Fantasy Football Today - Rookie Running Back Landing Spots with Ryan Wilson (04/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

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Starting point is 00:00:28 Welcome, everybody. Today is Thursday, April 14th, and you're listening to Fantasy Football Today in 5. I'm Jamie Eisenberg, and I'm joined by the great Ryan Wilson. Ryan, how are you today, buddy? Hey, Jamie. I've done a lot of Zoom calls this time of year. I see that people actually who are smart, like, for example, you have Jamie Jamie and then you have your Twitter handle. I just changed mine. It's been Ryan Finley Wilson for the longest time because of the bet. So lesson learned. Dealing with the pros there. It's good to talk to you, Jamie.

Starting point is 00:00:54 Haven't seen you since Indyland. Plus how you do. I know. It's been a long time. Let's get to some of these running backs here. So we're looking at your three-round mock draft and some of the running backs that you have going to a few of these teams here. Let's start with Ken Walker. I know he's your favorite guy three under the bus at the nfl or the combine that was you about breeze hall uh but you have arizona taking ken walker 55th overall i'm top two and i'm not two that's what breeze all told me when jamie threw me under the bus

Starting point is 00:01:19 ken walker the third um there's so much to love about his game. He transferred from Wake Forest because he wanted an opportunity to play sort of in a pro-style offense, got that, and absolutely crushed it last year at Michigan State. I wouldn't say he came out of nowhere, but he sort of burst onto the scene. And the way he plays is so incredibly exciting for me. And I'll give you the comp that I gave our buddy Dave Richard, who immediately dunked in my face. He didn't like it.

Starting point is 00:01:43 He was nice about it. He reminds me of J.K. Dobbins a little bit. He didn't do quite as much in the past game, but I think that's more a function of that offense at Michigan State, and that's something that can change. He told us at the combine he feels quite comfortable. He can catch passes. Ran in the high four threes, and he actually plays that fast.

Starting point is 00:02:01 Impossible to tackle in tight areas, and then once he gets in the open field, it's over. I think in Arizona, it gives James Conner someone else to lean on and obviously Kyler Murray someone else to lean on in that backfield. They definitely could use another body there. Eno Benjamin currently the backup to James Conner. They lose Chase Edmonds, who signed with the Dolphins, so could see the Cardinals going after running back. And Ken Walker probably not going to make James Conner fantasy managers happy,

Starting point is 00:02:26 but we'll see if that's a situation that unfold. That's what Ryan has it mocked to in one of his, in his latest three round draft, which you can find on cbssports.com. You have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 60 going with Brees Hall, and that could be something that's good long-term, maybe not so much short-term for fantasy managers, but you like to fit there for Hall with what,

Starting point is 00:02:44 whatever length Tom Brady's going to continue to play. And certainly how long Leonard Fournette is there for the Buccaneers. Yeah, he's a fun player. And this group sort of feels like the group that came out a couple years ago. I mentioned J.K. Dobbins. That class at all, that run of second rounders, I think we're going to have that with some of these players here.

Starting point is 00:03:00 Brees Hall is going to run through arm tackles all day. You're not going to be able to come down as a safety and just try to throw your body in the way he's going to run through you. And then again, he ran similarly to Ken Walker, the combine in the high four, four threes. And he plays that way. And again, another guy that doesn't catch a ton of passes out of the backfield, but he has that ability to do so. And I think we'll see more of that. Once he gets into an NFL offense, he'll be asked to do that. Obviously, should he go to Tampa Bay and if Leonard Fournette can have success catching the ball out of the back though I think Brees Hall would be a layup in that in that regard he and Ken Walker are really close for me they're one in one a basically and both very similar type players

Starting point is 00:03:35 and I think incredibly explosive uh at the line of scrimmage and then once they get to the second level you can pretty much mark it down they end up in the end zone more times than not I gotta tell you I would not like to see Brees Hall go to Tampa Bay, but I can certainly see where it makes a lot of sense because the Bucs need some help there in the backfield. Ronald Jones now in Kansas City. So could make some sense, but fantasy managers definitely do not want to see that happen. So Ryan, you might be getting a lot of angry emails as a result of this. Cincinnati taking Isaiah Spiller running back from Texas A&M at 63. So started the third round.

Starting point is 00:04:07 No, not started there. I'm still in the second round. You like this fit for the Bengals getting another running back there. They do have Chris Evans there. You know, some IJP Ryan might be something that they're looking at, but long-term he likes Isaiah Spiller. Maybe as the backup to Joe Mixon, maybe the eventual successor. You mentioned angry emails.

Starting point is 00:04:23 I got plenty of angry tweets about this when this rerun mock draft came out. Bengals fans, they were second only to the Jets in terms of despising this mock draft to the levels of which I haven't seen since last week's mock draft. But Isaiah Spiller, you sort of note it. You have Chris Evans. You have Joe Mixon. Is this a huge need? No.

Starting point is 00:04:40 Isaiah Spiller, the player, is a really good player. He came into the season over the summer as a possible running back, one candidate, maybe late first-rounder type player. I don't think that necessarily changed. I just think Walker and Brees Hall had really good seasons. Isaiah Spiller will give you something in the pass game. We saw that at Texas A&M, and he's also, like the other two guys we've talked about, incredibly elusive in small areas.

Starting point is 00:05:00 Probably a terrible fit for the Bengals based on group think of Twitter. So perhaps he goes somewhere else. probably a terrible fit for the Bengals based on a group think of Twitter. So perhaps he goes somewhere else. But my thinking was that Joe Mixon has an injury history. Evans is good, but is he a guy you can lean on all the time? Bengals fans will joke that Samadji Piran is going to get the ball all the time anyway, so it doesn't matter.

Starting point is 00:05:18 But I thought it offers some some respite to Joe Burrow taking a ton of hits, although they fixed the offensive line and giving Joe Mixon more of a break as opposed to him being a quote-unquote feature back. Yeah, you see this when teams have postseason success. They start to think, okay, we're going to be there year after year, and how do we get there?

Starting point is 00:05:35 Well, probably get there by preserving Joe Mixon as best we can. So I don't necessarily hate it, but again, I'd like to see Isaiah Spiller from a personal standpoint go someplace where he can get a little bit more action early in his career. But maybe long term, Isaiah Spiller takes over for Joe Mixon. As we know, the shelf life for running back, not exactly very long. This one's fun. 98th overall, you have the New Orleans Saints taking Damian Pierce running back from Florida.

Starting point is 00:05:57 And so there is the potential for Alvin Kamara getting suspended following what happened in Las Vegas after the Pro Bowl. We know the last couple of years they've cycled through different backups. Mark Ingram's still on the roster, but obviously he does not have a very long shelf life as well. So Pierce, do you see him maybe as the eventual successor to Alvin Kamara or even right away as an immediate piece that the Saints could use if, in fact, this move does come to fruition? Yeah, you're a Florida Gator there. And you mentioned Al Kamar, so we'll find out about that.

Starting point is 00:06:27 Mark Ingram was on the final year of his deal. He has one year left on that. And he's certainly on the downside of a really good football career. But I think what Pierce gives you is, and I'm sure you saw this every week in the fall, is that he's quietly a really good football player. We haven't even talked a lot about the running backs in this draft class from the draft perspective in terms of HQ and the podcast and stuff.

Starting point is 00:06:49 But he went to the Senior Bowl, and he got a lot of folks' attention in the media. The NFL has known about him. And I think he's just a solid running back that can do a little bit of everything for you. And it's not going to be flashy. It's not going to be Jonathan Taylor-type stuff. But it'll

Starting point is 00:07:05 be things that get you those extra yards uh he's really good in terms of uh between the tackles but he can turn the corner as well and i i like him to be better um in the nfl that he was in college in terms of catching the ball so i think those are all things that are positives i think you're going to a situation in new orleans where the offense will be the same even the sean payne's no longer there. You still have Carmichael, the OC, with Jameis coming back, and he should be good to go. Again, Jameis isn't going to run around like Taysom Hill. You know, Payton had hopes for him to do, but he will rely on that run game,

Starting point is 00:07:35 and I think that run game will go through Alvin Kamara when he's on the field, of course, and then you have a chance for someone else to get those carries, and I like Pierce to do that. I like the opportunity for Pierce as well, so it should be fun to see all right thanks for listening to fantasy football today in five your audio outlet for fantasy news and advice in five minutes in this case five minutes or more if you enjoyed the podcast be sure to leave a five-star rating on apple or spotify for ryan wilson i'm damian eisenberg thanks for listening

Fantasy Football Today - Rookie Running Back Landing Spots with Ryan Wilson (04/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

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