Fantasy Football Today - 🚨Sony Michel to the Rams! Ranking Henderson, Harris and More (08/25 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Well, just when we were getting excited about Daryl Henderson, another trade for the Rams. They like to make trades. They bring over Sonny Michel for what will eventually be a fourth-round pick. I'm Adam Azer with Heath Cummings on this bonus podcast here on Fantasy Football Today. Heath, is this a big deal? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:00:23 Unfortunately, I think it probably is. Daryl Henderson was being drafted, not quite as a feature back for the Rams, but the difference between Xavier Jones, Jake Funk, and Sonny Michel is pretty big. We were discounting Damian Harris just a little bit because we were afraid Sonny Michel was going to steal some touches from him.

Starting point is 00:00:42 Now we have to discount Daryl Henderson from where we had him. I look at this stretch before Cam Akers got involved last year. And this is weeks two through seven. And Daryl Henderson was on... He had 84 carries. Malcolm Brown had 47 carries. And Cam Akers had 12 carries in those games.

Starting point is 00:01:05 Cam Akers, almost all of them were in one game. The three running backs combined for 23.8 carries per game. Daryl Henderson had 58.7% of the carries. So his 16-game pace in weeks two through seven, when he really got the work, and then the week after that, week eight, was the Dolphins game. I think he got hurt in that game.

Starting point is 00:01:25 They had a bye the next week. He still played, but that they slowly started giving it to Cam Akers at that point. But just weeks two through seven, he was on pace for 224 carries, 1,080 yards, eight touchdowns,

Starting point is 00:01:37 and 24 catches and actually three receiving touchdowns. So do you think that's a realistic split where he could be getting, he could be on a 224 carry pace? I have to do the math here. But, and then Malcolm Brown, what did I say?

Starting point is 00:01:53 Malcolm Brown had 47 carries in six games. So that's about eight carries per game. That could be the Sonny Michel rule. Yeah, I think that that split is probably a fair expectation. I'm a little bit lower than that on Henderson on my initial projections. When I first put it together, I had him at 214 carries and 27 receptions. lot that does the addition of Matthew Stafford mean the Rams are going to be more pass heavy? Does the injury to Cam Akers mean that the Rams are going to be more pass heavy? I think another thing that worries me about this is kind of the timing of it. The first thing Sean McVay said after Cam Akers got hurt was that we believe Daryl Henderson can be a three down back, but then obviously stated they had some concerns whether he could stay

Starting point is 00:02:42 healthy. Daryl Henderson hurts his thumb in practice, and the day later they trade for Sonny Michel. So it doesn't sound like the thumb injury is really going to put Henderson much in question for week one. It does seem like the Rams have serious questions about whether Henderson can be a feature back. And so I'm going to struggle with where to rank him, but right now I can say pretty certainly

Starting point is 00:03:06 he's not going to be in my top 23 running backs. So he was somebody that I think in a 12-team league, maybe people had settled in on, yeah, round four is probably the time for Daryl Henderson. Chris Carson comes off the board, and then you've got this mix-up of running backs with Josh Jacobs and Miles Sanders. For a lot of people, I think Henderson would have been at the front of that group, and then you've got this uh this mix-up of running backs with josh jacobs and miles sanders and for a lot of people i think henderson would have been at the front of that group and then you could argue yeah right and you like josh jacobs but then you know you could have argued

Starting point is 00:03:32 well my what about miles gaskin what about james robinson now so now are you saying that he'll be behind miles sanders and josh jacobs i'm saying he'll be at the back of that group the gaskin davis jacobs sanders that that entire group he went from the front of the line at the back of that group. The Gaskin, Davis, Jacobs, Sanders, that entire group, he went from the front of the line to the back of the line. And it's a short line, and it's a very compact line. There's no social distancing in this line. They are bunched up together.

Starting point is 00:03:56 But yes, he went from the front of the line to the back of the line. I still think there's top 12 upside for virtually everyone in that group. I still think it's possible that things could go right for Henderson and he could be a 16 touch, a game guy for an entire season. Uh, if you're hearing some noise in the background, not hearing any noise. Okay, good. I'm babysitting, uh, my own kid, but, uh, watching over my boy right now and giving him some

Starting point is 00:04:23 Sesame streets to watch on the phone. Sorry about that, folks. So, yeah, does Henderson have an advantage over those running backs? It's not like they brought in a guy who's going to catch passes on third down. I don't know if somebody else on the roster is supposed to be their third down back. The Rams never play their starters in the preseason. But Sanders, it's not trending great in that regard. Jacobs, up in the, I don't know, probably not.

Starting point is 00:04:51 Does Henderson look like he'll kind of lead that group in catches? No, I don't think so at all. I think if I was going to guess who was going to lead the group in catches, it would be Myles Gaskin. Yeah, sorry. I was basically doing a group of three of Sanders, Jacobs, and Henderson. I figure at this point Gaskin's going to go ahead of Henderson. I think it's possible that Henderson could lead the group in catches.

Starting point is 00:05:15 The thing is about the Rams, and that's really kind of changed lately, I don't know how much we expect the Rams to throw to their running backs. They had 71 running back targets last year. Only the Ravens and the Titans threw fewer passes to their running backs right so yeah I'm sorry and and as a backup your point you know I gave you that stretch of games those six games week two through seven you look at Jared Goff's pass attempts in those games it's a lot of low 30s so uh we'll hopefully see more um throw we'll probably see more throwing from Stafford and maybe fewer carries from Henderson.

Starting point is 00:05:46 So it is a bit of a mess. On the other hand, maybe people don't take Sonny Michel seriously. Maybe they view this as like, well, the Rams weren't confident in Xavier Jones and Jake Funk and whatever else they had back there, and they wanted an upgrade for a little more assurance. Maybe Daryl Henderson really does get closer to a feature role, and Michel is just kind of depth. That would be the counter.

Starting point is 00:06:08 Yeah, I just don't know. We're just going to talk about this group over and over and over, but Miles Gaskin, Josh Jacobs, there's some other guys that are in the group for me that no one else has in the group, so I won't say their names. Miles Sanders and Mike Davis, all of those guys could actually end up being feature backs. And so I'm more worried about Henderson. I think of those guys, Henderson

Starting point is 00:06:34 has the best competition now. Chase Edmonds or Darrell Henderson? That is the one. In the initial projections, Henderson came up right behind Chase Edmonds I'm currently ranking Henderson ahead of Chase Edmonds because I think there's a better chance that Henderson's a feature back than Edmonds now Sonny Michelle do you draft him and keeping in mind that Daryl Henderson is pretty injury prone at this point oh you definitely draft him I I put him almost exactly where I had Xavier Jones and we were drafting Xavier Jones. Unfortunately, I drafted him too many times

Starting point is 00:07:09 in the last three rounds over the last couple of weeks, but I think you put Sonny Michel in that same range maybe right behind the Tony Pollard, Alexander Madison type guys, but he's in that range for sure.

Starting point is 00:07:26 And let's go over to the Patriots now. Does this help Damian Harris? I'm really not sure. I think it probably gives him a little bit more security, but I had him, I didn't have a lot of touches going to Sonny Michel. I had him at 94 carries and four catches for the season. I kind of think someone's going to play that role, probably Ramondre Stevenson now. Yes. This has been a really good preseason for him, and Schrager giving me these notes,

Starting point is 00:07:57 140 rushing yards after contact and 12 forced missed tackles for Ramondre Stevenson. So he has played a lot of backups, but he's done very well. And yeah, I guess, does he get it? Would you rather have Ramondre Stevenson or Sonny Michel if you're taking a running back late? I'm going to take Sonny Michel over Ramondre Stevenson right now. I think there is a better chance if something, first off,

Starting point is 00:08:26 it seems like there's a better chance of something happening to Daryl Henderson than Damian Harris. Second off, I think that role is probably more valuable than the one Damian Harris has. And third, I'm more confident than the one Rams RB one role is more valuable than the Patriots RB. Oh,

Starting point is 00:08:40 okay. And then third, I am, I think Stevenson would have to share more if he got thrust into that role than Michelle would. You're still taking Daryl Henderson ahead of Damian Harris, right? I am. It's close. In non-PPR, I've got Edmonds and Harris and Henderson

Starting point is 00:08:57 all right in the same range. Okay. Oh, man. You know who the winner is here, Heath? Mike Davis. Another potential running back to take his job going somewhere else, or to compete for his job, rather. Mike Davis and Miles Gaskin, really, because I mean,

Starting point is 00:09:14 they were apparently trying to get Kerryon Johnson the first time Kerryon Johnson went on waiver, so yeah, those guys are winners, but this is also a reminder for those guys that we got, we got a couple of weeks left. Yes,

Starting point is 00:09:27 we do. Um, they're not safe yet. We've probably got a couple more bonus podcasts left, left as well. Thank you very much to Heath Cummings and to all of you for listening and watching. And we've got another episode that will drop tomorrow,

Starting point is 00:09:38 uh, where we might have, we might have some more developments, some more reports. So we'll keep you updated here on Fantasy Football Today.

Fantasy Football Today - 🚨Sony Michel to the Rams! Ranking Henderson, Harris and More (08/25 Fantasy Football Podcast)

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