Fantasy Football Today - Round 7-9 Running Backs: Evaluating The Best Value! (07/06 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

Which running backs offer the best value in the middle rounds of your fantasy football draft? Adam, Jamey, and Dave break down which RBs are worth targeting and which come with too much risk. Adam opens the show with group chat stats (10:33), including a Kyle Monangai and Blake Corum comparison, before the latest news & notes (20:51). The crew then dives into the Round 7 backs (24:06), debating if Rhamondre Stevenson is worth drafting despite backfield competition with TreVeyon Henderson, while discussing Tony Pollard's reliable floor and Chuba Hubbard's upside. In Round 8 (43:31), Kenneth Gainwell and Rico Dowdle are evaluated as options whose workloads could fluctuate depending on how their backfields develop. The round 9 conversation (52:30) compares Rachaad White to Gainwell & Dowdle, while also weighing the Jonathon Brooks uncertainty against his high-upside potential. Finally, the guys wrap up by forecasting J.K. Dobbins' outlook (1:01:10) and examining how RJ Harvey could impact his value.Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcastsWatch FFT on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? It's a no idea. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Up to the races and he stays on his feet. It's just going to go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

Hey, July 6th. Welcome to fantasy football today. Hope you all had an amazing July 4th weekend, 250, yeah. And Jamie is very patriotic today, sporting red, white, and blue. Big game night. Big game. Yeah. You're talking about my tennis match at 8 o'clock

that I will be missing the soccer game. What? Yeah. What? Bummer, I know, bummer, bummer. Yeah. You didn't cancel it? I can't cancel it.

What do you mean? Of course you can. No, it's a league match. So what? I can't cancel. What kind of league is this? Belgium? Anyway, I was suspended for the tonight's match,

but, you know, the commissioner called, up and made a plea and I'm back in. Anyway, yeah, I'm really excited for soccer. Really excited to talk about this group of running backs because last year in round seven through nine, you had really, you know, Caleb Johnson and Jordan Mason. Actually, it's a pretty good group. He had Tyrone Tracy Jr., Caleb Johnson. Jalen Warren, good pick.

Travis E.T.N., amazing pick. Jordan Mason, not a bad pick. Jacori Kroski Merritt had his moments. Cam Scataboo, great pick. And J.K. Dobbins, really good pick. So very solid, strong group. Usually round seven through nine, I would say over the last nine years or so,

I have the data better at wide receiver than running back in terms of guys that just like pop. And at Crystal Lave, for example, last year. But still, we can get some good players at the running back position. You are, of course, going to get some really bad players, too. But, Dave, when you look at the group we're talking about today, Round 7 through 9, fantasy pros overall PPR ADP.

The running backs are Pollard, Chuba Hubbard, Ramandre Stevenson, R.J. Harvey. Then round seven. Kenneth Gamewell and Rico Dowdell in round eight. And then you get a lot of backups. Menongai, Jonathan Brooks, Blake Corum, Rashad White, and J.K. Dobbins, not all of them are backups. In round nine. What do you think, like, what should your running back position look like before you get to this group? Well, if you like the names in this group and you could see yourself starting three plus members of this group, then maybe you should be open to a hero RB strategy.

But if you're like me and you look at this group and you don't see too much upside, you're going to want to get a couple of running backs before you hit round seven. This is a group where I'm looking for my RB3 and other depth pieces potentially. I'm looking for guys when I'm drafting in round seven through nine, who's got a floor of 10 ppr points per game? I don't think that's asking for too much from a running back. Obviously, if it's PPR, you want somebody who's going to catch the ball a little bit, that'll help you get to that floor. But obviously, the ones that have ceilings attached to them, you look at Pollard, you look at Chuba, you can make the case for a couple of other running backs in this group.

If they've got the ceiling of 12 to 13 PPR points per game and that floor, of course you're going to go after them first. Sealing of 12 to 13? Yeah, I don't think you're going to get many running backs that did what Travis E.TN did last year. You might, there might be one in this group. Somebody's on the clock, I heard. Yeah.

I don't know how many of these guys, you can make the case for a couple of these guys, but I don't think there's a lot of high ceiling running backs in round seven through nine. And just, you know, I think Dave said 12 to 13 p.m. That's where R.J. Harvey was 12.3, but he, of course, was backloaded when Dobbins got hurt.

Dobbins was 11.6 PPR points per game, but he only had one catch per game. Tony Pollard 11.3 ppr.m.3 ppr.m. Fantasy points per game. And that's going to make you somewhere around R.B. 26-ish, let's just say. Where's Kroski Merritt in round six? No, he's on this. Oh, oh, where is? He was on last year's list.

Sorry. Right now he's going 127th. So he's round 11? That's crazy. But, Jay. Shod White's going ahead of Kroski Merritt. Yes. Crossky Merritt's going 98th on CBS.

That's just past round eight. Jamie, when you look at this group, who's got the highest ceiling? And obviously, there's a big difference between the running backs going in round seven and the one's going in round nine. But who's got the highest non-injury ceiling, non-injury to a teammate ceiling? I would guess it's either Pollard or Hubbard. You know, if they both hit to their potential of what we've seen them. You know, Pollard has been great at time.

And if you just look at the last five games of last season, like that's a pretty good running back that you're getting in around seven. And then Chuba, I mean, I know there's a lot of Jonathan Brooks hype. I get it. You know, there's certainly an opportunity for him to, you know, lead the position and win the job and be the best running back in Carolina. But he is coming off consecutive ACL tear is in the same knee and sitting out of full season, you know, after doing that.

So I think if you just look at, I think still the Carolina offensive line is very underrated. and has an opportunity to be one of the better running offenses in the NFL, if Hubbard or Brooks or both can take advantage of it. Yeah, interesting. You said that PFF had them the last two years as a top seven run blocking team, Carolina. ESPN had them 10th two years ago, but 28th last year. It's so weird. They were fourth, according to PFF and run blocking, and 28th, according to ESPN.

But, yes, Carolina could be a very good offensive line in that regard. And Chuba Hubbard is RB 29 and ADP. Okay. So we'll get again, the names are Pollard, Hubbard, Stevenson, Harvey, Gainwell, Dowdell, Menangai, Brooks, Corum, Rashad White, and Dobbins. Get back to that in a moment. We have a lot of other podcasts that you'll find interesting, including some soccer podcasts. Go to CBSports.com slash podcasts.

Get the full list. Obviously, that includes FFT Dynasty. It includes Beyond the Box Score. It includes fantasy baseball today. Ion college basketball. Call it what you want, which is a soccer podcast, the early edge for your gambling needs. Inside college basketball now.

You know, cover three for college football, pushing the pile for the NFL. Great stuff. And, of course, with the first pick, if case Ryan Wilson's listening, I don't want to offend him. We did hear a sound... Who does Ryan do the podcast with?

Let's see if you don't. Oh, come on. And I ran. There you go. Javy. They posted their 27 draft prospects at running back on Instagram.

I texted both of them because ran as a gator and they have boss the number one running back for 2020. And I said, oh, you just did this because you're a homer

and they were just thrilled to get the attention. So they give them more publicity. They deserve it. And, Jamie, we heard a sound on your computer earlier because you made a draft pick.

Is today the official start of fantasy football? Scott Fishball, baby. Yeah. You excited to finally meet Scott in person? Yes, I'm going to meet Scott in person in Philadelphia this week. By the way, if you're a listener of the show and you live in Philadelphia, I don't know, DM me or tweet at me or something, or email me. Email me.

Fantasy Football at CBSI.com. It's fine. And Dan Schneier and I will be there. Are you picking him up? I am picking him up. Yes. The conference is nice. and Thursday.

I don't know how much free time we'll have, but we'll be there, and we're going to meet a lot of people from the fantasy industry, including Scott Fish. But Scott Fish Bowl has started. It's sort of the unofficial launch of the fantasy football season,

crazy scoring in this league. But who did you take second overall? I took Gibbs. A lot of internal debate of, because Jamar Chase was first, of Josh Allen, Jamir Gibbs, and Pooka Nakua. But I'm just going to stick with the guy

I think is going to be the best player in fantasy this year, and that's Jamar Gibbs. Okay, and it's a super flex league. That's why Jamie was considering Josh Allen. There's also a lot of bonuses for big plays, including more bonuses for receiving big plays, and then tight ends have a lot of bonuses as well. Can I answer Jeff's question in the chat, Jeff Sills 134?

Will Dan be ready? No, the other one. Because you guys are the two biggest mushes I've ever met in my life. Adam and I were just sailing along. maybe the best record in the league, certainly top three. And I was like, man,

our team's great. I haven't done anything. It's just fantastic. And I think we've lost like six of seven since. And then Dave text me after we got to first place. He was like, oh, we're doing great.

This is awesome. And we've lost two in a row. Yeah, Jamie shares the team with me and with Dave, except I don't do anything. And Dave, I barely do anything. Yeah.

So? No, Dave's a very active participant. Adam is a minority owner. Silent minority one. All right. Jamie shamed me for, I didn't really steal it, but jokingly stealing the term water cooler stats. So now we have group chat stats, Jamie. These are stats that you're going to text your fantasy football group chat because they're so interesting. Ramandre Stevenson and Trevionn Henderson played 18 games together, including the playoffs. In those 18 games, they both average 4.4 yards per carry.

Stevenson, though, had eight goal line carries and Henderson had one. Tony Pollard has finished between RB 22 and RB30 per game in all formats, three straight seasons. Right now he's RB 28 in PPR ADP. He also averaged 100 rushing yards per game on the nose in his last five games of the season. This one is amazing. Chuba Hubbard had 134 carries in 2025 without looking at my notes. What was his longest carry? How many yards for Chuba Hubbard?

34 carries. His longest carry went for how many yards? 14. 11. Screw you, Dave. You looked at my notes. I did. 14 yards. That's terrible. It's not good. You know what else is it good? I don't know if it's his fault. But Dave Canales, his track record, he's got three years as a coordinator or a head coach.

His teams, Dave Canales, his teams have never finished higher than 20th in scoring or 22nd in plays. So if you're going to have a committee, you know, you need a high, I don't know if it's going to be committee, but if you're going to have a committee and someone's going to be successful, think about the bears and the Rams, right? You need a high scoring team that runs a lot of plays. The Panthers are not best. No. He gets kind of built into their ADP, right? Because you're not drafting either one of these guys to be a starter. I do find it interesting, though, what the personnel moves that they made by letting Rico Dottle go and not really address. the position. So either they're really confident in Chuba, really confident in Brooks,

they's going to be healthy and, you know, play to the level of what they thought he was when they drafted him or both. And hopefully that the committee is strong enough to be successful. They love Chuba. Like as far as like locker room presence, high character guy, like he's, he embodies what the Panthers coaching staff wants their players to be. And so he's going to get plenty of opportunities. And even if John then Brooks gets through training camp and he looks good and all that stuff, Chuba's going to have a role.

As to the Canalis stat that you gave, he's not calling the plays anymore this year. He's handing it over to his buddy Brad Idzick. And he is the play caller that I am most worried about because there isn't a track record with him.

He doesn't come from any kind of Panales. It's super special tree. That's the thing. It's still canalesis offense on top of it. So it's somebody else calling from Canalis's playbook. I'm nervous about what it's going to mean for Carolina and their chances to take a step forward offensively. And then you talked about the offensive line. I don't know if their best tackles can even play this year. True. Iki Aquano, yeah. This is a funny

comment that I didn't get until just now. Will Dan see the group chat stats? Probably Probably not. Isn't Heath the one that usually left off? What's that? Isn't Heath the one that's usually left off? Heath gets left off the group chats. Dan just ignores them.

Yeah. A few more group chat stats. In full PPR, J.K. Dobbins was RB 18 per game in 2024 and 27 per game in 2025. By the way, full PPR, his worst format last year. He's RB 38 in ADP. So based on the last two years, it looks like a discount. But the next group chat stat, beware of that statistic because Rashad White was RB10 per game in 2023

and RB 21 per game in 2024. And last year Rashad White was RB 45 per game. These are all players we're going to talk about today. Dobbins, Rashad White, Chuba Hubbard, and Brooks. And then finally, how about just a comparison? I think so coincidental almost. Blake Corum and Kyle Monongai. They both started getting more work in week six.

They're going almost back to back in ADP right now, Coram and Menangai. Corum played 11 games from week 7 through 18. Menangai played 12 games, but one of those 12 was with DeAndre Swift. So he played one of those without Swift. So they both played 11 games with the other guy in the backfield. And Corum in his last 11 games was on pace for 179 carries, 179 carries, 912 yards, 8 touchdowns.

He had 40% of the running back carries. That's Coram. 179 carry pace, 40% of the running back carries. Menangai, his last 11 games with DeAndre Swift, on pace for 187 carries. That's eight more. 99 fewer yards and also eight rushing touchdowns. They both were on pace for eight rushing touchdowns.

He had 44% of the running back carry. So their stats were so similar, except Corum was more efficient. Menangai, though, was on pace for 17 catches. Corum was only on pace for eight catches. Menongai at least was used a little bit in the passing game. But, man, they were so similar. And both of their teams averaged 25 or more running back carries per game in those 11 games, which is, you know, going to be at or near the top of the league.

So do you guys have a preference between Coram and Monongi? Because they were pretty damn similar last year. a monongi by a nose, simply because I think we've already seen him work in a drive-by-drive rotation with DeAndre Swift. It makes it a lot harder to predict who's going to do what from game to game, but it makes it easier to predict just how much work a guy is going to get. And I'd just, I'd rather have the running back behind DeAndre Swift than the running back behind Kyron Williams.

Williams has the better track record over the last few years. But it's that close. And if you want to say that the Rams offense is a lot. little bit better than the bears and therefore you'd rather have corn i get it i mean this is the definition of the spider-man meme because everything is almost identical it's like if an injury would have happened either one there's top 10 upside for the other guy uh they both like you said started getting work at the same time they both have opportunities to still be successful even if the other guy is healthy i think the biggest difference is for me and i agree with david's monongue

slightly. They're back to back in my rankings, though, is Kyron Williams did not lose his role on the important touches, which was passing down work and goal line opportunities. And I could see DeAndre Swift maybe losing those chances if Ben Johnson wants to go a different direction. Plus, the commitment to Kyron Williams is a little bit stronger based on where these two guys are in their respective franchises. So I think just looking at the two players, like Manangai could potentially steal the job if he gets off to a good start and swift struggles.

I don't expect that to happen. That's not remotely close to how I have it ranked. I think Kyred Williams have to completely fall in his face or get injured. And then Blake Horm runs away with the job before he loses any opportunities. Do either of these guys in either of your minds have 10 PPR point per game potential as long as their co-starter or starter ahead of them, however you want to phrase the veteran backs, stay healthy? Yeah. Yeah, I think that would be probably close to the ceiling.

There'll be some really good weeks, but like looking at Menangai's game log from, you know, he scored 19 points in week 13, then 8.7, 3.3, 12.3, 7.7, 5.9. Then we get to the playoffs. Jamie, I just want to say one thing. Actually, in those last 11 games, Coram and Kyron Williams both had eight goal line carries. Yeah, but what I'm saying is like Kyron didn't lose the job. He didn't lose the job, but I think it was the same thing with the Bears. Like, those guys split that role pretty evenly in both. It is unbelievable how similar the profiles are of these two running backs.

Again, Spider-Man, me. So maybe if you drafted, you know, if you drafted Swift or you drafted Kyran, it might influence your decision. But we're going to take a break and give you some news and notes on the chargers and some other teams, and then we'll dive into these running backs a little bit more when we come back. All right, news and notes, not much. still the quiet time of the year right now, but Daniel Popper of the Athletic

thinks he called Ladd-McConkey the number one option in the passing offense. He also said that Quentin Johnston's going to benefit from this offense because of his yak skills. That's the second Chargers reporter or writer who wrote that.

But he favors McConkey over Quentin Johnson, Daniel Popper. He also said that Omari and Hampton could be one of the best running backs in the NFL if he stays healthy. Okay. Okay. Agreed. Co-sign.

Cool. Yeah. It's funny because I believe he was pretty low on Quentin Johnston once upon a time. And I'm... Like America? Yeah, exactly. I shouldn't say that because I could be wrong about that. And I shouldn't have...

Forget. Scratch that. Just in case I'm wrong, I don't want to misspeak for someone. Nick Cosmiter of the Athletic thinks that R.J. Harvey could make a big jump in year two. if he's more efficient running in between the tackles. But I read the article. I didn't really think it was so painting an optimistic picture for R.J. Harvey. Cosine.

Yeah. Woody Marks is going to play on third down. He split with Dario Gumbawale last year. Gumbawale is not on the Texans now. So Marks could have an expanded role on third down. Both of those players had exactly nine targets and exactly six catches on third down last year. and the athletic reports that Kirk Cousins took all of the Raiders first team reps in camp recently. We had a question from the chat.

Who do we think had the most hot dogs this past weekend? Oh, come on. Is you? Well, it wasn't, but I'm pretty sure everybody would guess me. I think I was talking up hot dogs, though, on the show. I can't remember because I have this new recipe I wanted to try, and I tried it, and it was really good. Yeah. Yes, I, I boiled them in, they told me to, my brother-in-law told me to boil it in beer.

So I had a 12-ounce can of Medello. You don't want like an IPA, apparently. I don't even know what that is. Is the closest you've ever gotten to getting drunk? Yes. So it's like 12 ounces of beer, but I did like 7 eighths water and then one can of beer. Boiled the hot dogs for like two minutes. I don't have a grill.

Then you're supposed to put them on the grill. I put him on the stove for like a minute, then turn off the boiling water, throw the hot dogs back in, let them sit there for a little bit, and then eat them. That's pretty good. It's pretty good.

So I had two hot dogs. Did I win? You have me? Two hot dogs and a sausage. I'm going to guess Heath probably won them. I don't think he eats hot dogs. No. I'm going to text him.

All right, round seven through nine. What did you say? I think he's a Fourth of July hot dog guy. I think he's more of a pulled pork. guy. Right, right, right. He's he's more refined than that when it comes to his meats. All right. Round seven through nine, let's start with the four running backs in round seven. Jamie, it's Pollard, Chuba Hubbard, Ramandre Stevenson, and R.J. Harvey. Is that how you have them ranked? Pollard, Hubbard, Stevenson, Harvey? For those guys, yes. No, yeah, yes. I think so. I go back and

forth to Pollard and Hubbard. But yes, Stevenson, I do not have Harvey in this with these other the three guys, though. I think Harvey, I have Dobbins over Harvey. I'd rather take the chance on Dobbins staying healthy forever long years. I just think Jonah Coleman's presence is going to be a problem for Harvey if Dobbins misses time. Harvey should lead the backfield in receptions, but I just don't see the same path to success for him unless both guys get hurt because I just think we're going to see Coleman getting those rushing opportunities, even if Dobbins missed his time. But Pollard and Hubbard are great picks in round seven. Stevenson is fine in this range. you know, this is just one of those scenarios with Stevenson where he may end up being better than Treveon Henderson once again.

I think we're all hoping that Henderson is the better of the two because he's so much more explosive. But obviously what we saw at the end of last season into the playoffs through the Super Bowl, the Patriots were definitely in the Ramandre Stevenson camp. And I don't see that changing dramatically barring an injury. Dave, again, it's Pollard, Hubbard, Ramandre Harvey. How do you rank them? Chuba's first. I'm with Jamie, though.

I go back and forth between Chuba and Pollard. I think they're both going to end up splitting. I just think that Chuba maybe just has a little bit of an edge. I do think back to 2024 and what he was able to do. And I've looked at Pollard's last three seasons. And some of them have been okay. He's gotten a lot of work each of those three years, at least 16 touches per game in each of those seasons.

And I don't think he's any better than like 13.1 ppr points per game, which candidly for round six or round seven, that's pretty dang good. But last year he was not very good. He had two games last year, where he was awesome. And other than that, it was just nothing doing.

I don't have Harvey or Stevenson on the same tier. For now, in full PPR, I do have Harvey over Stevenson. I am not a big fan of Vermandre because I just, I water cooler the stats out from his last three regular season games. And the dude didn't even average 10 ppr points per game for the majority of the regular season. And if not for a garbage time,

touchdown the playoffs, he wouldn't have had good numbers for the postseason either. You're talking about Ramandre? Remandre is actually last on this list in full people. Behind Harvey. Behind Harvey. And that's not an endorsement of Harvey either. It's more of me worried about Ramandre Stevenson having a very low ceiling.

Oh, man. I texted you over the weekend. I did all this Ramandre research and it was just so boring. But it was also kind of fascinating. Yeah, he had a really good year, and he finished his RB 22 per game. And he did that with only nine touchdowns and 14 games. And what I think is most interesting here is that we know what Trevion did in the three games that Henderson missed. But right before Henderson got hurt, he was starting to have a huge role.

That was week's five through seven. And he played over 70% of the snaps Ramandre did. in all three games. So, like, the first four weeks, everything was pretty even between the two guys. Weeks five through seven, Ramandre Stevenson dominated the snaps,

not necessarily the touches, but he dominated the snaps, and then he got hurt. And then after that, it was pretty even again and in the playoffs, I think it was pretty even with a slight favor to Ramandre.

I think it's funny when you look at what these coaches tend to do in the playoffs, look at the Rams, you look at the Bears, you look at the Patriots, go back to their veteran running backs a little bit more. Of course. That doesn't mean it's going to happen again in the following regular season.

But he was starting to really dominate that role. I don't know. Does that even matter, Jamie? Or does the way the rest of the season played out matter more, which was a fairly even split? Again, I think that when you look at the Patriot's backfield, there's hope and there's reality. and the hope is Trevion Henderson can be the focal point.

I don't think if they're both healthy that we're going to get a significant split in playing time because they clearly trust Stevenson to do a lot of things. And I think that will continue. But when you look at the two play, obviously, you know, we talk about this a lot out of them. This is where, you know, your eyes have to tell you the one player is much more explosive than the other. So if you watch the Patriots and you watch Henderson, you know what he's capable of doing, then that's the type of guy you want to see. you want to see him in a featured role.

And okay, yeah, he may not take the two or three yard run, but there's 50-yard run potential there on almost every play. And so hopefully that's the next evolution and, you know, can be a little bit better in pass protection so that gets him more involved in the passing game and can benefit from a better passing attack because now A.J. Brown and Romeo Dobbs are there, and that's a huge upgrade in the receiving court. So I would rather take the chance on Henderson. Now, I don't know where Dave is and Heath comes out.

on this, but like, I'm not going all in on Henderson. He's not a top 24 guy for me. He's just barely ahead of Stevenson because the reality is that as long as Stevenson's healthy, he's going to get work. And if the workload, there was only two games last year when both were healthy where Stevenson played less snaps than Henderson or Henderson played more snaps than Stevenson. And so clearly there is at least a 50-50 split going on here, still probably a 60-40 split in favor of Stevenson. And what level of goal-line opportunity? these continue to go his way. Important playing time snaps,

pass blocking, all those things continue to go his way because he's more trusted by the coaches. And so Henderson needs an injury to become a potential top 10 guys. So again, you're taking the chance. Like best ball, it's Trevi on Henderson without question. Redraft, it's closer. But again, I would just take the chance

on the upside of what Henderson can be. So I think Stevenson, round seven is a little early for me, but I think Stevenson is still in this range of guys. I would take him over Harvey just because I don't really trust RJ Harvey at this point. I got to say, personally, I don't see myself drafting from Andre Stevenson. The only thing, the only thing that makes me want to draft him is that he had, again, in the 18 games that they played together, Stevenson and Henderson, he had eight of the nine goal line carries between the two of them.

And that is enticing from a team that should have a pretty good offense. but I don't buy how efficient he was as a receiver. That was insane. He's not going to do that again. But as you've noted time and time again, Patriot schedule is much harder. Probably going to be more offensive snaps, probably going to be more passing opportunities. And I think we see some chances for Ramandre Stevenson to not be as efficient, but be a little bit more, have a little bit more, you know, volume.

Well, so I, yes, I see your point. On the other hand, his target performance. hour run rate was a lot higher when Stefan Diggs was off the field compared to when he was on the field. And I think A.J. Brown's going to be on the field a lot more than Stefan Jinks was. But also, I think Travion and Henderson, when he came out of college, his reputation was he's a great pass blocker. Obviously, it didn't play out that way last year.

But I just think another year in the system, I think Henderson's going to take some of that role away from Armandre Stevenson. It looks like a split. And then, yeah, like we all can acknowledge that Trayvion has more explosive playmaking ability, more upside. I just don't know. I think it had to be to round nine. Like you said, too early for you, Jamie. I think it has to be round nine for me, maybe late round eight for me to take Ramandre.

I think when, like, you're building your team, it comes down to what did you start with and what do you need. You know, so like if you go with a hero RB approach and you took that one running back in the first or second round, and then you're taking a bunch of guys to be that second running back. for you. Some combination, let's just say the ADP is, it stays in round seven and you go Stevenson, Dowdell or Gainwell, and any one of the guys in round nine back to back to back. That's fine if you're taking the shots on Gamewell or Dowdle being the best running back in their backfield or anybody in round nine, especially if it's Monongai Coram, Brooks, you know, one of those guys that could be huge if they get that starting opportunity. So I think it depends. It depends. It depends. It depends. It

on your build. You know, like, so if you take two running back, early taking Ramandre Stevenson as your third running back probably doesn't make much sense. But if you do the hero or zero RB build, then, you know, this is the range where you're taking somebody who's going to get you guaranteed carries

and not have the huge ceiling, but certainly has a safe floor. I should say that I mentioned it was kind of an even split after Stevenson got back from injury, but I think I'm sort of underselling Henderson's role because, you know, he came back in week 12, he didn't really play that much. So weeks 13 through 18, Travion Henderson had 21 more carries than Remandre.

Some of that was they blew out a couple of teams by 28 or more points in consecutive weeks. And Travion had some of the work later in the game, but not really. He just got more carries. It was really weird. And Stevenson got more catches. All right. So there's that. And then I guess the last question I'd have for the Patriots backfield is Dave, I talked about you want to have a successful guy in a split situation.

you need a team that's going to run a lot of plays, have a ton of running back carries like the Rams and the Bears last year. Could the Patriots fit that mold? I think they'd be a half-notch behind that mold. But a lot of that's baked into how I believe in Drake May and what he's capable of doing. And the additions, Jamie brought it up, AJ Brown, Romeo Dobbs being added to that receiving core,

tack on the schedule being tougher, there could be a lot of game scripts that are great for Drake May and AJ Brown and even Romeo Dobbs a little bit and maybe not as good for the running backs. I don't know how comfortable I am with Trayvon Anderson being ranked as a top 60 player for me. But I do expect him to take a step forward in terms of workload. And if he has a clean training camp,

and I'm sort of banking on this, I guess, with my rankings, then I could see him. him leading the way. And Ramandre still owning the goal line, which is important, but not necessarily doing as much in the passing game. I mean, let's face it, Trevion had some really bad moments last year, and they really brought him along slowly. We talked to Damien Harris about it, and he said that, like, doing the little things is a big

deal in Josh McDaniel's offense. And Trevion didn't do a good job on the little things, and that's why Romandre played more. And those last three games for Ramonre totally spiked his first. fantasy production. If you look at those first 11 games or so that he played, he had three touchdowns. He averaged two and a half targets per game. And I don't want to get stuck with that in round seven. I'm with Jamie.

There's, there's no way I'm taking a Romandre Stevenson where his ADP is right now. What separates Chuba Hubbard from Tony Pollard, if anything? His backfield mate has, well, torn his ACL in the same knee in consecutive seasons. And we just don't know how ready he's going to be. and we know the coaching staff loves him. That's the start. The continuation is that Brian Dable's track record generally is using multiple running backs until he has one that he's in love with.

I don't know if Tony Pollard is going to be the one that he's in love with, which means we're going to continue to see Pollard and Spears split. It could lead to Pollard being pretty decent. He could have that goal line role, obviously. I don't know if he's going to work a lot of passing downs. I think he's just going to be okay. And I think Chuba is a little bit more upside unless slash until Jonathan Brooks really shows that he's, A, durable and be just as explosive as he was when he played at Texas. Jamie, same question.

What separates Chuba Hubbard and Tony Pollard? Really, for me, it's the potential of three guys versus two because I think the addition of Singleton could be a little bit of a problem for Pollard. Whereas, as Dave said, you know, Hubbard is basically operating as the featured guy with the potential. and the hope. And listen, I think we all would love to see Jonathan Brooks come out, be the dynamic running back that he was in Texas, and show that he's 100% healthy. But that's such a huge if.

And so, you know, this is one of the biggest storylines to follow in training camp. You know, he's certainly a player that could see a huge spike in ADP. Like if he looks explosive and you're getting more and more positive reports, like the drumbeat is already there, you know, based on what we've heard out of minicamp and just this entire offseason. And so if we get to camp and it's Brooks and Hubbard are splitting the first down reps. And Brooks just looks so much more dynamic and so much more explosive. Like it's easy to take Pollard over Hubbard at that point.

You know, again, Pollard quietly finished the season very strong. You know, despite the fact that the team was not playing very well. Cam Ward started to look better. Tony Pollard started to look better. You have an upgraded offensive coach. You certainly have an upgraded receiving core. And Pollard, I think, still has the potential for one more. a good season where he can surprise some people.

So I don't think he's like, and I think these two guys fall in the category, but so I'll just lump them both together. I don't know if either of these two guys could be Javante Williams of just, hey, opportunity is there because the offense I don't think is as dynamic in these two teams as it is in Dallas. But I favor the offensive line for the Panthers. I favor the situation slightly for Hubbard again, just because even though Singleton really hasn't gotten a lot of hype,

they did draft a running back, whereas again, Carolina let somebody walk, and didn't necessarily make a huge attempt to replace them. So Spears isn't really so much a concern because I don't know, he'll definitely play, and he obviously is going to take some playing time away from Pollard. But he's had such a hard time staying healthy. And I just don't know if he's the type of player that's going to ruin Tony Pollard. Like Jonathan Brooks can absolutely crush Chuba Hubbard.

Sure, yeah. And I think with Pollard, I mentioned he's finished between 22 and 30 per game the last three years. Two of those have been with Tennessee. and there is, I think, you know, 2024 especially. 2024, 13.9 carries when Tadje Spears was healthy, 13.9 per game when Spears was healthy.

19.3 without Spears being healthy, whether that was missing a game or barely playing. 2025, it wasn't quite as dramatic. It was 16.4 carries without Spears or with him playing 25% or less of the snaps, and 14.5 carries per game with Spears.

That is a pretty big deal. if that's going to continue, I don't really think Pollard has big upside. I still think he could hit at RB 28 and ADP. But if you look at the last five games of the year

when he averaged 100 rushing yards per game, Tony Pollard was getting 71% of the running back carries. He's not going to play on passing downs that much. So he probably needs to really dominate the carries and 71% would be pretty close to that.

And then obviously he just need their offense to improve and get some more goal line carries. He's been kind of like Breeze Hall in that regard. It just hasn't had a lot of chances to score. All right. So I guess those are some questions. You'll have to ask yourself, will the Titans' offense be good

enough, and will he, hopefully we'll get some reporting on it, will he really start to just be the true lead running back and not even be in a 65-35 kind of split. Probably needs a bigger split than that. And if you've heard us over the last 20 minutes or so talking

about these running backs and your squeamish draft any of them, congratulations. you're an early R.B. drafter. Yeah, you should be. I mean, looking at how often running backs drafted in the first two to three rounds, specifically two rounds, finish top 12. I don't really think you should go without a running back in the first three rounds, personally.

I shouldn't say that. But I think it's easier to find wide receiver late than a running back personally. at least I think that's what the that's what the stats would tell us. That group of receivers that we're starting to see in rounds three, four, and five are solid. Yeah, you like it, right? That's, they're obviously not top five caliber players unless a lot of things go right. But I think just looking at it like where the running back tier drops off is pretty startle. You know who I'm really starting to like, by the way, we'll go to break after this.

Really starting to like Travis E.N.A. Chan. starting to feel it. You should be. Well, not everybody feels that way. See? All right, topic for another day. It's going to be a good offense. Rounds eight and nine when we come back on fantasy football today.

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Two running backs going in round eight Kenneth Gainwell and Rico Doudal Dowdell is the new Gainwell in some ways sort of Who do you like better Dave Gainwell or Daudill this is PPR that we're talking by the way

but you can say Any format? Douttle. Rigo Duttle. Why? Because I think he's got potential to still catch passes and won't be the same levels Kenneth Gainwell. I love the connection that he's got to Mike McCarthy in Pittsburgh.

Jalen Warren and he should split carries. It could be annoying. It could be just like how it is in Chicago between Swift and Monongai. But we've seen him play well. We've seen him lead all fantasy running backs in a given week at times. And the Steelers, I still think they've got a solid offensive line. I think they're going to lean on both running backs. I don't think it's, I would say it's probably going to happen where Jaylen Warren

plays more on passing downs and Rico Douddle, but they've both seen similar target per game averages over the last two seasons. And so I think there's some potential for Daudel to win at the goal line, still catch the ball a decent amount, still play a decent amount, and have a solid, if not startable role for fantasy managers. Jamie, Bucky Irving or Bucky Irving or?

I'll take Bucky over these guys. Kenneth Gainwell who's, you know, sharing with Bucky Irving or RICO Dowell. So I don't want to overvalue Kenneth Gainwell after what he did last year. And there is the chance that Daudel could be the best running back in Pittsburgh.

I think for Gainwell to have that opportunity, it would take Bucke Irving getting hurt. So I think Gainwell is, to me, Gainwell and Rashad White are very similar type of gambols in that in PPR they're probably going to catch a lot of passes. There is the chance because of the guys they're playing behind Irving Morseille injury than Kroski Merritt. But there's chances for those guys to be the best running backs on their team.

In the case of Dowdell, like he could be because of what Dave alluded to, you know, the connection to McCarthy, the fact that Jalen Warren has really doesn't have the track record. I think he was fine last year, but doesn't have the track record of being a featured guy. that Dowdell can come in and be that at least first and second down option. Now, you saw it with Game Mill last year, and I think we'll be the case with Aaron Rogers, is that there's going to be a lot of passes to the running back. And I don't know if Dowell necessarily wins that role per se or has those opportunities compared to Jalen Warren. So if Dowell doesn't have that, then he could be a trapback because he's going to probably need a lot of touchdowns to return value of even in round seven.

But again, you're taking the gamble on that he's got the chance to be the best run. running back in Pittsburgh. So I think if you're just, you know, hoping for a 60-plus catch season for Kenneth Gainwell, then you're drafting him ahead of Dowell until again, we get to camp. Now, if Bucky Irving continues to struggle with the shoulder injury and we get again 1A, 1B, well, that now becomes 1 in 1A or, you know, even gainwell is better than Bucky Irving. Then there's easily, you're going to take Gamewell over Douddle. But this Pittsburgh backfield is another big storyline.

and just in terms of like who's going to be the lead running back and probably more importantly who's going to play on passdowns. Now if Rico Dattle gets that role and still can, you know, if he pushes Jalen Moore into the side because of the McCarthy relationship, then it's easily Dowell and there's not even a question. No, all right. I would be shocked if that happened, by the way. I agree.

This is a crazy take. I'd rather have Kyle Monongai or Blake Corum than either Gainwell or Dowdell. even though if there are no injuries to, you know, to Bucky or Warren or Swift or, let's just say any, or,

yeah, sure, no injuries. No injuries to any running backs ever in the football. Well, in that scenario. The difference in ADP is like one round? Yeah, but sorry,

I'm trying to articulate this. If the running backs don't get injured, I feel like Gainwell and Dowdell should be going ahead of Coram and Menangai because those guys have the chance to catch passes and Menangai and Coram probably don't. But if the running backs do get hurt, the starting running backs,

Bucky, Jalen Warren if he's a starter, and then the guys in Chicago in Los Angeles, if they get hurt, I think Menongai and Corum would be a lot better than Gainwell and Dowdell. Do you agree with that? Especially Gainwell,

because Sean Tucker is still there. I don't know, but like if it's possible Doudal could be awesome in Pittsburgh if Warren were out because he'd catch like a ton of passes. But thoughts on that? Like who's got the most injury upside? Again, that comes down to I think how you build your team and how you draft.

You know, so if you're taking like who's got league winning upside, you're 100% right. Because if Monongai or Corum ever get those starting opportunities, as I said before, there's top 10, it's really top 15 potential for either one of those two guys. Like it's very difficult to see that on those offenses. That being said, if there's not an injury, then Gainwell's going from what he did in Pittsburgh last year. And let's not undersell. He did run the ball well, too.

It wasn't just he was just catching passes. You know, when he got the chance to be a rusher, you know, we saw the ability, I think, that, you know, Philly was open to see once upon a time. Dowdell obviously coming off a season where he just had two, 200-yard games. You know, so there's huge upside for him as well. But in their respective offenses with who they're sharing with, like, who knows how this is all going to play out,

whereas, again, Menongah, or Corum, like, they may do nothing for you for 10 games, and maybe two or three, they're absolutely those league-winning type of guys. So I think in the case of Gainwell, like, Zach Robinson just gave his running back. Granted, it was Bijon Robinson, but just gave his running back, you know, 100 plus targets. And so now you have this weapon that you're utilizing behind a guy who is very much a wild card, you know, fantasy and reality in Buck Irving. Like, he could be awesome, as we saw in his rookie season. he could be an absolute, you know, fall in his face bust as we saw last year at times.

You know, so Gainwell could be the best running back in Tampa Bay. So I would still take Gainwell over Mnangai and Quorum, but I certainly understand if that's the way you want to draft and take the upside of what Monongai or Quorum can be. It's weird to talk about Gainwell and apply it to Doudal. It might get a little confusing because they're, you know, the two running backs going in round eight. But Kenneth Gainwell scored 16.2 or more PPR fantasy points in six,

in six of his last eight games last year. He was based, and Jalen Warren played in all those games. He was basically a league winner. Now Rico Dowdell goes to Pittsburgh probably will play a different role because so much of that was receptions. But also, I should point out

that Jalen Warren missed one game. Remember that London game, right, where he was a surprise inactive. And Kenneth Gainwell had 19 carries, 99 yards, two touchdowns, six catches for 35 yards. He scored 31.4. for a fantasy point.

So maybe Rico Dowdle has huge upside. And maybe Jalen Warren has huge upside if one of the guys in that Pittsburgh backfield gets hurt or maybe Caleb Johnson spoils the party or something. I just think it's a mistake to assume that everything's going to stay status quo in Pittsburgh when so much has changed in Pittsburgh. Arthur Smith is gone. Mike McCarthy is here. Michael Pittman Jr. is there.

Jeremy Bernard is there. There was a report this past week about Pat Friarmouth having a role in the passing game. this is going to change a little bit. Yeah, Heidenreich is there too. He's fun. I don't know how many weeks he'll be active, but he was compared to Randall Cobb on draft day. So that can tell you how Mike McCarthy thinks about Haydn Reich.

There are a lot of moving parts that are going to change how that offense operates. And I have a feeling that Aaron Rogers will throw a little more north-south than east-west this coming year. That would help. I think one thing just to keep in mind with Jalen Warren, if you go back to last year when they signed Kenneth Gainwell, those two guys were making a bet. They were two of the highest ranked pass blockers at their position. And who was going to be better?

Which two players? Warren and Gainiff. Warren and Kenneth Gainwell will sign with Pittsburgh. And so Jalen Warren is a very good pass protector. And I don't know where Rico Dahl comes out in that. I don't think he's going to go. No, I remember talking about this. I think in the last two years, Dowell is,

been a lot better than Warren one year, according to PFF, and Warren's been a lot better than Dowell one year. It's hard. They both have played on third down. I mean, I lean toward Warren as the third downback, which kind of makes sense to me.

But Dowdell has a case. Are Gainwell and Dowdell all that different than Rashad White, who is five running backs after them? They're 32 and 33. Rashad White is running back 37, being drafted in round nine. Jamie is our game well and Dowdell

all that different from. from Rashad White. No, I think Game Mo and White, again, another Spider-Man meme, you know, type of player, you know, just because you do have some uncertainty about the lead running back, probably feel a little bit more comfortable, Buck Irvin, clearly because of what his resume is. But Jacori Kroski Merritt is not going to be the passing down guy. Rashad White is going to be the guy they use in that regard. He's got three seasons on his resume of 50 plus catches. So, you know, playing in an offense right now that has Terry McCorn and maybe Chico and maybe this and maybe that.

hat and a lot of question marks in terms of the past catchers. Like, Rashad White does have an opportunity to definitely play a role in the passing game and can easily overtake Kroski Merritt if he struggles. Now, you look at the way that Bill finished the season last year, he was pretty special for the commanders at times. And so hopefully that carries over to this year and that he's the guy that plays on first and second down. So the only way to say that is because then it keeps Rashad White in this range and allows you

to take somebody that still has huge potential. Now, again, we get to camp. you know, Rashad White's playing on first and second down. He's also working in passing downs. He's going to be a three-down back, blah, blah, blah. Like, this is going to drive up his ADP, understandably so, and, you know, probably put him in the round six range.

So I think just in the case of Rashad White, Kenneth Gamewell, RICO Dowdell, you know, I would put RJ Harvey in that conversation and then almost everybody in round nine. Like you're looking at what should be qualified as number two running backs and case by case for who can be in the conversation. to be the lead running back there. And Rashad White fits that, you know, category. So I love the opportunity for him.

I do think that the new offense will benefit him. I think it was a great move. You know, this was, you know, something that I think was like an easy pairing and was even discussed the minute that we got to the end of the season. And it was, okay, they're not going to bring back Rashad White. He's going to Washington. You know, I think he's, he wanted to go play with Jane Daniel. So it's just.

They played together at Arizona State, right? Yeah. It's just, it's just an easy, easy pairing for, for these two. guys and hopefully, you know, especially with the Brandon Ayuk situation unfolding before our eyes the way it is, they may, you know, pivot and go to Stefan Diggs, who's got, you know, ties to the area, went to Maryland. That's the rumor you're hearing now. I don't even think that impacts Rashad White. I think you're looking at a guy that can get to that 50 catch mark again and just huge upside for him in the round nine range. Okay, so that's Rashad White. Some thoughts on him. Dave,

compare Rashad White to J.K. Dobbins. These are the... So I think with Menongai, Brooks, and Corum, we talked so much about Menongai and Corum. They're very, very similar. I'm a little surprised to see Brooks in this range right now. Does I feel a little premature to you guys?

We'll get to Dobbins in a second. Does that feel a little premature to you guys? It does. Yep. It's based on upside, which is important. And it's something that you should always keep in mind when it comes to drafting players in the middle rounds who has more upside.

because chances are, you ran through the list of running backs at the beginning of the show that were drafted in round seven through nine last year. There was one guy who averaged over 14 PPR points per game in that whole list, and a lot of dudes who sucked. And so there's a pretty decent chance that you're going to draft somebody who sucks in this range. Therefore, looking at the upside that John Lund Brooks offers, of course, that's tantalizing.

We don't know if it's even going to be remotely close to happening because we don't know what he's going to look like by the time training camp rolls around. So it's just pure speculating. at this point. And there isn't a ton of upside with J.K. Dobbins, who averaged 11.6 p.R points per game and 10.5 non-PPR points per game last year. He's a touchdown reliant running back. He's not going to work on passing downs.

But when he's played, he's been pretty good. And I would imagine that he's going to be the lead back for Denver until he's not, which could be week three, could be week 12. But he's somebody that I think you're just looking for a safe running back that doesn't have much upside, but probably doesn't have too much downside either. You're going to gravitate toward him in this range. And Dobbins is a guy you might take a little earlier in non or half PPR than you are in full PPR.

Definitely. I guess what I was saying with Brooks is I feel like I just, I personally need to see a little bit more reporting on where he is physically before I take him in round nine and what kind of role he's going to have. Well, it kind of goes back to what I heard somebody smart say that. that Chuba Hubbard's longest run last year was 14 yards. So that's kind of why you're looking at Brooks. And like, again, chance to be the lead guy there with as much as Dave said,

they like Chuba Hubbard. They're not cutting Chuba Hubbard. He can still be the same locker room guy. He doesn't need to get the work to be a good teammate and a good player. If Jonathan Brooks is the guy, John the Brooks is going to play. I don't know what happened at Chuba Hubbard last year. You know, he did have an injury fairly early in the season. Maybe he just wasn't healthy coming back.

God was better. But not just that, but I mean, Chuba Hubbard in 2024, he was the number 13 running back per game. He averaged 4.8 yards per carry. He barely played in weeks one and two, and then from weeks three through 16, he was the number eight running back per game. Wow.

You know, and he was on pace for 306 carries and 51 catches. He was a full-time workhorse running back. What did you say about him last year? I didn't draft him in any leagues. Because you thought he was just a guy. I did. And my point on Chuba Hubbard was they signed Rico Doudal. They drafted Jonathan Brooks. Well, they drafted Brooks in 24. Yeah. They did all these things that suggested to me that they never really believed Chuba Hubbard was their guy, even though they gave him a contract extension.

But the fact that we already talked about it, the fact that Jonathan Brooks is his backup. And I don't even know how good Jonathan Brooks is. He barely played in college. And he's got like 15 carries in the NFL or something. like that and two torn ACLs he Chuba Hubbard could just fall into 330 touches or something like that and and just blow away everybody in this range do we have to call him Trevor A-chan too?

I think so yeah he could be Travis's little he could I mean I have been the Big Burger Dynasty league so I'm hoping but before he got hurt there wasn't a game where Chuba didn't have any less than 9.6 ppr points per game.

So he got off to a solid start. He had a couple of good games and a couple of just okay games. After he came back from injury, he had one game with more than 9.6 p.r points. It was a big one. It was 20 points. It was right toward the end of the regular season and fantasy. But he was really just not the same last year and he didn't get the same type of work.

And I wonder if it's due to injury. And then you've got to think about how the Panthers have moved forward this off season. They must know that Chuba is healthy and they're ready to say, all right, he's the, he's the backstop at running back. We know we've got Brooks. He's got upside, but we've got Chuba and he can handle the rock if need be. See, you say that though. I almost feel it's the, it's the more Brooks than Chuba because they know what they have in Chuba. They don't know what they have in Brooks. They have what they hope they think is a stud in Brooks, which is why they drafted him in round two in 2024.

And if that guy is healthy, and if that guy can do what he's capable of, Chuba Hubbard's going to have a similar situation to what he had last year. If not, sit on the bench a lot more. Yeah. And I think all of this whole conversation is to me kind of relevant for Teddiro and McMillan. Because I think the Panthers want to be a slow-paced run-heavy offense. And that's not going to be good for Teddoroa-McMillan. Millen. But if they can't run the ball, and Dowdell's like a big dude. Dattle was,

Dattle was a guy who smashes the ball in between the tackles over and over again. Do they have that on their roster? I don't know. I don't think they trust them, though. That's AJ Dillon. Okay. Or they might trust them for just that role. They give them the Sean Tucker treatment. But Dada will do that 15, 20 times a game, you know, at times. I'm saying, do they end up throwing more? That would really benefit Teddardell and McMillan. Or they could just be really bad offensively. Or they could add another running back before the end of the preseason because they realize they need some depth there. Yeah, maybe.

All right, is there anything that we did not say about any of these guys that you want to say? I think you said we're going to come back to Dobbins. We talked a little bit about him, but sure, Jamie, I don't think you talked about Dobbins. You like him better than Harvey. Yeah, again, I think that Harvey is in a spot where he scored a lot of touchdowns last year, 12 touchdowns last year.

The bulk of that came after Dobbins was hurt in week 10. And I'm sure if you, Sean Payton, you're hoping that Dobbins is Mark Angram and Harvey is Camara and you have that recreated again that you had that magic with the Saints. But Dobbins has a hard time staying healthy and Harvey has a hard time running between the tackles. And so it almost is like if you want a piece of the Broncos back to him, maybe just wait until the end of your draft and take Jonah Coleman and see how this all unfold because he could end up being the one that works at a goal line, which would clearly be a problem for Dobbins.

And then again, as Dave alluded to, Dobbins has a hard time staying healthy as we're well aware. Then does Harvey get those opportunities again or does it go to a split backfield? So I think taking a shot on the Broncos backfield in this range is fine. I just don't know if RJ Harvey's ever going to be that type of fantasy option that we saw last year if there's a Dobbin's injury. And that's really what made his season last season. Asterisk. If training camp goes and there's some positive reports about Harvey being more efficient as a runner, this goes back to the report you referenced earlier, Adam.

Then that would encourage me on Harvey and to take him over Dobbins, but for now I'm not. Going to the commanders, there's a report that they're trying to get crossy merit to bulk up. And that's usually not something that we like seeing in the fantasy world. We don't want our running backs getting bigger. We want them to be lean, or at least as whatever size they are when they're at their fastest. And if he puts on too much weight and isn't as fast as he once was, that could be problematic for Krosky Merritt. White fits into the gap scheme runs that Anthony Lynn prefers. That's who's been on the coaching staff for Washington for a while. And cross ski merits better in zone.

And so if they're going to do a mix of those two, then you might see White more in situations in gapskin runs where he's way more efficient, way more explosive. And you don't think of those two words when you think of Rashad White as a runner. But he could end up in a role where he's the third down back and the goal line back and maybe even sneaking a few carries away from Kroski Merritt. White is one of the running backs I'm looking at trying to put on my bench in PPR leagues. And I don't think you have to draft this guy, but I'm just going to throw Ketron Allen's name out there in that Washington backfield.

He was, was he that, I get him confused. He was the five-star recruiter or no. I'd have to go back and look, but he and Nick Singleton split reps. Singleton was. Singleton might have been that guy, but they split reps at Penn State. And by the end, it was Singleton had some injury issues, but by the end, it was Ketron Allen, who was doing better things. And Alan was the one who I thought was better at the Senior Bowl and probably the slightly better prospect. But it's day three draft capital for both of them. Yeah.

So at this point, I'm not drafting either one in redraft. There are going to be names you pick up off the waiver wire if they get an opportunity. I think you're going to need some injuries to happen for either of those guys to get a chance. I think a decent amount of the running, I'm sorry, one last time, Thomas. Can you throw that list up one last time? I think a decent amount of these running backs were day three picks. Gosh, remandre definitely was. I think Gainwell.

Mangai definitely was. Harvey was round two. Dada was. Dada was undrafted. Rishad White was day three. Who signed him again? Who signed him? Mike McCarthy.

Oh, right, right, right. So a lot of these guys, interesting. Round two. Corum was round three? I think Corum was round three. Pollard was what? Three or four? I'll double check.

Yeah, these guys have made pretty good careers, some of them as being day three picks. All right. Oh, I don't think I asked you this, but... Fourth round for Pollard. 128th overall by Dallas. Who's your favorite of these five running backs going in round nine? Menangai Brooks, Corum, Rashad White, J.K. Dobbins.

Brooks. Wow. I think I have Dobbins ranked the highest of the bunch. Okay. Oh, no, I'm sorry. I have Dobbins right, guys. Right. All right.

Certainly does not have the most upside. Can I just share an update on Dan? Listen to your thoughts on this etiquette here. So we're going to Philadelphia together. I live like two and a half hours away. He asked me if I would pick him up on the way, which would add about 20 minutes to my trip. Basically cut it in half, though.

and like an hour and a half would be without Dan, an hour and a half would be with Dan. So I decided to pick him up. Now, good etiquette from Dan. He is going to go to his parents' house, which is more on the way for me, apparently, and cut down on some driving time. But if you say to someone,

hey, you've got like a two and a half, two hour, 40 minute drive, I'm halfway there. Can you pick me up on the way? isn't the most obvious thing to do to say, I will drive the second leg. I will drive the rest of the way. Like, why would I drive him?

I should drive to him and he should drive me. Well, if you weren't picking up Dan, are you driving the whole way? Yeah. And you were planning on driving anyway? Yeah. And you offered to pick him up? No, he asked me if I would pick him up.

So pick him up would imply you driving. Yeah, but he should drive. He should drive. Pitching him for gas or what? He might. I'm not going to make him pay for gas. Gas is so cheap these days. Money bags azer over here with his fancy hats.

I've got a hybrid. Unlimited gas. I think he should have offered to drive. I would have said, no, I'll drive. But I think he should have offered. It's like when you go out to dinner. No, we should not offer to drive. What's wrong with you?

What are you talking about? Oh, I wish we had done this earlier. We'd get a YouTube poll going. I think if I'm driving the full way, he should offer to drive that half. No, we shouldn't. Really? He's getting everything. He's getting me to pick him.

He's getting a shorter ride and he doesn't even have to drive. That's the whole point. Yeah, but he should. I wouldn't make you drive two and a half hours. I would tell you to pick me up and then I'd drive. I don't know. But if he drives your car. Yeah, he could say I'll drive your car.

that's fine. I mean, I'm not going to let him. I was no chance and let Dan try my car. Who knew that Dan played you to be his chauffeur? Exactly. That's what I'm saying. All weekend long. What if he calls you at like 11 o'clock at night?

He's like, hey, I want to go to this restaurant. Are you guys doing with a touristy stuff in Philly? He says he's going to take me like some food places he likes. I think it's a really jam-pack schedule. I don't think we're going to really have time. I think you've got to run the Rocky steps. He's not allowed to run the Rocky steps. He's never seen the movie.

Oh, that's what you do. While you drive, you play, make sure Rocky's playing in the car. That's a great idea. Like, make him stream. Make him stream it. Then you don't have to talk to Dan. All right.

Last comment here. Adam looks like he's on three Benadryls and a gummy. Really? I think I looked spry. I don't know. I'm not on any of that. Thank you all for your comments and your questions and your participation in today's show. And we'll talk to you tomorrow.

Oh, we have two shows tomorrow. We're doing around seven through nine wide receivers. And we're doing a mailbag as well. So we'll talk to you tomorrow. 9.30 a.m. Eastern. We're getting started. See you later on fantasy football today. On podcasts.

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