'm Dave Richard. Thanks for coming.