Fantasy Football Today - Running Back Rankings! Where are the Rookies? Miles Sanders Top 6? (04/28 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: April 28, 2020

As we continue to react to the NFL Draft, we reveal our consensus RB rankings and Dave, Jamey and Ben tell us who they are particularly high on. First, a couple of news items including (1:00): Is Jalen Hurts going to play running back!? ... Let's take a look at the backfields that include rookie RBs (6:45). Who do we like best in spots like Indianapolis, Detroit, Green Bay and Kansas City? ... Taking you through the consensus rankings five spots at a time (16:00). What makes Joe Mixon different than Nick Chubb and Josh Jacobs? Is Todd Gurley going to be a workhorse? Where are the rookies ranked? Do we still have faith in Melvin Gordon? How about David Montgomery? ... Email us at [e-mail] 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @YardsPerGretch, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go! It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Let's go! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. So if you heard the quarterback rankings update on Monday morning,

you know there wasn't really a ton that changed after the NFL draft, but this is going to be different. This is our running back show here. Recording it on Monday night. You're hearing it on Tuesday morning, hopefully. Thanks so much for tuning in to Fantasy Football today. Hey, tell your friends. Just tell one of your friends to subscribe to our show.

If everybody does that, then we'll have a lot more listeners, and that will be really awesome. We'd appreciate that. Adam with Dave, Jamie, and Ben once again. We've got a couple of news items, and then we will get into all of the running back situations that need to be discussed. Kansas City, Detroit, Indianapolis, the Rams, the Ravens, the Bucs, the Packers, the Bills, the Niners, the Dolphins. Plus guys like Leonard Fournette and Austin Eckler and Melvin Gordon and Todd Gurley, who were really not affected by the NFL draft, which is great.

So let's get into it. First of all, this news item. All right, the Eagles, Ben, they didn't draft a running back, or did they? NFL.com's Mike Garofalo said about Jalen Hurts. Talking to one Eagles source, they said, quote, this guy might be able to contribute as a straight running back. That's how good we think he is. That's what we think his skillset is.

End quote. Is that Miles Sanders round four pick now? That's a joke. Ben, I couldn't, I couldn't hear what you said. What do you mean? He said,

blah, blah, dumb, dumb, blah, blah, idiot, blah,

blah, moron. Hey, Ben, you got to cut dumb, blah, blah, idiot, blah, blah, moron. Hey, Ben. He kind of cut out a little bit about something about a fourth round pick, and I didn't catch what he was asking. But I mean, yeah, whatever. You can say that about Lamar Jackson, right? Like we still joke about it that people thought he should have been a running back, but he legitimately has running back skills. I mean, that's not a if you don't say it as an insult to his passing skills,

like he's that athletic, he's that good at making people miss. So if you want to say that about Jalen hurts, then, you know, it's a compliment, I guess if you, if you're not explicitly knocking his ability to play quarterback,

I'm not ready to say it's gonna like take away numbers from miles Sanders though. Right. It's a little too much. Okay. Okay. Cool. Just wanted to get that out there.

It was actually a very smart question that I asked. Jamie just didn't do it justice, I guess. What? I was trying to translate for Ben. I mean, it made a lot more sense when it came from you. Jason Lock and Fora wrote this about Amari Cooper. If you really want to talk about CeeDee Lamb's dynasty value,

I guess, but a lot of chatter in the scouting community about the Cowboys draft as well for good reason. They may have landed the best receiver in the draft all the way down at 17. And while everyone has been going crazy about Amari Cooper's deal, the dirty little secret is that he could be tossed aside in 2021 pretty easily. The guarantees are far from ironclad. And the fact is his replacement was already picked less than two months after he re-signed in Dallas. Jamie, what do you think?

I think it makes sense that if he's not performing at the level of what his contract is, if they can move on, they absolutely should. They probably shouldn't have paid him to begin with. I was just having a huge conversation on Twitter with a buddy of mine in the industry right before this pot about his contract and i don't understand the pre and post june 2nd stuff but what i know about his contract is it's a hundred million dollar deal and i'm doing air quotes only 10 million with signing bonus which is extremely low if you look at any contracts that's typically what converts to dead money right right? So like Brandon Cooks had $21 million dead on the Rams books after his trade because

of signing bonus. Amar Cooper only has $10 million in signing bonus. They could trade him in 2020 as far as I can tell. I don't know if they have $10 million in flexibility, but I think they could trade him next off season even. But definitely after 2021, there's no more dead money. It's like three team options after that. All is guaranteed money is that $10 million signing bonus and his 2020 salary

and 2021 salary. But the salary, I think, would move to a new team if he was traded. So I think there's even more flexibility than that. It's wild. It's pretty flexible. I'm looking at it right now on overthecap.com. It looks like $40 million is fully guaranteed with the total injury guarantee of $60 million. Well, that would tell me it's $40 million is fully guaranteed with the total injury guarantee of $60 million. Well, that would tell me it's $40 million that's guaranteed. But you're right, Ben. If he's cut as a post-June 1st designation after this season, so 14 months from now, it looks like there's $22 million of dead money on the salary.

Yeah, that's if he's cut. But if he's traded, there's only like $8 million of dead cap on the Cowboys books. It looks like it's $2 million if it's post-June 1st, and it's $8 million if it's before June 1st. So you're right. They can – they could trade him after this season, or they can cut him after the next two seasons. Jamie, I'm pretty convinced I'm going to be able to make you laugh at something I say by the end of the show, okay? Okay.

I pulled up some funny jokes on the internet. I mean, that just guarantees that Jamie will stonewall you no matter what you say. Right. Pretty much. I don't know if you know this, but he's the cousin of a famous actor, so he's probably learned a few things about keeping a straight face. Yeah, I guess, but I don't think

Jesse... Those family dinners, we would just practice not laughing at anybody's jokes. That's what we used to do. People do that at my family dinners. Well, just when I talk. There you go. You win. I'm funnier than Jesse Eisenberg, though. So listen, it's Tuesday when you're listening to this. Tonight, 7 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday night

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watch CBS Sports HQ. Not just for fantasy football content, but for all sports content all the time. It's always streaming. CBS Sports HQ. Just download the HQ app. I put on my Roku. You got your Apple TV, your Amazon Fire, whatever you got. It's a great app. It's all free. And it's just a great way to stay in tune with the sports world. If there's breaking news in football, you can bet one of the guys is going to be on HQ given the fantasy impact. So

please check it out. I think you're going to really enjoy it. Who do you like in these backfields? Some of the answers will be obvious, but let's talk about the backfields that have had some change since the NFL draft. So who do you like better? Which running back? Who's your favorite in these backfields? Let's go around the room. We'll go alphabetical. Ben, Dave, Jamie. Kansas City.

Clyde Edwards. Heller. Clyde. Kirsten Aquin. Okay, we'll go with Clyde Edwards Hedlare Clyde Kirsten Aquitie okay we'll go with Clyde there uh Detroit Swift same

yep the Colts Taylor the more I think about Taylor the more I love him for 2020 I mean uh JTT really let's talk about this one here Taylor, the more I love him. For 2020, I mean. JTT.

Really? Let's talk about this one here. Why are we going with Taylor over Mac? Because it just doesn't make sense for them to draft him and then even use him 40% of the time. Bingo. And that would suggest like 20% on Naheem Hines. And I actually think Hines is going to keep his role

as like the two minute down, two minute drill back, passing downs back, they're chasing points late, he's going to be the one on the field. I know it already spells out doom and gloom for Marlon Mack. There are a handful of things that can happen to Marlon Mack that'll just kick down the door

for Jonathan Taylor to be the guy. Obviously, injury could be one of those things, and Mack has been beat up over his career. But what about a trade? What if he gets the Carlos Hyde treatment? Running back gets hurt somewhere else. Colts ship off Marlon Mack for a fifth-round pick. Who knows?

And then Jonathan Taylor is the main guy. And even if Mack stays, and even if he plays 16 games, what are the odds he's going to take 40% of the carries from Jonathan Taylor and Naheem Hines? I think it's slim. I think Taylor's – it's hard to keep him out of my top 50. I think in week – and I agree with all that. I think in week one, that's not going to sound right.

But in week six, it is. And in week 10, Taylor's going to be the guy. I think he could run for a thousand yards even in 2020 when max on the roster because i think by the end of the season he's going to be the clearly the most talented back he's going to establish that that and that offensive line's going to be so helpful and then you have philip rivers who has always been somebody who as immobile as he is checks down to his backs yes heinines is going to keep his third down roll. That doesn't mean that Taylor won't be able to catch some passes from Rivers,

just like Melvin Gordon did even when Austin Eckler was maintaining passing down. So I think Taylor's going to wind up having a really good year. So who do you like better, Swift or Taylor? Taylor for me. That's an example. I still have Swift higher, but it's hard. It's tough. Jamie Jamie Swift or Taylor oh Taylor I mean I think you know you look at it they're both in crowded situations uh but scenario favors Taylor if he's getting work more so than Swift if he's getting

work I mean Taylor's offensive line is better. He's a better talent. And so I would take Taylor. Can we all agree that if Taylor gets more... If Taylor in Indianapolis, Swift in Detroit, if Taylor and Swift get the same amount of carries, we expect more production from the Indianapolis situation, from Jonathan Taylor, right? A hundred percent. Swift would probably get more catches.

All right, that's fair. I don't think it would be by much, though. I think it could be by 20 or 30 catches. I don't agree. Let's go to the Rams. Who do you like the best in the Rams backfield? Akers.

Cam Akers. That one's I think harder to feel confident about, if that makes sense like i i think you have to put acres first but and this isn't even just because i love daryl henderson and and maybe it's some of that but i also think that malcolm brown like heath has said this he kind of expects malcolm brown to lead the backfield in week one and i i think they will still use malcolm brown so i i don't don't know. I think you have to like Akers the most, but this one

is a little bit tough. We're just not going to know. Right now, is Akers behind Swift and Taylor, and obviously Edward Ziller? Not for me. He's ahead of Swift. Yep, that's how I have it too. I currently have Taylor

last to the four. Who do you like best in Baltimore? Yep, that's how I have it too. I currently have Taylor last to the four. Okay. So who do you like best in Baltimore? Ingram. Yep, that's the one. What's the difference between Ingram and Mack? Why are you projecting Swift to, or Taylor rather, to overtake Mack but not Dobbins to overtake Ingram?

I think Ingram is like their culture. He's their guy. He came in last year and assumed a leadership role when they needed one on offense. He is a trusted commodity. He is, you know, this was clearly a, we need, I think this is more an indication of gus edwards is just the guy and justice still probably never going to be a feature guy so this was a move of we have a

chance to get a star player that is going to help us now but really help us next year yeah okay and he fits so well uh graham barfield just tweeted out today that uh out of the entire 2020 class Dobbins took more carries a higher percentage of his total carries out of RPO looks than any back and we know the Ravens run more RPOs than anyone I mean that's that's their running game so Dobbins is going to be their their future back alongside Lamar Jackson but I agree with with Jamie and it's the same reason he put it well that that Ingram's kind of their culture. He's going to be – it's funny because you're going to see people look at rookie-only drafts and then go, wow, you guys are so high

or the industry is so high on Dobbins in those formats but ranked so low in seasonal formats. But that's the scenario. You want this guy. He'll contribute. And remember, Ingram popped his calf at the scenario. You want this guy. He'll contribute. Remember, Ingram popped his calf at the end of the season last year. If that happens early in the season for a 31-year-old running back,

we'll be 31 season starts, 31 by the season end. If that happens, Dobbins could be an absolute monster and better than all these guys. Yeah, and Gus Edwards had 133 carries last year, so there is a role there to be had for a number two running back. Let's go to the Buccaneers. Who do you like better in Tampa Bay?

Vaughn. Yep. But it took me like 24 hours. I'll say that I like Vaughn better, but I don't know if I necessarily love either guy. I mean, there's something that I want to just put out there. We spent considerable time on this podcast talking about the rookie prospects, and we might have spent 45 seconds on Keyshawn Vaughn the entire time. So while he's landed in a great spot,

I'm not ready to say that he's anything better than just a decent back. So if this comes down to running backs don't matter, something like that, sure, he's got a real good chance. There are a couple of things he can do better in terms of catching the ball and pass protecting than Ronald Jones, but he might be their guy and that's it on passing downs. And Rojo's still rolling in first and second downs. We don't know. I think it's going to be a competition. Bruce Arians was asked if he's his new david johnson and aaron said no he's not he's not like david johnson and then he went on talking about how this calais i think that's how you say his last name they're they're the running back they took later on who just seems like he's a special teams guy he says that he's he's like a little

david johnson so i'm not sure what we're walking into with this backfield and people who are very excited about vaughn at this point i would be nervous about it i'm not sure what we're walking into with this backfield and people who are very excited about Vaughn. At this point, I would be nervous about it. I'm not sure he's going to pay off if you take them, you know, top 60 pick on draft day. But one note on that, on Raymond Calais,

he's 177 pounds. I know. That's why he said, look, I'm not saying the Calais is the one to draft or anything like that, but if he contributes, if he's the best pass catcher in training camp, Bruce Aarons is going to find a way

to get him on the field for a handful of third longs. Not if he can't block. No, because he'd be running a route. He doesn't have to block. Well, he has to contribute in some area of that if he's going to be on pass and downs. How do you think he's going to contribute is by catching the ball. There's plenty of running backs that run

a route instead of chip or, or stay. But you also have to, you also have to hide your coverages and hide your, your, your, your formations. If it's third and 10,

I don't think they're expecting a run. Not if you have Evans, Godwin and Gronk, you can see, you can afford to keep your running back in the block plenty of times. If that's what they want to do. Sure. So let's do four more teams here.

Who do you like in Green Bay, Aaron Jones? Who do you like in Buffalo? Singletary. It's Singletary. Who do you like in San Francisco? Ulster. Ulster for now. And who do you like in Miami?

Drake. Brita. Howard, non-PPR, Brita, PPR. Okay. Howard, non-PPR, Brita ppr and uh i meant brita i said drake you guys thought i was kidding i meant brita that's ridiculous that jamie would laugh at that and not the amazing things that i say uh jamie i have a question specifically i got a longer track record of being funny i don't know is that right uh it was pretty funny when you said you could beat me in tecmo super bowl that was ridiculous well we're gonna get that set up on twitch tragers are confident it can happen jamie uh what's the best thing about switzerland

i don't know i don't know either but the flag is a big plus okay that's thank you thank you internet for that one so let's go through the consensus rankings it's just gonna google the switzerland flag like to make sure all right uh christian mccaffrey one saquon barkley two this is ppr dalvin cook three ezekiel ell, four. Alvin Kamara. Oh, this is non-PPR. Let's toggle over to PPR, shall we? Okay. McCaffrey, Barkley, Zeke Cook, Kamara. It's your top five.

Gets pretty interesting after that. Number six, Austin Eckler. Number seven, Derrick Henry. Joe Mixon, eight. Kenyon Drake, nine, Miles Sanders, 10. So after the McCaffrey, Barkley, Elliott, Cook, Kamara, you've got Eckler, 6, Henry, 7. This is PPR. Joe Mixon, 8, Kenyon Drake, 9, Miles Sanders, 10.

Pretty soon we'll talk Nick Chubb, Le'Veon Bell, Aaron Jones. But what do you think about that, Dave? Is there anyone in this 6-10 range that's too high or too low, do you think? After the draft, I've decided that Miles Sanders is worthy of that 6 spot. Yeah, baby! Welcome to the party! Well, I don't know if this is really the kind of party I want to be at, but if it comes with having Miles Sanders on my fantasy team, then I'm in.

But he was too good down the stretch last year and too big a factor catching the football to be ignored. And the offensive line is good. They added a ton of speed at wide receiver. And I think he's going to be able to get a lot of touches week in and week out and and do well with them i know that we've said for years well philadelphia likes to use you know a bunch of running backs and mix and match i i guess i have a hard time believing that that's going to be the case so long as they keep their running

back crew as is well yeah they didn't add anyone i mean he's the biggest under under the radar winner from the draft i mean as i was doing rankings i had the same same take i, he's the biggest under-the-radar winner from the draft. I mean, as I was doing rankings, I had the same take. I mean, he's a rocket ship. He is absolutely a top 10 back now. He's the sixth pick in the draft. Seventh in PPR. I don't know. He's the sixth running back off the board.

I guess I have to decide how I feel about him with Devante Adams, Julio Jones. Jamie, do you agree? Should Miles Sanders be RB6? Yeah, I'd put him at seven behind Mixon, but I can certainly see myself moving ahead of Mixon, for sure. All right. Again, let's look at the rest of the group here. Any other big arguments?

We can move on, and we don't have to talk about everybody, but it's Eckler. You know, they didn't draft a running back until the fourth round. Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon, Kenyon Drake, Miles Sanders. That's six through ten. Henry's a little too high for me, but that's fine. Yeah, way too high for me. I have Derrick Henry ranked...

Oh, I have him ranked 12th at running back. I guess that's not horrible. I thought it was lower. How are we feeling about Eckler? Good? Yep. What did the Chargers tell us with their drafting? I thought it was lower How are we feeling about Eckler? Good? Yep What did the Chargers tell us with their drafting? They didn't prioritize running back

Joshua Kelly's a nice addition I don't think he's the type of running back that's going to take away a ton of work from Austin Eckler and I don't think it'll be a three-headed situation The usual way that they've operated is one guy gets 10 to 12 touches

and the other guy gets the rest. So I would assume that Kelly will battle with Justin Jackson and camp to be that guy that gets 10 to 12 touches and Eckler will get everything else and that's what we want. So Eckler, Mixon, and Drake, how do you rank them?

Mixon is going to be first for me, then Eckler, then Drake. Yeah, just keep in mind if he's going to be a holdout. That's the only thing. Who? Mixon. I have Drake over Eckler.

It would be shocking if Eckler holds out after getting a new contract. I have Eckler over Drake in PPR, Drake over Eckler. It would be shocking if Eckler holds out after getting a new contract. I have Eckler over Drake in PPR, Drake over Eckler, non-PPR, but I think both are very good. Alright, let's go through 11 through 15 in the

consensus rankings. Nick Chubb, Le'Veon Bell, Aaron Jones, Josh Jacobs, Clyde Edwards-Elair, 15th. So, 11 through 15. Nick Chubb, Le'Veon Bell, Aaron Jones, Josh Jacobs, Clyde Edwards-Elair, 15th. So 11 through 15. Nick Chubb, Le'Veon Bell, Aaron Jones, Josh Jacobs, Clyde Edwards-Elair. What do you think?

Another good group. I think too high on Le'Veon Bell by a lot. What did he do last year? Why do we think he's going to be so much better? Because the offensive line's improved. Yeah, I mean, I think he's in this range.

You know, I wouldn't put him first. I take a chance on Edward Solaire over him, but I'm probably in the minority on that. I just think that there's more upside with him in the Kansas City offense than there is for Bell, who is another year older, another year of taking a heavy workload. Yes, the offensive line improved. They didn't really add anything significant in terms of competition as well. Michael P. Ryan's not going to take him off the field for significant stretches.

He should be fine. I agree with that point. We're going to get to 16-20 here in a sec. I guess I should say that my rankings aren't a part of this consensus, so they're going to be a little bit different in points. But Gurley's in the 16-20 range. I would take Gurley over Bell. I mean, it's the same thing, but better offense. I think Bell's going to catch enough passes to be better than Gurley.

And I don't think he's going to only have, what, four touchdowns he had last year? I figure he'll get more than that. But Gurley's in a way better offense for touchdowns. Yeah, but I'm not certain that he's going to get, let's call it 50 catches. That's the mark we like to use. I think Le'Veon gets that in his sleep.

So we've got back-to-back 14-15 Josh Jacobs and Clyde Edwards-Elair and different roles. I love – I'm sure we all love Josh Jacobs' talent. There's no question in my mind he's a better player than Le'Veon Bell right now. It's just we don't know what his role in the passing game is going to be, and we don't know really what Clyde Edwards-Elair's role is going to be, period. But let's talk about that. Who do you like better, Josh Jacobs or Clyde Edwards-Elair?

And I'm pretty sure that's how you pronounce it, by the way. I like Edwards-Elair better. I just think he's got a chance to be an absolute star in this Chiefs offense. Now, that's obviously speculation because we don't know what they're going to do with Damian Williams and the other backs they have on the roster, but the draft stock tells you that they're very heavily invested. His talent was pretty impressive at LSU.

He's a superior pass catcher out of the backfield. I think Jacobs is in a great spot as well. The fact that they added Lynn Bowden doesn't necessarily help, I think, in terms of his pass catching because that's another pass catching back that they have with bringing back Jalen Richard and they'll be creative with Bowden you know they could do a bunch of different things with him so um I just wonder where his ceiling is um and as we saw last year you know the concern was can he hold up to feature down work the shoulder injury is a little telling that maybe that could be a problem at some point if he has another injury. Dave, Ben, get in there. Josh Jacobs versus Clyde Edwards

Elair. So I have Jacobs ahead of Elair right now, and it's in pencil. I have to admit it. I can't say for sure this is how I'm going to draft come august because it's it's not going to take much to get over the moon for hilaire which is where jamie is now jamie's camped out on the other side of the moon on this um but jacobs is still a really good back really talented the catches do matter here but i also think that j that Jacobs is going to benefit from having speed added to the receiving core in Vegas. And I still don't believe that this is suddenly going to become a pass frenzy offense. I think they're still going to be mildly or maybe even mostly conservative when it comes to how they play. And I think Jacobs has a lot of what we look for from a running back.

Opportunities to score minimum of 15 touches per week. Hopefully he stays healthy. Offensive line is still pretty good. So him and Chubb, I know that they're not going to catch a ton of passes, but I think they're both just really talented running backs, and I think both of them can get a lot of work week in and week out. Yeah, but why, sorry, I'll throw this one to Ben. Why is Mixon clearly ahead of Nick Chubb and Josh Jacobs?

Aren't they in the same boat, really? Mixon hasn't really had the three-down rule that we'd like as frequently as we would like. But he is a little bit underrated i think fantasy you know he's one of those players that that we do with our fantasy expectations influence our perception of the player and we've had really high expectations for him so i don't think people really recognize that he has 1400 yards in back-to-back seasons i mean like he's nearly 100 yards per game over the last two years. Total yards. Total yards.

Yeah. But if we're talking about him not having a great receiving role, then that just speaks to how well he does whatever all the way around. I think there's upside from that, and there's upside in touchdowns if this offense gets a lot better. I mean, he's been a pretty productive back the last two years. He has been, yeah. I just wonder if he can be elite,

because it doesn't seem like he's going to get to that 50-catch threshold. No, but you can still be really good without it. Yeah. And if you look at the last eight games, I've referenced this before, last eight games of 2019, he averaged 17.4 PPR points per game. It was 15.3 in non-PPR. But you know what he also had to have, Dave? He had the most carries in football by 33.

And that's actually alarmed me a little bit because you can't rely on that. In those eight games, he had 33 more carries than any other running back, Joe Mixon. That just tells me that they were wondering. Why can't that happen again? I just don't...

Even if he's going to lead the NFL in carries, it's not going to be to that degree now derrick henry missed a game in there so it would have been a little closer but i'd like does he does he need to lead the league and carries to be the number four running back because that's what he was he was doing that with such little talent around him compared to what he has now yeah like his last year yeah yeah but isn't that isn't that reason to think his carries will go down? I mean, no, because if they're winning, they're going to rely on their run game more.

They had the number one pick of the draft. I'm not sure they're going to be winning much. Even if they do go down. You're getting two first round picks coming back to this roster and essentially a borderline Hall of Famer that they didn't have last year. And that's just on the offense. offense. I don't know how much better the defense is going to be, but they added some nice

pieces in free agency in the draft. They're going to be more competitive. Why are we just forgetting about his first eight games? Weren't very good at all. He averaged 3.2 yards per game. It was a new coach. They were dealing with is Dalton the guy?

What does that have to do with how effectively he ran the football? Well, I can tell you what it is. That's just making excuses. If the quarterback is not solidified, that's not going to impact how the running back plays? No. What does it matter? Give him the ball.

He averages 3.2 yards per carry, and he says, oh, sorry, coach. I don't know who the quarterback's going to be. Plus, we knew who the quarterback was. It was Andy Dalton. It wasn't like that for eight games. I think that's a stretch. But again, a bet on Mixon is not a bet on his 2019 splits. It's a bet on 2020 being a better situation for the offense.

That is, like, he wouldn't be. You asked why is he ahead of those other guys you noted. If they didn't draft Joe Burrow and Andy Dalton was back, he wouldn't be. Yeah. But I guess, like, comparing it't be. Yeah, but I guess comparing it to Chubb, Chubb should be a much

better situation. Chubb's got a rushing leader standing behind him. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. He's still got a ton of carries in those with Kareem Hunt. Like I said, he was number two. Nick Chubb was number two in the last eight games of the season. Chubb is great. He's I mean, look, the offensive line got better.

You know, he brought in a coach that wants to run the ball. Chubb's in a really good spot. I guess the comparison I was making was with Mixon, Chubb, and Jacobs. All three of them look like they're going to get a lot of carries, but not a lot of catches. So I was wondering why Mixon was consensus the number one for you guys. I feel more comfortable saying that Mixon has reception upside than I do with Chubb. I think Chubb has a little bit more.

I don't think it's crazy to be a little bit optimistic about Jacobs reception upside with kind of the buzz that's been around him. But it's that and then it's touchdowns for Mixon, too. I think he could have his best touchdown season. He's topped out at nine TDs. That's part of the reason we don't really think of him as that great because in fantasy he hasn't been that great. But a double-digit touchdown season would be great if this offense is a little bit more productive.

And you know that Kareem Hunt's going to be there to take some work away from Chubb. You know that Rashard and Bowden could take work away from Jacobs. Do you really think Giovanni Bernard's going to take a lot of work away from Joe Mixon? I do not think that Jalen Richard is going to take running work away from significant touches. Nonetheless.

Yeah. Catches. Yeah, sure. But more importantly for Jamie, knock, knock. Who's there?

Control freak. Okay. Now you say control freak who right it's like that thank you man okay next up in the uh consensus rankings where are we at 16 melvin gordon chris carson todd gurley leon Leonard Fournette down at 19, and James Conner. Remember, this is PPR. Melvin Gordon, Chris Carson, Todd Gurley, Leonard Fournette, James Conner. Guys, should we be moving Leonard Fournette up a little bit?

What do you think? I think he belongs in this range. Should we be moving on from this boring five group of, what is it, quintet of veterans? Because who cares wow but but you've got you've got potential workhorses here which ones gordon carson girly fordette and connor all of them are potential workhorses no if as long as i use the word potential i can't really be wrong but i mean they should be g Gordon is the one you really worry about

in terms of what the split's going to be, but he's shown you he can be really good even when he's not the ultimate workload guy. I think Gurley's the one I feel the most comfortable projecting for a workhorse role. I mean, I feel like Atlanta did nothing, but they want him to be that. What about Fournette? They did

nothing. Jaguars did nothing. Fournette was just a touchdown. They've talked about trading him all offseason. What do you mean? They've done a lot. They've said they don't want him anymore. But they didn't get a running back. True. It just leads me to think that

if Fourn net goes through a a slow stretch they'll be more than ready to put him on the bench and see what they have with armstead and that's if he makes it to the roster uh when training camp starts when training camp ends when the preseason ends like i feel like that he's he's a landmine he could really he could really be a huge problem for your fantasy team and if you take him too early you could regret it okay i guess we'll move on from this boring quintet and go to 21 through 25 in ppr rankings devin singletary david johnson deandre swift mark ingram and cam acres that we've got a couple of rookies in this group.

Devin Singletary, David Johnson, DeAndre Swift, Mark Ingram, and Cam Akers. How is Jonathan Taylor not gone yet? He's next. He's 26. How is he behind Devin Singletary? He shouldn't be. Where's James Conner in all this? He was 20.

He was the end of the boring quintet. Right. So this is going to be the group of running backs that you're going to take hoping that they hit their potential. Rookies that are going to have to share to some degree at the beginning of the year. And hopefully by the time you're closer to your fantasy playoffs, they're leading the way for their squads. We're almost out of guys that it feels like

they've got a really good chance to be workhorses, or I wouldn't say a really good, but above average chance, right? And I think 27 on this list might be the last one. I don't know. There's like so many Michelle's there. But 27 is David Montgomery. 26 is Jonathan Taylor. David Montgomery. So he is behind, obviously, Clyde

Edwards-Elair. He's also behind DeAndre Swift, Cam Akers, and Jonathan Taylor. Now, Montgomery's very close to the other three rookies. He's just ahead of Kareem Hunt and Keyshawn Vaughn. So this group here, 26 through 30, is Taylor, David Montgomery, Kareem Hunt, Keyshawn Vaughn, and Tariq Cohen. And again, it's PPR.

But you've got Kareem Hunt and Tariq Cohen in there. They are third down backs, I guess. They're only going to be number three running backs in PPR, at least on draft day, I would guess. But how do they compare to David Montgomery and Jonathan Taylor and Keyshawn Vaughn? What's your take there, Ben? I mean, Tariq Cohen obviously plays on the same team as David Montgomery,

and I have him a couple spots behind Montgomery in my own rankings. But I think he's a significant hindrance for Montgomery. I think he's somebody that they're going to use. I mean, it's kind of like what we're talking about might be a concern with Lynn Bowden with Oakland. We already know that is a concern for David Montgomery in Chicago. And so Montgomery's upside is very much capped, I think, in the passing game. Cohen's just way more explosive. He wasn't very good last year, but they're still going to use him.

And they did use him throughout the year. They didn't like Montgomery much in the passing game. And I think as the season went on, Cohen's roll, his snaps, started to creep back up. They were a little bit lower early. They tried to give Montgomery a little bit more of the work early. And it looked like Montgomery might really have a big rookie season, but it just never kind of came together for him.

So I'm more concerned about Cohen for Montgomery's value than a lot of other passing backs in the league. I'd rather have Vaughn than Montgomery. I would too. I have Vaughn ahead of him. I guess that's the question, right? I'm not there yet. It's like you're going to take a rookie that's in a position battle,

whether it's Taylor or it's Swift or it's Vaughn, ahead of Montgomery, who had like 20 fewer touches than Aaron Jones last year. I mean, he had 242 carries. He had 25 catches. He did not do well. There's no question. But Le'Veon Bell didn't do that well as a rookie. So I'm not disagreeing with you,

but why are you going to take an unknown rookie in Tampa Bay, for example, over Montgomery, who you would think is going to get more carries than Keyshawn Vaughn? Because upside isn't necessarily just about carries. It's about high-value touches. And I think there's a few things coming out of the draft that i feel as confident about than keishon vaughn's gonna play on passing downs because bruce arians hated ronald jones pass blocking last year i mean i'm the guy that was talking about ron jones a lot i was playing him in dfs after one of his big games he started

the next game and he got benched right away and And we found out after the game, uh, it was pass blocking related. And that, that was the story of the whole season. He, I don't think Ronald Jones is going to play on passing downs again under Arians. So like, as much as I think Ron Jones is an underrated talent, it's like, that's, that matters. Um, and they drafted a guy who, you know, Schrager told us was graded the third best pass blocker among the running backs in this class. So Keysha vaughn uh is going like that's why they got him i think that's very very clear and then that means he has the upside you know aarons did talk a little bit about wanting a three down back um you know you know to the top that he doesn't think he's or dave may have that he doesn't think he's david johnson but he did also talk about like

being comfortable with a three down back or wanting a three down back i can't think of the exact quote but um that's the role that von could grow into that's what you like you're basically hoping he's devonta freeman early and you know with devonta freeman's second year but he looked like the passing down back and they had just drafted tevin coleman who was going to be the early down back uh and coleman i think had to get hurt early in that year for that to break out but when the guy has the passing downs like that if he can just get the the carries then the upside's really high so i want to correct one thing i said by the way i said kareem hunt won't be drafted as a number three guy in non-ppr he probably will he's 33rd in our non-ppr consensus rankings he's 28th in ppr

so technically you know he'll probably be in the top 36. I don't even know about Tariq Cohen, but I think you get the point. They're more valuable in this format. So let's go to 31 through 35 here. Darius Geis, Raheem Mostert, James White, Karyon Johnson, and Ronald Jones. And to some degree, we've probably talked about all of these guys except for James White. Darius Geis, Raheem Mostert, James White, Karyon Johnson, and Ronald Jones. That's the five there, Dave. Does anybody stand out in this group, 31 through 35? Well, the first thing I want to say about James White is that in PPR, he's safe.

He's given you at least 10 PPR points in 12 of 15 games in 2019, 12 of 16 in 2018, and a lot of those games in 2018 were just amazing. Is he safe or was he safe okay what does it mean just with the quarterback change because i almost think that it helps him i think if the system stays as it is in new england and if it's stidham or hoyer it leads me to believe that it'll be largely the same that he's still going to vie for targets and get a lot of catches there. Now, if they go and they add Cam, for example, I don't think they try and fit a square peg into a round hole. I think they try and have Cam.

They play to Cam's strengths, and that could certainly hurt James White in that regard. But for now, I'm comfortable taking White as late as I possibly can in PPR leagues just for bench depth. And if he has to be my number three running back, if I have to use him as a flex sometimes, I don't mind because I think the track record has been there, and I think it will stay there.

I think his role is locked up in New England. Any other thoughts on this group? Geis, Mostert, White, Kerryon Johnson, Ronald Jones. I hope Geis plays more than five games. I mean, I just want to see it. Right. I really do. I mean, who knows?

They have so many running backs there, and the addition of Antonio Gibson just makes it even more clouded, whatever they're going to do with him. But you have Peterson still there. He'll get work. Barber will probably be a guy, if he makes the roster, that they may give a couple touches to. McKissick, I think, is going to be the one that plays on passing downs,

but that's still going to be a disaster as well. So Geist can clearly just say to all those guys, get out of my way if he's good, but we need to see it first. So every time I rank Geist, it's guys, I guess this is where he belongs. It's in that 30 range. Sorry, James. The more I think about Gibson, the more I like him. We know that he's versatile.

We know that he's a great pass catcher out of the backfield. We know he's got speed, decent size. Ron Rivera and offensive coordinator Scott Turner just came from Carolina where they were fortunate to have Chris McCaffrey as their running back for the past few years. And I'm not saying that Gibson is McCaffrey, but what if they end up trying to find a way to use him similarly? That could lead to some pretty big catches.

And maybe I think I'm going to go after Gibson in some of my PPR leagues. But it sounds like they're going to play him at receiver, though. No, they've got him at running back. Well, at the draft, they listed him as receiver. I've seen nothing but running back on their website and in press quotes. I thought they announced him as a back, actually. They did, yeah. He went through the draft process as a receiver.

And when the Redskins draft, and maybe this is telling, maybe this plays into what I'm saying, that they list him as a running back. He's on their website right now as a running back. Yeah, I'm looking at a tweet from The Athletic. They corrected themselves. And I want to just talk about the Lions real quick, reading an article.

I don't know how much this means, but in the Detroit Free Press, Carlos Menares, I'm not sure quite how to pronounce his name, who will be the Lions starting running back. He says if Kerryon Johnson is healthy, he's done enough to earn the title of starter. He's well-liked and respected throughout the team, and he also gave the Lions their first 100-yard rusher. Excuse me. First 100-yard rusher in 70 games as a rookie in 2018. Bo Scarborough will offer

I lost the article. There we go. Bo Scarborough will offer the power component, but Swift should be nipping at Johnson's heels and might replace him as the starter if he makes enough big plays. It's a great problem to have for the Lions. Blah, blah, blah. If he nips at his heels too much, carry on will be on short-term IR.

Ronald Jones was number 35, so 36 through 40. We could probably stop here. I'll ask you guys for some late-term IR. Ronald Jones was number 35, so 36 through 40. We could probably stop here. I'll ask you guys for some late-round favorites. Matt Breida. Oh, you guys have Marlon back 41st. My goodness. Matt Breida,

Jordan Howard, Damian Williams, Sonny Michelle, Darrell Henderson. That's 36 through 40. Adam, where would you draft Marlon Mack? Round two. I'd draft him ahead of Kerryon Johnson. I'd probably draft him ahead of Keyshawn Vaughn.

I mean, you're talking about... Here's the problem. This is a format thing, because I think in non-PPR, I'm with you, he wasn't going to be involved in the passing game when he was a guy. Yeah, that's true. And so now you're getting to this format where Taylor's better than in my opinion.

I mean, you know, we'll see what the Colts do, but then you throw in like, I agree with everything Dave said about with Heinz. I think Heinz role does not change at all. So it's like, it's like you go from one to three in the depth start for the Colts in PPR.

You know, you can maybe say one to two, you know, where he's better than Heinz and non PPR. But in maybe say 1-2, where he's better than Hines in non-PPR, but in this format, I don't see Mack playing unless Taylor's hurt. Maybe in September, like I was saying earlier,

you can enjoy drafting Marlon Mack too high and getting 12, 14 carries, 15 carries in a few September games, but you're going to get nothing out of that by November. It depends who's getting the goal line work. You know? You know something? That could be an area

where Mack wins. Just based on the fact that Jonathan Taylor had 18 fumbles in 41 games. So we have our new James Devlin? I sure tell home that. The fumbles are a really good point. We shouldn't overlook that. I think that's why he wasn't a first round pick. And I

bet that's reason number one why the Chiefs Well, I mean, one running back went to the first round and Edward Solaire was the guy they've been talking about for weeks for internally. And he was the last pick of the first round. Sure, but it might have been, but that could have been, listen, I'm going to trust Andy Reed evaluating running backs over everybody else

on the planet. Keep in mind, the Colts traded out of the first round to get a huge upgrade on their defensive line and with their first pick they traded up for taylor right they did trade up for taylor but he wasn't their first was he their first pick in the round i don't think no no they took pitman right away but then they traded back up but so marlin max jump somebody marlin max", 213, 40th percentile BMI for running backs. Jonathan Taylor is 5'10". He's an inch shorter. He's 226. He's 13 pounds heavier.

He's 89th percentile BMI. He is a bigger, stockier, faster, more explosive back. I mean, yes, if the fumbles really are an issue, I can do see that point. But that's why I said why when you initially brought it up. Because taylor to me is the one when you get them in camp you're going to say this is the guy that we want to give the the ball right the goal line you know so that's the thing if if he doesn't fumble in camp obviously it's something that the colts know about something that they're going to work on with him from the second that they're able to work on it with him if he doesn't fumble in the preseason or in training camp, then sure,

he's got a chance to have that role. Yeah. Just will remind everyone. Nick Chubb was better than Carlos Hyde. Miles Sanders better than Jordan Howard. And neither of them won the starting job in week one. You know, you don't win an injury. You don't win fantasy leagues in week one you know but you don't win injury you don't win fantasy leagues in week one so i don't

i'm not i'm not taking i'm not taking marla mack ahead of yeah of taylor no i think it's actually an interesting like question though like if you knew what happened to carlos hyde was going to happen or what happened to jordan howard was going to happen and howards was injury where would you take those guys if you knew you really only get in September and October production because like for me I just don't draft those guys I'm hoping that I can get by in those weeks but sometimes those teams my fantasy teams wind up you know a little bit behind the eight ball before I get some late season production so it's an interesting question I think but they're tough guys to rank. This is, this is a great roster construction scenario because you could conceivably get the guys that you like.

And if you have such conviction on them that you think by week five, week six, week eight, whatever the case may be, hopefully you're not out of it by then, but then you have just these superstars, whether it's Taylor or Swift or acres, you know, whatever the case may be. Dobbins in there. If you there if you really want to. Well, I'm just looking at guys that have the best chance to sort of overcome the starter.

But if you get off to that slow start and it's waivers and not fab, then you're getting the opportunity to take those guys off waivers first that are potential stars or guys that you could be starters early in the season and so now you're sort of turning your roster over a little bit while you're still sitting on these lottery tickets if you don't get too far behind you could just start steamrolling the league by the time you get to the middle of the season that's kind of like the zero rb strategy too like if you start out really slow sometimes with no running backs it doesn't hurt to have well i i agree with

what you're saying though but i think i think the problem is that you still have to draft these guys relatively early because of where you're going to see them ranked you know so you know we're saying uh i don't want to i don't know if it's fair to throw edwards hilaire in there but it probably should be so if if you know you're you're following the consensus so edwards hilaire is a third round pick i guess um based on the consensus and tay Taylor is probably a fourth or fifth round pick. And Swift and Akers are in that same range. So let's say you're taking two or three of these guys while building wide receivers. You have to take them in the first five rounds. It's tough. But what I think you should hope for is a report or a quote from a coach that says the veteran's going to play,

and then these guys are going to fall like Miles Sanders did, because Miles Sanders certainly wasn't picked in the first five rounds. So you go into the season, people know that Marlon Mack's going to start. We're going to know that, hey, that doesn't mean he's going to finish. That doesn't mean he's going to be the starter in week six, and these guys fall a little bit and maybe they'll be... Maybe their ADP will be lower than their ranking.

Wouldn't it have been nice if the Ravens, instead of taking Dobbins, they let him fall one spot to the Dolphins and the Dolphins took him in the second round. And if the Bucs really wanted to make a splash, they would have taken Swift or Taylor and he would have gotten some of these superstar

potential running backs in featured roles right away. Now again, I'd rather have Dobbins in Baltimore for 2021 and Taylor in Indianapolis for 2021. But for 2020, it would have been nice to have these guys been a little bit more clear-cut situations. Some other highlights. J.K. Dobbins

is 46th in PPR. In non-PPR, Dobbins is 42nd. Zach Moss is 49th in PPR. Nothing really huge here. I had a question. I don't know if you guys know, but just talking about Austin Eckler earlier and undrafted free agent, getting a big contract,

getting big work this year, hopefully. I feel like the order of success in terms of where a player is drafted, running back is drafted, and how it translates to NFL success, it's something like round one, round two, round three, and then it might be undrafted free agent after that, and then round four.

It's kind of a weird thing. There tends to be some success with undrafted free agent after that. And then round four. It's kind of a weird thing. There tends to be some success with undrafted free agents. It's rare. But it's also pretty rare for like a round five running back to be good. Well, who's the undrafted rookie free agent that you point to besides LeGarrette Blount? Phillip Lindsey. Phillip Lindsey, Austin Eckler, Arian Foster was undrafted free agent, right? Yep.

There's just a weird history of undrafted. The reason I take Blount out is because we know what happened to him, why he wasn't drafted. But I don't take that out because it could be any circumstance. But him in particular. I mean, he would have been drafted if he didn't punch a kid right before the draft. Yeah, but that's what you – I feel horrible saying it, but that's what you look for.

Like character concerns cause people to drop. You should not discount their talent. I mean, it's a cruel game that we play but uh i don't know just kind of a random thought i didn't know if there was like a like i figured ben would have like a well actually undrafted free agents 32 percent of the you know this is that whatever well actually philip woodsy was the first undrafted free agent to start i believe it was to start his career with two straight thousand yard seasons so you're probably putting too much weight on him. And then Aaron Foster took a little bit of time and blunt.

There's not a lot of options there. Yeah, because most running backs and most players in general, they go undrafted for a reason. Yeah. Was that a good well, actually, for you? Yeah, it was great. Jamie, why did the chicken go to the seance? I don't know why. To get to the other side.

Not bad. Thanks. Okay, I keep laughing at all these terrible jokes. I don't know why. To get to the other side. Not bad. Thanks, thanks. Okay, I keep laughing at all these terrible jokes. I don't know why. I got this from rd.com. Thank you, rd.com. We are out of here.

We'll talk to you on Tuesday night. Tonight, baby, we got our Twitch stream. Twitch.com slash FF today. We'll see you then. Also, a podcast coming at you on Wednesday to talk about wide receivers. For Dave and Jamie and Ben, I'm Adam. Talk to you later.