Fantasy Football Today - RB Tiers! Debating the Most Risk and Best Value! (07/16 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: July 16, 2024

If you support the show, please nominate Fantasy Football Today for The People's Choice Podcast Awards in the "Sports" Category: https://www.podcastawards.com/app/signup/ Dive into our breakdown of the Running Back Tiers for the upcoming season! We analyze each tier, from top-tier talents (2:30) like Christian McCaffrey, Breece Hall, and Bijan Robinson in Tier 1, to established stars such as Alvin Kamara (20:50) in Tier 4 and breakout candidates like Zamir White (34:20) in Tier 5. We discuss the strengths, risks, and potential values of every RB tier, helping you strategize for your fantasy football draft, including deep sleeper picks like Jaleel McLaughlin (55:10) and Kimani Vidal (1:00:12) in Tiers 10 and 11. Our comprehensive breakdown ensures you're ready to dominate your fantasy league. Subscribe now for expert insights and tips! Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts Email us at [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." 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

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This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? I had no idea. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays at his feet. He's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races. And he stays on his feet. He's just going to go the distance.

Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. 12 running back tears to get through today. It's going to be a challenge. It's going to be a challenge. Jamie giving us 12 running back tears. Thank you for the hard work, Jamie. Appreciate it. It was just basically going through my rankings and saying,

okay, line, line, line. This is really the other way to do it. No, that's, that's what you do. Right.

That makes sense. Uh, hello Heath. How, so, uh, how's Georgia treating you? Uh,

Georgia's fine. No basketball games yesterday. So, uh, the, the boys are practicing right now, getting ready for the finals but uh yeah our georgia's good it's you know it's the weird thing and people when

they tell you that you live in south florida like man how do you deal with the heat there's so many places that it's hotter than in south florida and georgia is certainly one of them much much hotter here but it's humid it's humid. It's humid in South Florida. It's really hot up here now. It's going to be 97 today, I think. But it's nothing like a Florida summer. Florida summers are hotter. Yeah. I don't believe in this dry heat nonsense.

Okay. All right. Let's get to our running back tears. I forgot to mention Podcast Awards yesterday. Please, please help us out. Go to podcastawards.com and nominate Fantasy Football today in the sports category. podcastawards.com slash app slash sign up. Or just go to podcastawards.com. You'll find it.

It took me about 30 to 40 seconds to register and nominate Fantasy Football today. We're in the sports category and the people's choice category. If you're going to do one, do sports. But you can do both. It's super easy. Nominate Fantasy Football today so we can win the Podcast Awards this year. It's going to be our year, baby. We keep getting so close. It's going to be our year. All right. Tier one for Jamie is Christian McCaffrey, Brees Hall, and Bijan Robinson. A three-man tier, McCaffrey, Hall, Robinson. So the other two that get sort of lumped in with them are Gibbs and Taylor,

I guess just as like first round-ish picks. Why are these three, you know, the cream of the crop, Jamie? We talked about this yesterday on CBS Sports Network that I think these three guys feel like the safest bet to compete to be the number one guy. You know, when you get to Jameer Gibbs, you need most likely a David Montgomery injury for him to get there. You need, I think, Jonathan Taylor to be significantly involved

in the passing game or score 20 touchdowns. Both could happen, but it feels like a stretch. Saquon Barkley needs to be, I think, you know, rookie Saquon Barkley to get back to that level. Like these three guys, based on either what they showed, clearly McCaffrey is easy, Brees Hall last year, with being now two years removed from the ACL tear

and the upside that he has. And then for Bijan, just the potential of what he was supposed to be last year, now with a better coaching staff, I think for him, and the things that you're hearing coming out of Atlanta about Christian McCaffrey-type workload, feels like these three guys have the best upside and best potential. The one guy I think you can maybe throw into this group, if you so are inclined,

would be Kyron Williams if you believe that he's going to replicate what he did a year ago when he was second in points per game. But we all know the situation that Blake Clorham could limit that upside, which is why he's in Tier 2 for me. Yeah, I don't think we have to spend too much time on tier one, but I have a question, right? So what's the difference if they're all in the same tier? Why do we take McCaffrey first overall

and then four wide receivers and then the second running back? Well, I don't, but also, not this, I would agree with no thank you in the chat. It just depends on how many tiers you want to have. Because if I do it based on my projections, he said CMC is in a tier of his own. If I do it based on my projections, there's a 35-point difference between Christian McCaffrey's projection and anybody else's.

I agree with Jamie that I would definitely cut it off behind Robinson, but if I was actually like trying to tier by projections of where the gaps in the projections are, it'd be tier one, McCaffrey, tier two, Holland Robinson, and then the rest of those guys. I think that definitely, um, it's, it's closer to that than it is to including anybody else in this tier. And I would agree with that as well. And, you know, again, to your point, Adam, you could certainly make the case that the three running backs could go back to back to back. You know, if you want to draft that way and you can make a case that the five receivers can go ahead of all three running backs. You know, if you want to go a different route as well. And there's a lot of people that are saying C cd lambs should be the number one overall pick um i think the one thing

that for me is these three running backs are the only ones i feel are guaranteed first round picks there's no there's no sure thing that any other running back will be a first rounder now i think we can probably expect that because of just how people draft. So whether it's Gibbs or Taylor or Barkley or Kyron, they all have the opportunity to be first round picks. These three guys are going to be first round picks, slam dunks, no doubt about it. So that's McCaffrey, Brees, Hall, and Bijan Robinson. And I say, why do we take McCaffrey,

then four wide receivers? That's kind of like what I see a lot in our drafts. It's not necessarily what's happening. I mean, look at CBS ADP. Actually, Brees Hall is the second player off the board and Robinson's fourth. It's McCaffrey, Hall, Lamb, Robinson, Hill, Chase, and then Barkley.

So still, I mean, that's surprising to me. But, you know, we'll talk about him in a moment in tier two. You look at fantasy pros ADP. It's McCaffrey, Lamb, Hill, Brees Hall, Chase Jefferson, Bijan Robinson. So Hall gets kind of gets pushed in there. Oh, sorry. That's standard scoring. My bad.

PPR scoring. OK, is McCaffrey, Lamb, Hill, Chase Jefferson. Yeah, OK. That's what I was talking about. McCaffrey and then five wide receivers and then Bijan, A.J. Brown, Brees Hall. All right. Let's go to tier two. Tier two is four players.

Jameer Gibbs, Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor, and Kyron Williams. This is Jamie's tier two. Gibbs, Barkley, Taylor, Kyron Williams. Heath, your thoughts on that? You agree with this tier? I think you know, you could probably say

what my thoughts are on that. I agree 100% with Jameer Gibbs, Jonathan Taylor, and Kyron Williams in tier two. Like I agree 100% with Jameer Gibbs, Jonathan Taylor, and Kyron Williams in tier two. And I've got say Quan Barkley, a tier or two behind this, but I think that Gibbs, Taylor, and Kyron are for me, the three most likely guys to make that jump into the next tier. Okay. Jamie, what's tier two of tier one of the guys that are guaranteed to be first round picks tier two is what they'll be back in round one, early part of round two, you know, certainly around two, you know,

depending on how your draft goes where the quarterbacks start to get mixed in there. If you see, you know, any of the tight ends as well, but they, I don't think will impact this group of running backs. But for me, these are guys that are, you know, basically back in round one beginning of round two guys. And I will say like, just looking at Jamie's tiers, and I've been writing a lot of running back content lately. My busts came out last week, and I'm writing the running back preview today.

Very, very similar in terms of our first four or five tiers, except for two of my busts based on where they're being drafted. I would have a couple of tiers lower. And Barkley is one of those guys, Adam, you said, I think he's the ninth highest drafted player on CBS right now. And I just don't,

I just don't think there's that big of a boost going to Philadelphia and it could turn out to be wrong. But I think hurts while the offensive line is going to be better. It's not going to be as good as it was last year. And Hurts may not be a total net positive for Barkley. I think you lump Barkley and Taylor, right? You can ask the same questions.

Taylor, of course, is younger. He's shown in recent years to be a more explosive, more dynamic. He's a better rusher. Yeah, I mean, I think he is. I don't want to discount the possibility that Saquon Barkley just becomes a much more efficient rusher with the Eagles, right? Because it's possible that if Barkley had been running behind the Colts offensive line, we'd be thinking about him a little bit differently, but fine. I'm saying

that Taylor is a better rusher than Barkley, but, but you know, someone brought this up in a mail bag, an email or brought this up a couple of weeks ago. Do we ever see mobile quarterbacks produce first-round caliber running backs? And Taylor and Barkley are both going to have to deal with the same issues. Quarterbacks that are going to steal touchdowns and quarterbacks that probably aren't going to throw at running backs that much.

So I guess, do they both have that concern, Heath? Why just Barkley for you? Cam McCaffrey is the one I can think of. There's probably others, I'm sure, but that's the only one I can think of right now. I don't know if there are others, because I think that was the only one that I could think of.

Was RG3's big year with Alfred Morris? Am I getting that correct? I don't know. The Lamar one's weird, because there was definitely seasons that if you know. Mark Ingram had a very good year. The Lamar one's weird because there were definitely seasons that if you put together Mark Ingram before he got hurt and J.K. Dobbins after he got hurt, then that was definitely a first-round caliber running back, right?

I'm not sure. Ingram had a really good year, probably a second-round caliber where he caught five touchdowns, something like that. I don't think I have either one of these guys in the first round either. But the difference for me is, one, that I think Taylor's a better rusher, and two, I am not concerned about Taylor's age. Barkley's getting close to the point where I would be concerned about that. And then three, I think it's possible that Anthony Richardson

rushes in the red zone at the same rate that jalen hurts has but it seems like it's more certain that hurts will the tush push hasn't been a thing yet in indianapolis true but the guy who started it is now the head coach in indianapolis so you know you have to wonder how much that that will factor in i for me it's it's the role in the passing game you know i i I saw last year what they did with Deandre Swift, despite that, you know, so it's kind of really two years of data that I look at with Barkley because with their backfield, uh, for the Eagles, Miles Sanders scored 11 rushing touchdowns two years ago.

So it's not like a running back can't get to double digit touchdowns. We've noted time and time again, how many times that Deandre Swift fell down at the one yard line. Um, plus now the loss of Jason Kelsey. So will the tush push still be as effective and will they go to it as much? And the other part of it is, you know, Swift had 39 catches last year on 16 games. Barkley's kind of been living in that 40 to 50 catch range the last couple of years with mostly a mobile quarterback. You know, Daniel Jones is exactly the most efficient passer as we're well aware of. So I think he'll still be around 45 catches would be my guess.

And I don't think Taylor sniffs that. And so if the touchdowns are going to favor Taylor, which they should, the rushing production I think will favor Taylor, but I don't know by how much. I still think those catches for Barkley will put him a little bit over the edge. And I think that the touchdowns will come back a little bit more to the norm of what the Eagles will score. So I like Barkley slightly better in PPR and half PPR and non PPR.

I would take Taylor. But, but for me, they're basically back to back. You're going to hear me repeat a lot of things. We've been listening all off season. We have a lot of new people coming into the show right around now and throughout the next few weeks.

So there's going to be a lot of repeat information for those loyal viewers and listeners. So sorry about that. You've probably forgotten some of it anyway. But you look at that tier, again, it's Gibbs, Barkley, Taylor, and Kyron Williams. And Gibbs, you know, the last nine games of the season when David Montgomery returned from injury, he was the number 10 running back per game in half PPR and full PPR.

David Montgomery had 125 carries. Gibbs had 200 carries. That almost seems... No, no, no, no. I'm sorry. He had 100... That was a 17-game pace. He had 106 carries. Montgomery had 125. Gibbs had 24 catches. He was on pace for only 45 in that stretch. He wasn't a huge pass catcher. But I guess my point is, it seems like in fantasy, tell me if you agree, three running backs, five wide receivers

that you can't even, you probably can't even really make a bus case for. I mean, these guys are super safe. They're the elite eight. And then as soon as you get to tier two at running back, I can make easy bust, bust because they might go in the first

round, not bust because they're going to be bad. Bust cases for Gibbs, Barkley, Taylor, Kyron, and AJ Brown. I don't know. Puka, Garrett Wilson. Like you've got question marks immediately, but do you have, do you agree with that premise? First of all, there is an elite eight. And yes, I think that you start to, you know, get to that point from, you know, nine on is okay. Is this guy better than that guy? Is this positions safer than that position? You know, running back versus receiver.

I think, again, that's why I'll go back to, you know, when we start to see ADP for most drafts, you're going to start to see the quarterbacks come into play back into the first round, because that's just how people draft, you know, no matter what we say, no matter how many times you can, you know, explain the, the, the, the smarter way to build your teams, people still like their quarterbacks for the simple reason that they're safe. So I don't know, AJ Brown, probably, you know, you call him the bridge guy. Cause I think he's, he's relatively safe. But yes, Gary Wilson has question marks Puka has question marks these four guys in tier two at the running back position have question marks you

know so it it it does feel like it you know and I was talking to somebody last night who was doing a best ball draft they had pick 11 they were like this is a nightmare I'm like it's not a nightmare no it's not it's fine but you know you start to see those first eight guys go off the board remember Dan in our magazine draft and how much he was like, I hate pick 12. I hate pick 12 because I don't, you know, there's a teardrop off for him, for him. He, you know, he, he included Brown and, and AJ and, um, AJ Brown and Garrett Wilson. He was like, I, I don't love Puka at the back end around one. So, you know, they're just people that don't feel comfortable with these, these players in this spot, but there's still so much upside.

Yeah. So, so my last question, and we're going to answer, answer it after a break, but my question that we'll tease now is, is there more uncertainty with the running backs, Gibbs, Barkley, Taylor,

Kyron, or the wide receivers, AJ Brown, Puka, Garrett Wilson, Marvin Harrison. I don't think I'm forgetting anyone. We'll tell me that after this break on Fantasy Football today.

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Visit Intact.ca or talk to your broker. Conditions apply. So it's really four on four here, if you think about it. It's the four running backs in Tier 2. Gibbs for Jamie. Gibbs, Barkley, Kyron, and Taylor. It's not in that order. It's Gibbs, Barkley, Taylor, Kyron.

And then it's four wide receivers. A.J. Brown, Garrett Wilson, Puka Nakua, Marvin Harrison. Heath, which tier feels riskier to you, tier two at receiver or tier two at running back? I think if you put A.J. Brown as that bridge guy, then the wide receivers are riskier. Just because Puka, we don't know when Cooper Cup's 100% healthy healthy Garrett Wilson's never really done anything to justify where

he's being drafted yet. We're just hoping that Aaron Rogers can be good again. Harrison's a rookie. So I'm more confident that these running backs are going to have high volume and be really good except for AJ Brown. Right. Okay. So you, would you guys take AJ Brown ahead of Jameer Gibbs? be really good, except for A.J. Brown. Right. Okay.

So would you guys take A.J. Brown ahead of Jameer Gibbs? Yes. Yeah. I take the receivers ahead of the running backs, too. Generally speaking. Okay. And, of course, this is a position where you could, if you want, take one of each. This is always a late first round, always a good time. You don't have to do it,

but running back wide receiver is never a bad way that point in the draft to start your draft. All right, let's go to tier three. It is Travis Etienne, James Cook, Isaiah Pacheco,

Derek Henry, and Rashad White. Etienne, Cook, Pacheco, Henry, Rashad White. That's for Jamie. Heath, your reaction to tier three, Etienne, Cook, Pacheco, Henry Rashad white. That's for Jamie Heath. You're a reaction to tier three. Etn cook Pacheco, Henry white.

But again, I think you could probably say it for me. It's one of these guys. It's not like the other, um, I have the 30 year old and I'm surprised that Jamie, the ageist has Derek Henry into your three. Um,

but no, I have the 30 year old running back, I think in tier five or tier six, but again, full agree on Travis, ctn james cook isaiah pacheco rashad white i think they all offer the upside of being even better than this i i would not be completely flabbergasted by any of these four running backs finishing as a top five running back this season they all come with a little bit more risk than the group in front of

them travis etn hasn't been particularly efficient they're talking about taking work off of his plate they all come with a little bit more risk than the group in front of them. Travis ETN hasn't been particularly efficient. They're talking about taking work off of his plate. James Cook never scores touchdowns. The Chiefs are going to throw again. Rashad White, kind of like ETN, hasn't run very well. But I could still see anyone from Tier 3 being in my tier, at least in this group, being a top five running back this year.

Yeah. Jamie, I thought ETN being in this tier was interesting. I thought he might make it into tier two. I felt like he, um, yeah, yeah. I'll just leave it at that. I would, I guess I would have put him at the end of tier two instead of with cook Pacheco, Henry and Rashad white. That's ETN. What do you think? Again, you know, kind of looking at it more from a draft perspective, I could see any of the other four guys being back end of round one guys.

I don't think anybody's taking Travis ETN in the first round. So he, for me, is a round two pick. And to be honest, I struggle with him staying atop this list if they are going to reduce his workload in any capacity you know now for me it's more talk than i think it is factual because thank bigsby struggled he apparently struggled again and you know otas and so is there anybody else there that they're going to trust is it dearnish johnson are they gonna you know kick the tires on somebody that might get cut maybe make a trade you know it feels like they want to limit his workload to some capacity.

I don't understand why, but they want to. Maybe they just have some durability questions. So I feel like he's more in line with this group than he is with the group ahead of him, just from a standpoint of upside and potential workload concerns. Yeah, I think ETN gets more touches than Jacob Gibbs, Jameer Gibbs. Do you guys agree with that? Not to say that he should be going ahead of him.

He might, and that's a fair question. And he might get more than Kyron Williams this year, based on how things could unfold. But the one thing is, you don't want to buy into coach speak, and you don't want to buy into things that necessarily come from the franchise until you see it. But the Lions have been pretty transparent about Jameer Gibbs. And the fact that Brad Holmes, the GM said that they're going to give him more work. I think they're going to give him more work, you know? And so where does that come? Um, does that

come from the passing game, which makes sense? You know, again, there's, there's 64 vacated targets, you know, just if you go year over year, Does it come from taking work off of David Montgomery? And the thing that, you know, it's hard to overlook, like you said, the back-end stretch when David Montgomery was there, he still had five rushing touchdowns in the final six games, Jameer Gibbs. And so I know it wasn't all goal-line opportunities and things like that, but it's still one of those situations where there's a lot to like about the upside of what he can be with a bigger workload.

And then you go to the two games, two of the three games that David Montgomery missed, and it was 26 and 29 PPR points. Like that's hard to overlook. Like if David Montgomery were to get a significantly reduced workload, my God, Jameer Gibbs, like you said, Adam, if we knew Montgomery was out of the way, he'd be in the conversation for number one overall. Yeah, no, in the last nine games, they had the same amount of carries inside the five-yard line. It's actually 11 for Montgomery and 10 for Gibbs, which is, by the way, an incredible number.

Those two combined for 21 carries inside the five-yard line in the last nine games of the season. I think Saquon Barkley had like six all year or something like that. Something really low. But then in the postseason, David Montgomery had eight carries inside the five yard line and Jameer Gibbs had zero. So that was an interesting development.

Gibbs still scored touchdowns. They just weren't short yardage ones. All right. So so tier three for Jamie is ETN, James Cook, Pacheco, Derek Henry and Rashad White. Heath does not like Henry in this tier. Do you put Barkley in that tier with Etienne, Cook, Pacheco, and White, Heath? Yes. This is exactly where I put St. Bumper.

Okay. Alright. Tier 3 ends with Rashad White. Tier 4 starts with Alvin Kamara. Just to mix it up, personally, I don't know why Kamara goes after White. They feel like the same player, except Kamara's older.

Well, you answered your own question there. Yeah, except I think Rashad... You just don't care about age for players? Oh, I do. I definitely do. But I also care about Rashad White basically being... I really hate saying this. All right, I'll just say least efficient. He's basically been the least efficient running back

in football for his two-year career. What has Kamara been the last two years? Bad, bad, but better than Rashad White, which is saying something. I have the same concerns about both of them. I favor Kamara because I have a harder time seeing him lose work. If they're both struggling,

I see White maybe getting fewer carries than Kamara. But Kamara's my favorite. It's so scary to attach yourself to an old guy who hasn't been playing well, but he doesn't go this high. I like that you have him in this tier,

Jamie. I feel like he's so disrespected that he's either at the end of this tier or lower in ADP. So I keep getting him. But I wouldn't take him in the third round, which is basically like, tier four feels like a third round tier. Kamara, Jacobs, A-Chan, Ken Walker, and Mixon. Kamara, Jacobs,

A-Chan, Walker, Mixon. You think these guys are third round picks? No. Back end of third round at best. Um, the, the thing about Camara is first off, he will fall if he doesn't show up on time for training camp. You know,

he's dealing with a contract situation right now, so he could, he could slip. Um, and again, this is a, you know, format specific ranking or tier because you need him to be 70 plus catches.

If he's not 70 plus catches he's going to struggle because of kendra miller getting more work tasem hill still being there i know that's a surprise to adam but you know tasem hill still there um you know and whatever they decide to give jamal williams but there's there's a lot of mouths to feed in this backfield but if there is the you know we we sit here and we we've heard a lot of Christian McCaffrey talk in Atlanta because of the new coaching staff. Well, where is the coaching staff coming from, the offensive coordinator coming from New Orleans?

He's coming from San Francisco. So you know what that role means for that running back in the passing game. And this is arguably the best guy to do it since he's come in the league. Or second best guy to do it since he's come in the league behind McCaffrey best guy to do it since come in the league you know behind mcafree so i think there's a lot of opportunities here for camara to still be last year per game he was the best pass catching back he finished one reception behind uh bruce hall he was number one in terms of targets per game from the position 6.6 so it's hard to overlook that yes he's older yes there's concerns he hasn't been a good runner but i mean again you know what he does as a as a pass catcher and, you know, even factoring

the 13 catch game when he first came back, what was it? 13 catches for 33 yards. It was miserable, which is the argument for people that hate PPR. But he's still going to have those those chances. And that's hard to get past in this format. All right. Not to make this all about Camara, right? Let's focus on the tears here.

Two questions. First of all, if Kamara, Josh Jacobs, Devon Achan, Ken Walker, and Joe Mixon, just to clarify, you think they should start going late in the third round? Yeah, I think I probably have Kamara middle of the third round, but the

rest of these guys toward the back end. And he has like a... Excuse me. Kamara and Jacobs are in the third round. Jacobs at the back in the third round has like a jacob jacob most the other excuse me camara and jacobs are in the third round jacobs at the back in the third round h and walker and mix in our fourth round picks for me and in camara i mean i'm looking at a bunch of different sites he's at the earliest late round four pick and he goes after a lot of these guys that are in the same tier jacobs h and walker and mixin right, so I think so far, if we could recap the show, tier one was the big three of McCaffrey, Hall, Robinson.

Tier two was Gibbs for Jamie, Gibbs, Barkley, Taylor, and Kyron. No Barkley in there for Heath. But we see a difference, a big, like a significant or an obvious difference between tier one and tier two. So again, tier two, Gibbs, Barkley, Taylor, Kyron. tier three, ETN, Cook, Pacheco, Henry, White. You guys laid out pretty clear differences between tiers two and three. What's the difference between tiers three and four? Personally, I don't know that I see it. And I'm not disagreeing with the tier. Like you can't, you're not going to have a 10 player tier. I get it. But I feel like these tiers are pretty even, you know, again, tier three is

Etienne, Cook, Pacheco, Henry, and White. Tier four is Camara, Jacobs, A-Chan, Walker, and Mixon. I'm not, I hope that didn't come off as critical. I'm not criticizing the tier, but I think they're, I feel like they're kind of similar. Heath, what do you think? There's a lot more for me, a lot more question marks about the guys in tier four than the guys in tier three. We talked about it with Camara, like his age. And is he any good anymore? Jacob and Mixon both going to new teams and the Packers can't stop talking about how much they want Marshawn Hoy to touch the football. I don't think Jacobs is necessarily going to be a workhorse back. And if he's not, well, he can't be a tier three back probably with his efficiency. A-chan, how many times is he going to touch the ball and how much can he hold up?

And then Walker has the battle with Charbonnet with a new coaching staff and the battle with his own injuries. How do you see it, Jamie? Do you think there's a big difference between tiers three and four? Not a huge difference, but a difference, you know, and Heath laid it out perfectly. You know, there's, there's question marks really for a lot of these guys. You know, I mean, we, we talked about ETN, you know, James Cook, people are wondering, can he score touchdowns? You know, is Ray Davis going to steal those opportunities after only had two last year

and six total? Derrick Henry's 30. Pacheco, you knowco might feel like the safest, but you never know with the Chiefs if they get more creative in the red zone and don't rely on their run game as much. And Rashad White, Adam, you've been saying this, whether it comes to fruition or not,

could he get replaced as the primary runner there, whether it's Bucky Irving or somebody else? So yeah, there's questions, I think, with all of these guys. But I think when you start to tier them, which is what the purpose of the exercise is here and the show is like, okay, where do you feel comfortable? Do you want to buy into a tier three running back in the late round two,

early round three range, or do you want to wait until middle of round three, round four for any of these guys? And you know, if you draft not necessarily hero RB, because this is not the group you want to have just as your sole running back and then wait. But if you do take this as one of your only running backs,

or you do go to running backs in the first four rounds, these are great second running backs, you know? So it's, it's a, it's a good place to find yourself depending on if you go, if you're in a two receiver league or a three receiver league and how your build wants to start out. So let's say you have a late round two pick because that's when some of these guys in tier three are going to start to come into the equation. Etn, Cook, Pacheco, Henry, White. If you skip them in round two and round three,

okay, let's say you start Brees Hall in round one and then receiver, receiver or receiver tight end or whatever. How confident are you that anyone in tier four is going to make it to you at, let's say, 45th overall with your fourth round pick? So tier four would be Kamara, Jacobs, A-Chan, Walker, Mixon. You skip the tier three running backs. You try to wait until late round four to take your first

running back. Can you get, Heath, if you're confident you can get Kamara, Jacobs, A and walker or mixon are we drafting with joel cox because otherwise i'm pretty sure ken walker's gonna be there at the end of round four um if joel's not in the draft i i just talked to joel last weekend about this so he's okay with that joke but yeah um i think you can count on one of those guys getting there. I will just say I'm a little bit higher on some of the guys in tier three. I'm not, I it's really hard for me to imagine a situation where I'm passing on cook

and ETN and Rashad white and Pacheco in round three. Like maybe I miss those guys or something, but I'm, I'm generally not letting those guys get past round three, which is why I'm drafting running backs a little bit earlier than I have in past years, because they are sometimes falling there. So,

so two points that Adam, um, I did a magazine draft, uh, for another publication and exactly what he said. So I started with Justin Jefferson, no Jamar Chase, excuse me. And Saquon Barkley were my first two picks. I was planning receiver in round three. I think I was picking ninth

in a, in a one QB league. And then James Cook came back to me in round three. And I'm like, that's just too good for me to pass up because I'm excited for his breakout potential. Conversely, I was doing a best ball draft where my first two picks were Jameer Gibbs and Marvin Harrison Jr. I just got out of picks. I wasn't ready for the start of the draft. Um, but those are my first two picks. And then there were plenty of running backs available. You certainly find that I'm sure Heath has seen it a lot. And you know, best balls, mostly receivers get way pushed up. So if you're in a redraft league and these running backs are all gone so you're talking about it's three in round three and three in tier one so seven after tier two and uh here's 10 more guys so 17 running backs are gone the first four four rounds that's a lot of talented

receivers that are going to be landing in your lap or tight end or quarterback. And so don't just draft one of these guys if you're not in love with them to take them because there's probably going to be some very good wide receiver talent. So let's just say you went Gibbs or Barkley or Taylor at the back end of round one and paired that with Puka or Harrison or whoever you want to go with. Let's say it's Harrison. You're third or fourth receiver, which could be either your second receiver in flex or second and third receiver in your three-receiver league. I like that start better as opposed to panicking just because you feel like you have to draft one of these guys. If you don't love any of these guys, then let them go.

So just scanning early average draft position, it's July 16th right now. And looking at the fourth tier for Jamie of Camara, Jacobs, HN, Walker, Mixon, Jacobs,

and HN, and not in that order, HN, Jacobs. Those guys are round three picks and, and most in most drafts. And HN is even going to be around to pick like people love HN more than Jacobs round two and RADP too.

Uh, let me check right now. Our PPR ADP, Josh Jacobs, is 26th. Okay. In our ADP, let's see. And then, like, Ken Walker, Mixon, and Kamara are round four

or five picks. So, if you were just doing tiers based on ADP, they'd be separate. And I think, I love that. That's great to know because why would you take A-chan in round two, which a lot of people are doing, when you can wait 24 picks later? You could wait two full rounds later and probably get one of Kamara, Walker, or Mixon.

You might even be able to get two of them. You might be able to get them in rounds four and five if you wanted to do that. So that's just important to know. If you look at that five running back tier, A-chan and Jacobs go early, and then Kamara, Walker, and Mixon, in some order, go significantly later, honestly. And I think a lot of people that have been playing

best ball over the summer probably see A-chan at that two, three turn. And I just want to say in that format it makes a lot more sense like especially if you're one of these guys that's drafting 50 best ball teams and just like trying to hit the the million dollar prize h and the two three turn makes all the sense in the world um it's because he could i think he's a better chance that he's a league winner than anybody else in this tier. I also think that like he might touch the ball eight times. Right. Okay.

You, you lose anybody else around these guys. It doesn't really impact them to the same level that if most are wins a lottery and goes on vacation. Okay. Let's take a break and come back and talk about tier five out of what? 13 or 12. Okay.

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Zamir White, David Montgomery, and Ramondre Stevenson. Jamie, we did a show, I don't know, a couple weeks ago where we talked about a group of like 11 running backs, and I think it started with this group. It was like Zemir White, Montgomery, Stevenson, and then probably Tier 6 after that. So what separates Zemir White, David Montgomery, and Ramondre Stevenson in Tier 5 from Jonathan Brooks,

Najee Harris, Zach Moss, Tony Pollard, James Conner, DeAndre Swift, Aaron Jones. And yes, I'll go over those names later when we get into tier six, but they're right behind them. So it's a mere white Montgomery and Stevenson just ahead. For me, a lot more questions with the guys behind these three, you know, so while we talked about this yesterday on on Sports Network, that is mere white does have the Alexander Madison, you know, sort of model that he's following of small sample size of being the guy and then can he handle it for a full season? I'm going to buy into the way that the off season went for the Raiders and how they're going to use

him and just hope that it's not the case of just, you know, being a, I don't want to say one hit wonder, but, you know, not being able to hold up to that type of, you know, opportunity and workload and all those things that go with it. Montgomery just feels safe. You know, I know they're going to give Jameer Gibbs more work. You know, they've had three guys in the last two years scored double digit touchdowns. It feels like he's a lock for 10 plus touchdowns, even in a reduced role. And so that still puts him in the top 20 range for me, because I don't think Jameer Gibbs is going to take all the work. And you have the flip side. You know, we can't just sit here and say, wow, Jameer Gibbs would be awesome if there was no David Montgomery.

Well, David Montgomery would be pretty awesome if there was no Jameer Gibbs. And he missed any time, and he didn't miss a game last year as well. And then for Stevenson, the Patriots are probably going to be bad. And we don't know exactly how they're going to use Antonio Gibson. But the contract that they just gave him I think kind of speaks to they're going to use Ramondre Stevenson as a workhorse guy. And everything you're hearing out of New England is it feels like they're going to treat him that way. And I know last year got off to a miserable start from the year before was much more of a guy that was trending in as a lot of people had him last year as a breakout candidate. But he started to get back to being at a much more productive level prior to the injury. And so I think better quarterback play in new England, cause it can't get much worse,

a better offensive line, hopefully better play calling, you know, as long as Stevenson is still a 30 to 40 catch guy, I don't think that will necessarily go away. I don't think Gibson takes all that work. Um, he should be better as a rusher. So for me, these three guys are a little bit of a different spot. Jonathan Brooks would be in this group if he's cleared for camp and ready to go. But the rest of the guys were probably behind him unless there's a trade in Chicago, then DeAndre Swift will probably jump up a tier as well.

These are PPR tiers. I should mention that. Zamir White, David Montgomery, or Mondre Stevenson. Stevenson has benefited from PPR, but it might be a little bit different. I mean, I have mentioned that as he's been a pretty damn good pass catcher in his career, or prolific pass catcher. He's caught a little bit different. I mean, I have mentioned that as he's been a pretty damn good pass catcher in his career,

or prolific pass catcher, he's caught a lot of passes. Almost all of them have been on first and second down. And the Patriots, so even if he isn't the third down guy, which he won't be, you would figure with Gibson there, that hasn't mattered in the past.

But the Patriots have been fourth and sixth in running back targets on first and second down. Jacoby Brissett has never done, never been a guy who's thrown to his running backs. Rookie quarterbacks typically don't throw to their running back. So that's the risk with Stevenson. Heath,

do you feel comfortable with, with this tier? This is a mirror white, David Montgomery and, and Ramondre Stevenson. Well, I agree with these three in this tier. It's just that I've got 12 names in this tier. I think that this is where the glob starts. And so I've got basically almost everyone in tier six is also would also be in this tier for me, as well as Jalen Warren, as well top of this tier, kind of identifies the whole thing.

There's a path to him being a top 12, top 15 running back this year based on volume. There's also an Alexander Madison path for him. That would be kind of funny because it would probably involve Alexander Madison taking the job. The nice thing is, if you view it that way. And I think even with White, Montgomery and Stevenson, like even with those three names, there might be a pretty big difference between where they go in your drafts. Just because somebody is going to have a favorite out of that group and take them in round five.

And one of those guys is probably falling around seven or around eight. Yeah, based on early average draft position, the favorites appear to be Ramondre Stevenson and Aaron Jones, who's in the next tier. And Aaron Jones is one of the guys that I actually don't have in my 12-man tier because I'm terrified of his situation. But yeah. All right.

Yeah, let's talk tier six for Jamie. So tier six after the three man tier of white Montgomery and Stevenson in tier five tier six is Jonathan Brooks. Jamie already said we move into tier five pending some positive medical developments there with his ACL. uh jonathan brooks naji harris zach moss tony pollard james connor deandre swift and aaron jones jonathan brooks naji harris zach moss tony pollard james connor deandre swift aaron jones jamie how would you define tier six no no i i know i i like this tier um this is the tier where if you go hero rb you'll start to look for your second running back This is the tier where if you go hero RB, you'll start to look for your second running back. This is the tier where if you go zero RB, you'll probably start to look for your first running back because they'll be in the round six plus range. Like I said, there's paths for a couple of these guys specifically.

Brooks and Swift, if some things change, Brooks gets 100% health by the start of you know week one i think would make a lot of people happy but clearly when drafts are happening you know from training camp on prior to that point and then if there's a trade in chicago which i would love to see happen but we know we don't always get that you know those those kind of things to come to fruition but it feels like there's just a lot of mouths to feed in chicago now they may just be guys and swift might be better than those guys because roshan johnson didn't show anything last year and and khalil herbert's not exactly been a consistent producer so

may just be overvaluing those players and so it should be higher but i mean pollard's got concerns that he's even the best guy on his team um connor is coming off uh another productive year but he's a year older with some significant competition and the role in the passing game was a little tough to trust. Najee Harris, we know the situation there because of Jalen Warren. So there's a lot of questions with these guys, you know, and I agree with Heath, you know, uh, Aaron Jones is terrifying, but is he terrifying from the standpoint of age? Yes. Is he terrifying to standpoint of workload? I don't know.

I think they're going to give Ty Chandler plenty of opportunities to get playing time, but is he going to, you know, kick Aaron Jones off the field for significant stretches? I don't know if that's necessarily the case. It could be wrong, but that's why I still put Jones in this group.

And I'm sure that's why people are drafting him where they are. And then Zach Moss has, you know, the, the injury track record on top of going to a new team, but it feels like it's a good fit. So there's a lot of questions with these guys, more so for me than the guys in front of them.

Prediction. The player who moves from Tier 6 to Tier 5 for Jamie will not be Jonathan Brooks. It will be Zach Moss. I'm too much of a Chase Brown guy, I think, for that to happen. Okay. All right, for a lot of people, I think it might be, though. Go ahead.

Prediction. Zach Moss is below four yards per carry this year. No, I don't think so. You know, 4.1, 4.2. I think there's a pretty big difference between going from the Colts' run game to the Bengals' run game and the Colts' game to the Bengals run game and the Colts line to the Bengals line. Yeah, I mean, I don't know how good the Colts line has been. I feel like it's kind of lived off its reputation from a few years ago.

Well, the Bengals have just been bad, though. They haven't been that bad. They're usually, I don't really know what metric to look at. PFF usually has them in the 20 to 23-ish range. They're never good. Mostly, I just don't actually believe that Zach Moss is a better rusher than Joe Mixon. I don't either. And we've been killing Joe

Mixon for his lack of efficiency in this offense. No, that's the whole point. I don't think he's better than Joe Mixon either, but I don't know that he's worse. His metrics have been better, but that's what I love about Zach Moss. He doesn't have to be that good. That Joe Mixon hasn't been that good of a rusher.

He's top 12 running back five of the last six years. Right? I don't think he's going to have the Mixon touches. I think Jamie's Chase Brown is going to be more involved with Moss than he was with Mixon. Okay, but that's part of it. I mean, again, it's hard to say because he hasn't really, you know, been put in this situation, but when he was in Buffalo,

it felt like every time he started to get going or got opportunities, he had some sort of injury. He was injured at Utah, you know, and when he's played, he's been awesome. I mean, we saw it last year, you know, he was fantastic. So the, the offense is catered to him you know based on how he runs out of shotgun and you know i think that's why they targeted him so he's a good fit for what they like to do but i i and i think this is where adam's coming from you know joe mixon's total production fantasy wise is hard to get past plus this offense just

feels like it could be amazing if joe burrow healthy. And so the, the running back, whoever it may be, which is why I drafted a lot of Chase Brown, whoever it may be, will end up being a pretty significant contributor. So it's hard to get past that. So that's why, you know, for me with this group, it's, you know, I like the fact that Najee Harris lost weight and is getting a coordinator that is going to focus on, you know, feeding his running back. Not that that hasn't been the case for him, but, you know, while Jalen Warren's a significant factor, I think Najee's still going to lead them in carries and touchdown potential. So that's why I have him ranked ahead of Warren. For Connor, you know, look, we keep writing him off year after year.

And, you know, last year, despite, you know, the quarterback production up and down because of Kyler's, you, first 1,000-yard season, first time averaging five yards per carry, the passing game work was hard to get past. But as you noted, Adam, it changed a little bit when Kyler was there as opposed to when Josh Dobbs was the quarterback. So that might just be something that we're undervaluing a little bit a little bit, you know, and what he's capable of doing. But again, Trey Benson there. So this this group just has a lot of questions, you know, and I think for stretches of the season, they're going to be really good. A lot of these guys. But overall, there could be a lot more issues than there are a lot more risk than it could be reward. James Conner, by the way, we want to go back to the beginning of the show. How many running backs have been great with a mobile quarterback?

And James Conner, now Kyler, Kyler's a bit of a different story because he throws a lot and he will throw to his running backs. But James Conner's been probably second round good with Arizona. And the last eight games of the year with Kyler Murray, he averaged 15.4,

non PPR, 16.6, a half PPR, 17.8, full PPR points per game. That was only a 40 catch pace. That would have basically made him a top five running back in any format. James Connor finished his last five games.

He scored more than 22 points in four of his last five games. He had an absolutely massive finish and he had a wow, in four of his last five games. He had an absolutely massive finish and he had a wow. Fifty three carries in his last two games. So, Connor, you know, it is just age, really, because when he's been with Arizona, he's been phenomenal. OK, let's go to tier seven. Tier seven is Tajay Spears, Jalen Warren, Brian Robinson, and Raheem Mostert. Spears, Warren, Robinson, Brian Robinson Jr., and Raheem Mostert. Heath, you already said Warren and Mostert would have been in a previous tier, right? An earlier, better tier.

Yes. Yeah. And, you know, the more that I hear the talk out of Washington, I wonder, especially in half PPR, if we're too low on Brian Robinson. It sure sounds like Robinson's going to have more touches this year than Austin Eckler is. And Eckler's age, if something happens to him, Robinson might just be like a must-start running back. So this is about where I would have him. But I think Robinson and Spears fit pretty well together as guys that can be flexes if the starters are healthy and could be league winners if they just are better than the starters or if the starter goes down. All right, Jamie, what do you have to say about Tier 7?

Tajay Spears, Jalen Warren, Brian Robinson, and Raheem Mostert. Very excited about the first three. Mostard is the one that concerns me the most, just because, you know, again, 32 years old with another player in the backfield added to the mix in Jalen, right? I don't think he's going to do very much of everybody's healthy, but I just don't expect 18 rushing touchdowns again from Raheem Mostard.

And if that goes away to even half, which feels like probably could happen, then where does he end up? Because if A-chan stays healthy, clearly there's going to be more work for him. Now, he said it. He may be eight to ten touches a game and can still do plenty of damage in those eight to ten touches. I get that because he was doing it last year.

But this is just the push and pull of how you feel about the Dolphins' backfield. If you feel like A-chan's not going to have this big breakout season, you should be in the Mostert camp. If you feel like HN is going to have that season, it's hard to buy into Raheem Mostert. And so for me, I'm sort of, you know, trying to be in the middle somewhere. I may be too low on Mostert and probably too low on HN. But I believe more, this is an age thing for me, like to get behind a guy that's been so productive

and should still be productive despite being 32. It feels as if the Dolphins the last two years have tried to find ways to replace him. And this year, again, leaning in a different direction. You've heard Mike McDaniel say he doesn't have any idea how his backfield is going to play out from a touch perspective. He's going to let it sort of, you know, happen organically. It's hard to overlook the fact that you got some other really talented guys that

might be more explosive than Mostert at this point. Yeah. He did say within that same breath, Mike McDaniel said that Mostert was kind of the leader of the group. And then he said, as he should. Yeah. So it's like he enters as the leader. Doesn't mean he's going to keep it. It's funny to ask this question about this group when most are, it was a top five running back last year, but who in tier seven has the most upside Spears, Warren Robinson, or most,

or let's say non injury upside, who has the most upside Spears, Warren, Brian Robinson, Jr. Or most. For me, it's Spears,

just because of what you're hearing in Tennessee. He might not need an injury to be the best running back on his team. I'll be the lazy one and just say Mostert. Okay. Tier 8, Javante Williams, Austin Eckler, and Devin Singletary. Javante, Eckler, and Singletary.

And Heath, you have Javante. I think, Jamie, you're kind of worried about Javante, Eckler, and Singletary. And Heath, you have Javante. I think, Jamie, you're kind of worried about Javante, right? I think everybody, aside from Heath, is worried about Javante. Maybe Javante's parents. You know, based on everything you're hearing out of Denver, it's just, you know, I know Sean Payton kind of, you know, tried to squash some of the conversation, but everybody who watched, you know,

the off season workouts sounds like, you know, estimate before his injury was going to maybe steal the job. And now McLaughlin is going to be the guy that looked the best. Um, you know, the, the, uh,

undrafted rookie free agent that they signed. I forget his name. Blake Watson may, um, uh, had a strong a strong camp. Samajai Pirine is still there. There's a lot of mouths to feed if they keep everybody.

I would love to see the two players that would make draft season a little bit more fun would be either Javante Williams or Khalil Herbert getting traded to Dallas and just to see how that would change a couple backfields here because I think Javante is talented. I think he's going to be better year two coming off the ACL. I just don't know if he's going to be the guy that gets the majority of touches in his own backfield, which is scary to me.

It's kind of crazy. We're 30-something running backs in. We haven't had a Cowboys running back yet. But yeah, tier eight is Javante Williams, Austin Eckler, and Devin Singletary. And by the way, Jamie, the undrafted running back that the Broncos added was Quan Alexander. Now, it was Blake Watson. For those of you who watched FFT Express last week, I think you'll get the Kwon Alexander joke.

It was very funny. What was I trying to say? Oh, man, I don't even remember. But it was just so funny to say Kwon. You just were like, oh, Kwon Alexander? Just waving this free agent linebacker. Heath, do you want to add anything about giovante williams i am scared jimmy said everybody's scared but me i am scared if i wasn't scared i think i'd probably have him in the top 20 um but i'm mostly scared because of sean payton um i just i think a lot of the talk that's come out of Denver, it just like whatever your perception was before that

can shade how you perceive that. Like the, remember the Jaleel McLaughlin is the lead back talking, Adam, you and I both listened to that 60 seconds. And it seemed like Sean Payton said nothing at all. Right. And some people heard him talking about Jaleel McLaughlin and thought he was the starting running back. Um, back. I think Javante is the most likely back. Maybe the more important thing is I want to have pieces of this Denver backfield. I'm a little higher on Julio McLaughlin as well. The Broncos led the NFL in running back target rate last year, and that's not a Russell Wilson's dead and all. Russell Wilson never wanted to do that before Sean Payton made him. And Bo nicks is that's exactly what he wants to do is get the ball out as quick

as possible they'll have 500 running back opportunities this year that's carries plus targets they'll split it up between at least two guys i'm not nobody's going to take even 70 of those probably not 60 but it is the type of running back room, especially in full PPR where there is a profit to be made, especially if none of them are being taken before round seven or round eight, take two or three of them, pick your favorite. If it's all I'm a pretty hesitant on these rookies. And like I've moved Xavier worthy down for the same reason, these rookies that miss a big chunk of the summer,

but it's probably easier to do it as a running back than it is a wide receiver. I think the one thing is, though, you look at the backfield there. He inherited one guy. Everybody else he brought in. And the one guy he inherited. Well, I think it's funny just to hear Heath say he wants a piece of the Broncos backfield because they could be the worst offense in football. But he makes a really good point. They throw to their running backs.

They will likely throw to their running backs, maybe at the highest rate in the NFL. So that's just, it's really important. All right, we're almost out of starting running backs. We're almost out of guys who could line up as the starter. Not quite there yet. But tier nine is Trey Benson, Nick Chubb, and Gus Edwards. Why is Trey Benson in this? Why is he ahead of all the other rookie potential handcuff guys? Or I guess you see him as more than that. Trey Benson, Nick Chubb, Gus Edwards in

tier nine. I do. I see him as somebody who's going to have a role for the Cardinals. You know, again, you know, this is banking on James Con Connor, who's missed, you know, three plus games almost every year of his career. This is counting on, you know, him, you know, 29 years old, uh, Connor, um, you know, maybe missing more time than that, you know, so I'm baking that into how I rank Connor, you know, which is why he's in tier six and, and why I'm a little bit more excited about Trey Benson. So that's why he's here. Clearly, Chubb will move up a tier or two if he's cleared and ready to go for camp. And it was very encouraging to see the 800-plus pound squat that he did recently that was posted on social media yesterday, looking like he's getting closer to be 100%.

So hopefully that's the case. And Edwards also could move up a tier as well. He just has the limited role in the passing game. And I think everybody's just saying, okay, he's A, going to be the best running back for the Chargers. And B, oh, he's going to score 13 touchdowns again. Neither one is guaranteed. You know, so a guy that doesn't have a role in the passing game, while they will be better running the ball, it still could be J.K. Dobbins having a significant role.

And obviously Kamani Vidal, who for me, based on value, is the running back I want to get. But yeah, Edwards and Chubb can easily, is the running back I want to get. But yeah, Edwards and Chubb can easily move ahead of Benson and up a tier also. Yeah, I actually have Benson a tier higher than this. So I think Jamie's right to have him ahead of the rest of the rookies. I put him and Zach Charbonnet both a little bit higher. Benson, because like we just talked about with Connor, we think he's going to be really good, except he's probably going to miss four games or more.

And he's older, so maybe it's more. The second that James Connor gets hurt, I think Trey Benson's a must-start running back. And Gus Edwards, do you have your projections in front of you, Heath? I do, but don't ask me about the Chargers. Are you kidding me?

You're going to ask me what I think the Chargers are going to do with their right backs. I just want to know how many carries you think he'll get. You think he'll get 200 carries, Gus Edwards? I've got him at 172. This is one of the guys that I have probably lower. I don't want to draft

Gus Edwards. Well, I just want to say this about Edwards. Last year, he had 198 carries and 12 catches on a per-game basis while scoring 13 touchdowns. He was in RB 45 or something? 33 in PPR, 28 in half PPR, 22 in non-PPR. And that's per game?

That's per game with 13 touchdowns. So that's not bad. I mean, look, if you get RB 28, let's say, they do a little bit better than that. That's not bad. I mean, look, if you get RB28, let's say, they do a little bit better than that. That's not bad here after pick 100. But, you know, maybe he'll catch more than 12 passes. I don't know. But that's not really his thing.

All right. Let's go to Tier 10. Tier 10 is, hey, if you want a piece of this backfield, but you don't want the starter, go to Tier 10. Jerome Ford, Chase Brown, and then don't want the starter, go to tier 10. Jerome Ford, Chase Brown, and then you got two Cowboys actually, Zeke Enrico Dattel, Blake Corum, Jaleel McLaughlin,

and Zach Charbonnet. There could be four starters in this tier. Jerome Ford can very easily start the first however many games of the season. Zeke's probably the starter for the Cowboys. We just talked about how Jaleel McLaughlin might be the guy for the Broncos.

And Zach Charbonnet could be the starter for the Seahawks. I do not think Zach Charbonnet has a chance of starting week one. Walker's going to have to lose that job, I would think. I think when you're talking two second-round running backs and a brand-new coaching staff that has no affiliation with either. I wouldn't,

I wouldn't say it's impossible. I mean, I'm not really drafting Ken Walker cause I also fear Sarbanet. I maybe not quite as much, not quite as much as you do, but I think we're, we, we mostly agree,

but all right. But, but on paper, I feel like that's kind of what this, this is getting. The new coaching staff really loves Ken Walker though. And Sarbanet is just an afterthought. That's true. Could yeah anyway this is a way to get a piece of these backfields here guys who may not be the starter jamie actually the athletic just um

had their beat writers pick a pick a breakout for each team and the cowboys guy picked rico dowdle it feels like dowdle will be the guy it It makes total sense, you know, and, um, which is why they're, they're very close for me in my rankings, as you see here. And it's hard to get excited about Zeke at his age and the way that he looked a, the last time he was in Dallas. And even the way he looked in new England, now he got saved by his role in the passing game. He's still a very good pass protector.

And you kind of feel like, you know, um, assistant head coach, Jerry Jones is going to want to see Ezekiel in the end zone a bunch of times so that call might get you know sent down to the you know uh play caller um but in any event um yeah i mean look if if zeke can't hold up that'll never been healthy and he's never been given this opportunity before and i wouldn't rule out a trade you know because the the cowboys the one thing that you you know because the the Cowboys the one thing that you you know offensive line is turned over a little bit um the second receiving options are questionable they've never had a hole in the backfield like this like

you know certainly in the Dak Prescott era and it feels like for a long time um and so you know you're asking Zeke at his age or Dottle and his, you know, inexperience to, to step in and be these guys. You know, I had some conversations with people over the last couple of days. What about Deuce Vaughn? You know, while he's tiny, um, you know, so will they go out and make a move? Will they be aggressive, you know, to find another option or maybe the starter? So just keep that in mind, which is why these guys were sort of, you know, pushed down a little bit for me.

But yeah, if you want to get a piece of the Cowboys backfield, clearly Dowdle's the cheapest, you know, and Zeke's still got the name recognition. So for me, I tend to, you know, let somebody else take Zeke and I go for Dowdle. But yeah, either one of these guys in this range is fine. But also Jerome Ford, Chase Brown, Ezekiel Elliott, Blake Corum, Rico Dowdle, Jaleel McLaughlin, Zach Charbonnet.

How many of them have, you know, not necessarily a fantasy relevant role. Actually, how many of them have a fantasy relevant role without any injuries in the backfield? So let's say Nick Chubb is playing. Let's say Ken Walker is the starting running back, kind of a similar setup to last year. Heath, what do you think? How many of these guys have a flex ish role so i think zeke and like you're saying let's say nick chubb is healthy but he's not um so i'll just i'll say zeke and jerome ford and i would guess julio Julian McLaughlin has a fantasy relevant role without an injury.

I think he's probably a top two back. So they have to be flex options is what you're saying? Yeah. Like a bi-week flex option. Okay. The top 36 ish running back. Oh, I'm going to pinch. I'll throw chase Brown in and hope to get eight points or something like that. Bi-week flex option, all of them without hesitation, no by week flex option. I think Ford, because what Heath is getting at is that Nick Chubb, no matter if he starts the season week one, or maybe even by week 10 is not going to most likely be Nick Chubb.

And they've used two guys always with Nick Chubb to begin with. So I think Ford for sure. One of the Cowboys guys for sure. I think McLaughlin for sure. And then I also think Chase Brown, you know, I think we're going to see him be potentially, you know,

a borderline flex and PPR right now. I'm not convinced on quorum. He might be. I'm not convinced on quorum either. Yeah. All right. Let's go to tier 11. I'm not convinced on him.

Like having a flexi role. I agree, but you also have Kyron Williams, who despite his breakout season last year, missed four games. No, I'm not saying he shouldn't be in that tier. I was just saying for that specific discussion. Tier 11 and tier 12 will finish up here. A lot of names, but tier 11

Tyrone Tracy Jr., Marshawn Lloyd, a couple of rookies there. Ty Chandler, Elijah Mitchell, Kamani Vidal, Jalen Wright, Bucky Irving, Antonio Gibson, Kendri Miller, and Chuba Hubbard. Wow. Tyrone Tracy, Marshawn Lloyd, Ty Chandler, Elijah Mitchell, Kamani Vidal, Jalen Wright, Bucky Irving, Antonio Gibson, Kendri Miller, Kendri Miller, and Chuba Hubbard. So I want to ask you guys a question because I told you I'm writing my running back preview.

And one of the things like my top 10 backup running backs that would become starters if the starter goes down. And there's like a difference between a pass catching back who's probably going to remain a pass catching back, even if there's an entry. Is Tracy someone who could actually carry the bowl double digit times per game? I just kind of view him as he's probably going to be the passing downs back early in the season. But if there's an injury, he's probably going to be the passing downs back.

I wouldn't put him in your article personally, because like it's tier 11. So I'm not criticizing his inclusion on this list. I'm just like, do you view him as someone who's like maybe a ppr flex if everything goes right but has like does he have upside if there's an entry or do they just put eric gray in that early downs role or some guy they pick up off the street in that early downs role i i would guess that depending on how the season is going if they're a competitive team and he's doing well in a role,

they probably don't change him in that role. If they stink, shocker, then they may give him the opportunity if Singletary misses time to prove if he can be that guy because he's still learning the position. Right. I was going to make the Matt Breida point. You're going to go chasing these guys, and I don't think you're going to be really any good and they're going to be a terrible offense. So, yeah, he probably would split. I don't know. Aaron Jones, I think Ty Chandler is probably going to touch the ball 15 to 20 times per

game. Yeah. I don't know where Jalen Wright fits in that conversation. So the way that I approach this group is floor versus ceiling and what you need for your team, you know? So Tracy in what I expect his role to be is more in line with what Adam was asking about the previous year.

Can they have some flex options, the flex appeal without an injury. If you're just looking to sit on a player on your team to have the league winning type of upside, that's obviously Elijah Mitchell. I think that's more Marshall on Lloyd Chandler is probably a guy that's going to play, but I don't think he's going to have maximum value unless Aaron Jones gets

hurt. You know, so that's sort of a mix with this group. Like, I don't think Bucky Irving is going to have, uh, I think Bucky Irving is gonna play a little bit, but I don't think he's gonna have that type of upside.

Like Antonio Gibson, Tyrone Tracy, they feel the same to me. Like they're going to be in a, in a role that if they play enough, you can potentially start them. Yeah. I think Ty Chandler is maybe a little underrated.

I'm not sure there's a huge difference between him and Blake Corum. What's the difference? Talent, but yeah, I see your point from a role standpoint. I think we're also expecting the Rams offense to be better than the Vikings offense. Yeah, yeah, for sure. All right, And then tier 12

is Dobbins, Roshan Johnson, Ray Davis, Tyler Algier, Braylon Allen, and Audrick Estime. Dobbins, Roshan Johnson, Ray Davis of the Bills, Tyler Algier, Braylon Allen of the Jets, Audrick Estime of the Broncos. Does Khalil Herbert

not make the list? Not for me, no. Okay. What's tier 12? The last few guys in my rankings. I mean, Algier, you know the situation. He's going to need an injury. He's a great handcuff if you want to go that route.

I think Algier and Allen are just strictly handcuffs at this point. Dobbins will probably move up if he's 100% healthy and looking good in training camp. He won't move up significantly, but I'll probably move him ahead of Vidal. Davis, I think, is totally dependent on touchdowns. He may get some carries throughout the course of a game. I can't imagine having more than five touches. But I'm expecting,

you know, James cook to have a breakout season. I know he fit as well. And then estimate was higher prior to the injury. But again, you know, just as Broncos backfield is just one of those things. That's a little bit of a mystery.

So for me, it's Williams and McLaughlin is the top two guys going into the season right now. I think we're done. Unless you think should we be done? Has anybody said anything about JK.K. Dobbins' health this summer? I feel like I've heard nothing. There was a video of him working out that he looked like he was moving fine,

as opposed to the last time we saw an early video from him coming off an injury where he was still limping. So, no, we have not heard anything or seen anything. But it's such a mystery with that team. Edwards got hurt already, so I know he's supposed to be fine. Like I said, going back to the Edwards conversation and Vidal

and his group, that's why I just want a piece of the Chargers backfield. I think it's going to be a very productive backfield, so I'm just going to take the youngest one and the cheapest one, which is for me, it's Vidal. Okay, everybody. Thank you so much. This has been running back tears. We'll have wide receiver tears on Wednesday. And you know what? I'm just going to let you guess what the Thursday show is going to be. Not going to tell you. We will talk to you tomorrow on fantasy football today. We have

FFT express coming up. We have FFT dynasty coming up big day today., everybody.