Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Early Top 15 RB Rankings + Broken Down Carr

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

Fantasy Football show for Apr 15, 2025. Early running back rankings! Find out who will be undervalued in fantasy football drafts, and who carries the most risk! Just 9 days until the NFL Draft! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast.Get the lowest price on the 2025 UDK at UltimateDraftKit.com - Instant access to the Dynasty Pass with the UDK+(00:00) Introduction(05:40) NFL News(13:20) Top 15 Early Running Back Rankings(15:50) Saquon Barkley(20:15) Bijan Robinson(24:30) Jahmyr Gibbs(29:20) Christian McCaffrey(32:55) Derrick Henry(37:05) De’Von Achane(38:50) Kyren Williams(42:40) Bucky Irving(46:15) Jonathan Taylor(49:00) Josh Jacobs(51:50) Chase Brown(54:15) James Cook(56:20) Joe Mixon(59:00) Kenneth Walker(01:01:50) Chuba HubbardConnect with the show:Subscribe on YouTubeVisit us on the WebSupport the ShowFollow on XFollow on InstagramJoin our Discord

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Tuesday tax day. Oh man. Sorry everybody. April 15th, 2025 the fantasy footballers. The self are back. Yeah.

So you can listen up, listen in. We got our early running back rankings show today. Jason Moore is here. Mike, the fantasy hit man. I'm Andy Holloway. Yeah. And you know, it's going to be a really excellent show. I can always tell based upon your introduction. Oh, really?

Yeah. I set the tone? You set the tone well today. You came in a little longer than usual on your little yell-in. You keep track. I'm sure Kyle keeps track. Oh, Kyle's got the stopwatch on. Good weekend, gentlemen.

Quick. Ready to talk football? We over under Jason's Andy. Or over under Andy's welcome scream. Based on the things I see people betting these days, like which arm goes into the green jacket for Rory McIlroy. No. Is that a real one?

Which arm goes in first? Which one won? It's got to be right arm, right? It was left arm. Oh, man. They got him. You got got. You would have lost so much money Mike. Yeah, you know.

So that's where I'm doing it. There's the comedy of betting on absolutely anything that could happen, but even more ridiculous than that is watching people root for the thing that you can't believe people bet on. So watching them, a couple guys on an Instagram, real or alive, that are going left arm, come on, left arm, left arm, come on, the research, the research says it's going to be left arm, come on. It's so much fun. I mean, it's dumb. Yeah, me and Jason, we're in on Tales.

We're all, Tales never fails. And it makes just, it makes that non-playing time something to watch. You just like, I mean who cares about the coin flip except when you need it to land on tails. Well yeah, if you wanna get a kind of a betting market out on the welcome in, you can do that. Yeah.

You know, we'll figure it out. We, like I said, we have early top 15 running back rankings on the show today. We got NFL news to catch you up on. We got the draft here. Very soon. Less than two weeks away. Right at two weeks?

No. Less, less. Less, less. Last Thursday. Yeah, yeah. It's coming soon. Rumors every day. You know, you never know what's real.

Correct. Oh, I know, because. Because we're always surprised. And there are legitimately, there are smoke screens. And sometimes that's used like, oh, they're bringing these guys in, they're looking at wide receivers from their top 30 visits, oh, maybe it's a smoke screen. I don't think those are smoke screens, but when there is just blabbermouths really kind of saying saying what they're looking for I feel like

There's no benefit would be an amazing name for like one of the primetime sports Just blabbermouths call it blabbermouths, and you know yeah That's kind of what we do isn't it ultimate draft kit calm Head over there get access to the dynasty pass it will be updated for the third time right after the draft and we get a lay of the land and we see which players are gaining value based on their draft destinations and you know there's

all the team opportunity charts in there so you have a chance to get in there and see what teams are needing what and you know Mike you've been paying attention like I have to these visits, right? We've got the- Yeah, the top 30 visits. We're trying to figure some stuff out.

I think we've got a little bit of a... We got something. We got a fish on the hook here. We're going to talk about all that stuff on the dynasty pod this week. Yeah, and Kyle is half insane right now because he's been just completely digging into that level of data and It's fun. Some of the stuff is actually really interesting to see how these top 30 visits Correlate or don't correlate to you know position groups and and whether it's a first-round pick or whether that you know Someone that made one of these top 30 visits gets drafted by the team. And the funny thing is, if we just wait, just like, I don't know, a week and a half,

none of it will matter, we'll know where everyone is. Yeah, but that's no fun. I mean, the one that stood out was the running back visits for the Cincinnati Bengals. Sure. And we've got a top 15 running back show today. Chase Brown is on it. Chase Brown is in that top 15 as of right now. Yeah, but

if Trevion Henderson, one of the players brought in for a top 30 visit, gets drafted by the Bengals, Chase Brown will not be in the top 15. No, he will not. So yeah, we've all individually gone through and ranked our, you know, this is pre-UDK, statting every player out, but looking at kind of where we have them right now. And we all went through an individually ranked, probably around the first 30 running backs and then grabbed our consensus top 15 and we'll share that with you on today's episode. No quick question for the day because we want to get into the rankings, so we'll jump right into news.

News and notes from around the league. Uh-oh. Well, might not be clicking that send in the car button. Yeah. The NFL Network's Ian Rappaport has reported that Derek Carr is believed to have suffered a significant injury to his throwing shoulder. Suffered it last year and it threatens his availability for the upcoming season.

And that the Saints have been preparing for the draft knowing about this injury. So some of the, I mean there have been quarterback. Sounds like we got a blabber mouth. Uh huh. So quarterback rumors were already swirling around the Saints. Jackson Dart, Shador Sanders, discussions around those players. Suddenly you find out your starter might not even

be available, who has so much money committed to Derek. I mean, committed to him now. Oh, yeah. The dead cap this year and next year would be a catastrophic number. I think next year the dead cap this year and next year would be a catastrophic number I I think next year's dead cap you can look it up, but I want to say it's around 65 million That's next year. That's next year. That's not if they cut them now, obviously They're not gonna cut him now Nick under hill one of the best reporters over there for the Saints

he was tweeted about this talking about like this is this is a There's a big situation and so I I don't subscribe to his paywall content so I don't know all the details but he was insinuating that this is a bigger deal than what it seemed like a couple weeks ago. We got 80 million this year for Derek Carr should they cut him which that's not gonna happen and next year yes next year it's still a 59 but don't worry when we get to 2027 as long if they don't do anything the contract it's still a 59. But don't worry, when we get to 2027, as long as they don't do anything to the contract,

it's only a cool 40. I just, this is a team that has two third round picks. In a void year. They have two thirds, two fourths, and a first and a second round pick. They do have the ability to move around. So, Cam Moore's not gonna be in the cards for them. No.

And drafting at nine, depending on who you follow, that might seem too soon for the other two quarterback prospects. I don't know. I think they're gonna take one. In the first? In the first. But if they don't, if Shadour Sanders

falls out of the first round and they're sitting at 40 and they have two thirds and two fourths to trade up and take him with the first pick of the first round and they're sitting at 40 and they have two thirds and two fourths to trade up and take him with the first pick of the second round or something like that, the solution that they have on the roster right now is, I mean Spencer Rattler, Ben Danucci, these are not. The solution is not on the roster.

Dude, Jake Hanus, cause they anus man, come on. That's a fun one. Jake Haner. He's still on the roster. Yeah, the depth chart behind Derek Carr, they went winless in the games that Carr did not play last year. Oh wow.

And so this is a team that needs Derek Carr there or they need a future quarterback. I don't, I mean personally, I don't think there is one available. That's where, yeah, you and I disagree on that. Right, right. To me it's like, okay, I think Cam Ward could be a legit starter.

I do think Shador Sanders can be a legit starter, but I think he needs to end up in a really good destination. I'm not sure if the Saints are there. We had just talked about Alvin Kamara on a recent episode. Yes. And Derek Carr's health issue came out really after that, as far as into the public sphere. And that changes my belief on Alvin Camero's

value you know all those Derek Carr check downs with that bottom shoulder delicious but also disagree on Jackson Dart right which you were pretty I do not you're pretty you were pretty chill about him on the go back I did I did go back and I watched I watched several more games and I'm I am not bullish on that Jackson Dore I don't think he's a first round Quarterback as in talent, but you might get drafted in the first right right right yes. Yes. He might go there I just don't I wouldn't have him graded that way we had some other contract updates the Browns bringing back Joe Flacco on a one-year deal just four million dollars up to 13 million if

seemingly he became a starter during the year. Which the, who knows, the newest thing that came out very recently was the Browns are unlikely to take Shadoor Sanders, I don't know if you mentioned that Andy when we were saying it, but. I still think it's Kirk Cousins. It, it, it could. That's who I think is going to clear.

It could be Kirk Cousins. They would have to trade draft capital and then figure out how they're going to pay the salary. I think it's already done. Do you? I do. And that's based on Miles Garrett's resigning with the team and interviews about his knowledge of who's going to play quarterback for them this year

and just putting and my thought that Kirk Cousins won't be sitting on that bench in Atlanta when all is said and done. I can't imagine that Miles Garrett's excited about, oh, I know Joel Flacco's signing a four million dollar deal. You're not going to know who you would get in the draft. I think it's Kirk Cousins. We'll find out.

You get Kirk Cousins and Travis Hunter there. That would be a really interesting offensive. We still think Kirk Cousins is good? I think Kirk Cousins. The dude got benched for a team trying to get into the playoffs. I think that another year removed from that Achilles injury could be good for him. He's not the age where I think he has to have fallen off. Obviously he had a massive injury and he played like crap down the stretch, but he also had, I mean it was this last year where he had a 500 yard throwing game. He did. He had that one incredible game.

Yeah, it was like 504 or something like that. And so I don't know. I mean I'm not saying Kirk Cousins is going to take a team to the Super Bowl. I'm just saying if you compare Kirk Cousins to Kenny Pickett a team to the Super Bowl. I'm just saying if you compare Kirk Cousins to Kenny Pickett, it's a much better upgrade. Allen Zard going to stay with the Jets on a rework contract. Terrence Marshall Jr. This is in here? Oh, yeah. Look out, Kyle's here.

So the Eagles signed Terrence Marshall Jr. He probably won't get that ring, young man. Probably won't make the team. He won't make the team. Oh, Ali Cox. Now, I just want to remind people that Terrace Marshall jr. Still only 24 Years old 24. Oh, yeah, so his future is bright Mike More total reception his rest of his career Marshall jr. Nothing mingo mingo

Yeah, mo Ali Cox one-year deal to come back to the Colts just so we can hit this And Tyreek Hill weekly domestic dispute took place once again in a high rise condominium in Florida. Yeah, the NFL, they're tracking down the 911 audio. This like, it's not great. Regardless of this terrible accusation yeah we were just putting together our our top 15 rankings well behind the scenes we put together like our top 50 rankings and Tyreek was the most interesting name to me prior to

this news of like what do you believe what do you believe you know last year he played hundreds of more snaps than he did the year prior, had half as many yards. What's the cause? And you go, oh well, he was missing Tua for a handful of games, but Tua played the majority of the season. The injury with surgery.

I'm pretty sure the Dolphins had more passing yards last year than they did before. So yeah, he's at the wrist. Whatever the reason, he sucked last year for Tyreek Hill standards. So he's a year older and he was lower in my rankings than I thought he would be. All right, we'll be doing wide receiver rankings, the top 15 on Thursday, so you can tune in for that. But right now, it's time for Running Bags. Running Bags.

All right. We are going to go 1 through 15. We'll keep it fairly brief. Just an overview before the draft of where we have the Running Bags sitting right now. So it's like a vibes check. Yeah. I never know where you guys are on certain players at this time of year. So it's a chance to see where you have them ranked, where I am thinking about certain players and.

You know, as some interesting results here, we also had some research done on what makes a top 15 running back in general for fantasy football purposes. If you look at the last four years, the averages for a top 15 running back, you're gonna be at about 19 opportunities a game, which puts you at around 300 opportunities. Reminder, an opportunity is a, that's gonna be a. Target or a carry. There you go.

Rushing attempts, you're normally in the 240s. 10 rushing touchdowns. That's the average. That's the average. Yeah, 85% of top 15 fantasy running backs have at least nine touchdowns. 59 targets, 47 receptions, 350 plus receiving yards, a couple receiving touchdowns, and a fantasy points per game of around 15. And one of the things I find the most interesting is that all the top 15 running backs, they

were on NFL teams that averaged 9.7 wins. So they're on winning teams. Only 8% of the top 15 running backs over the last four years were on teams with fewer than seven wins. And so there are some, right? It wasn't zero percent, but if you're making an odds bet and your odds are sitting it down at eight percent, that is a losing bet. And so later in the draft, when you're looking at Ramon Drey Stevenson

or Bryan Robinson Jr., maybe Ramon Drey is a better player. But I would let those late picks tie break to me for the better team, team the better offense who's gonna win more games Also just for the record as we marched through these players. We're not putting any rookies in the initial rankings Whereas it's very very possible. I mean Gentie will be in our top 15. Oh for sure and it's possible. There's another name or two Depending on the landing spot. So no rookies in the initial rankings. We'll do that after the draft. But we'll start here at number one. He's number one for both of you.

He's sitting at two on my list, it's Saquon Barkley. I went back and forth flipping my one to year one over and over and over and over. Did you? Yeah. So yeah, my number one is Bijan who we'll talk about. I'm switching right now, right when we start. I'll hold out.

All right. Saquon Barkley, I was looking this up, he's rushed for 20 plus yards 24 times over the last two years, which ties Derrick Henry. So you get that big play stuff that you saw in Philly last year that you didn't have as many of those in New York because of offensive line play. But this was a Cinderella dream come true

season for Sequa and Barkley. Everything, you know, you talk about looking at both sides of a situation. Free agent, signed by Philly, leaving New York, older than some of the other running backs. Everything you could have possibly thought could go right for him went right last year. Played for the number one offensive line, was number one in yards before contact. So again, that wasn't breaking tackles,

that was literally gaining yards before anybody got an opportunity to tackle. So making the right reads. 66% of his rushing yards came before contact. Yeah, I mean, it was a perfect storm for him. The total touchdowns were awesome. The issue, the only negative, is that he was not very involved in the passing game.

No, it was irrelevant, wasn't needed. He was the running back one in fantasy points, scored enough touchdowns, got enough yardage. But it does mean if things go poorly for him in the touchdown category, which that can be a category that bounces back and forth from year to year, then he doesn't seem to have that pass catch. He's certainly got the pass catching ability, but with Jalen Hurts and this Eagles offense, they don't seemingly use Saquon in that way.

He only had 33 receptions. That would be like the only knock. And when I kept going back and forth between, is it Saquon or is it Bijon as my number one, it's really the passing work that was like the tiebreaker to me. 345 rushing attempts is a massive amount, and it's way more than he's ever had,

he had never broken 300, he got to 345.'s ever had. He had never broken 300. He got to 345. Really? No. He had never had more than 300 Ks. Not that I see. Not in attempts, no. No, he got to 295 in 2022, but never over 300.

He also had, you know, 13 rushing touchdowns. So, you know, when you talk about things that are prime for some variability, the long touchdown runs, the total touchdowns on the ground, but it's all in front of them right now. Yeah, I don't, it's very easy and very common. Whoever finishes RB1 last year, you frequently do put them at RB one this year but like this in particular it's like I don't say one Barkley injury aside is like it's gonna be a success let's say somehow the Eagles aren't nearly as good as they were when they were winning a Super Bowl last year like they're gonna be very, very good. And the fall off for Barkley to me is like,

he's safe, where I don't worry about that team imploding and maybe he's at nine rushing touchdowns, but I'm locking him at one. We still haven't had the vote for the tush push. That'll be in May. And so that, if the tush push gets banned and you're talking about a guy who, you know, in Jalen Hurts who has 10 tush push touchdowns on the docket, going away even a five of those turn into handoffs for Barkley, that is a real needle

mover. That would be an interesting discussion on the implications because it would help Barkley, it would probably help AJ Brown around the goal line as well. I wonder if they would just find a sneak play. Well, he can just. Yeah, he could just. That's what I mean. I was like, OK, fine.

We won't push. He could just sneak the way Brady used to sneak. Yeah, Brady didn't squat 600 pounds. And it's like, I wonder what his conversion was on fourth and one. Kyle, you should look that up, because I feel like it's got to be near. Brady was unbelievable. It's got to be like 90% he just read the right gaps all right and number two is B John he's number one on I guess now Jason in my

lists right Mike has him at three I tried to look up an interesting little fact or stat on all of our top 15 running backs for For Bijan, the one that I found is, or things that surprised me, he had the second most total touches in the NFL last year, and which was just behind Saquon, who we talked about. He was only stuffed on 14% of carries, which was the second best number in the entire league. So freaking good, man.

He's younger, obviously, but when you talk about, Mike, you brought up the stability in Philly, the offensive pieces, they're locked up, you know what you're getting, the offensive line. There are more variables in Atlanta. Now, it's hard to repeat as number one at the running back position, so this is a player in Bichon that has every ability to be that number one but

you're also going to get a whole season with you know Kirk Cousins is not going to be the starter but Bichon should be the backbone right and he was game script proof for Atlanta last year it was really impressive highest success rate ever for a running back of 250 plus carries. He was solid. And, I mean, he closed out the year. So Michael Pennex played the last three games. 16, 17, and 18 where Bijan was running back 8, 5, and 2.

Now two of those three teams, you had the New York Giants and you had the Carolina Panthers. And one of those teams was Washington. So RB5 against Washington, playoff team. The other two teams that you're like, we should beat the crap out of this team. But it's just, you know, it's nice to see, they really, really turned to Bijon at the end. In that three game sample with Michael Pennex,

very small, but we love to extrapolate those out. Yeah, we do. You wanna hear what the- Oh, we got a fun one? We extrapolate those out. Yeah, we do. You want to hear what the... Oh, we got a fun one? We got a fun one. Well, we got a nice 69 targets, so that passing volume was still there. I wish that was higher. You wish it was higher, but it couldn't be because he was on pace for 380 carries, 2006 rushing yards, and 34 touchdowns on the ground. Bishan is strange to me because a great player, incredible fantasy football player, but you got for this this fantasy sandwich

here we got Saquon at the top and then we got Jameer Gibbs next it's like Bishan's not nearly as exciting as those. No he's not. You just want the big breakaway touchdown runs and Bijan has not had those yet. I won't flash. He still can. He flashes on every single play but he just doesn't have that 70 yarder breakaway. I think that those are not predictable but still can happen for him and I think will happen. I call him the predictable with Jameer Gibbs. Well sure. I think we've seen enough Bijon to know that that's not gonna be the major It's not a part of his game, but he's you know he's only had two seasons in the league so far

He's looked great on pretty much every carry, and he was about to peak you know the the best running back Year or age for max peak is 24 years old so he's currently 23.8 years old I believe no 20 only he only ran for 10 or more yards on 11 of 121 carries That was the fifth worst number in football. Yeah, he doesn't so, you know doesn't get those He just keeps gouging you what's what's amazing is his teammate Tyler Algier? Fourth best on those kind of carries percentage wise-wise, of his carries. He doesn't get as many carries. What do you mean? The defenders are relaxing.

Yeah, there ain't no way they're giving this one to Algier. Oh, they did it again. Yeah, so, you know, number one, Sequon, number two, Bijon so far, and we'll take a break. We'll jump into the rest of the rankings. ["Song of the Night"] Jameer Gibbs comes in at number three. Mike, you have him up at number two. I've got thoughts on Gibbs. One of the fun facts I looked up, number one in EPA per play out of all running backs.

That makes sense. So if you're not familiar with that stat that is expected points added per play, it's a metric that quantifies how much a team's performance on a play changes when you give somebody an opportunity. That is almost double the number of Saquon. He was by far number one in the NFL. We all know what the talent and ability of Jameer Gibbs is, but I, when I got in here and I looked at these names, there's not that many names in the top running backs that I feel amazingly 100% confident about.

There aren't. But Gibbs is one, correct or not? I'm still, no. You're not, you. It's Saquon and. Bijan? Bijan, and I think to some degree, Derek Henry. Chris McAfee?

No, no, because I still, I mean, Chris McAfee, sure, he could, he could be, but you're nervous about it. That team has been dismantled. You're figuring out the quarterback. You have different offensive pieces. He's been hurt. I'm just saying from a, like, I love Jameer Gibbs, but I do not expect one

Bit that this team tries to philosophically change with David Montgomery No, they don't and if you look at the last four so David Montgomery got injured in week 15 So 15 through 18 that last month of the season Gibbs was nuclear in half PPR He's scoring 30 fantasy points a week. Prior to that, he was fantastic. You know, no one was complaining about having him, but he wasn't that elite.

He wasn't number three overall. Right, he wasn't the, I mean, 16.9 fantasy points per game. That's pretty nice, but it's not 29 point something else. Like, when David Montgomery was there It's it's sad and frustrating How greedy we are watching those two players and being like I want more they're doing awesome things but I I do see your point Andy of like He's not going to be what we saw at the end of the year when Monty is there the Lions are not going away from David

Montgomery, he's still I, he's still talent wise, you know, I think if he had the amount of opportunities that we expect Bichon to get, I would have Gibbs ranked higher. Yeah, me too. Like Gibbs, I think, is a better fantasy football running back than Bichon if opportunities were equal. You're saying so per touch he's the better. I mean, literally, he's number one in expected, or EPA per play. So it's like, it's just not, I don't have the confidence that he's going to get the opportunities that guarantee him number three, as opposed to six or seven. One of the funniest stats that I didn't even realize, you know, you could track was scoring the first touchdown in a game

Derek Henry scored the first touchdown in a game seven times this year, right? No number two was it's gotta be David Montgomery Montgomery started every game six times this year He was the first touchdown scored in the entire game even with David Montgomery and everything that's there because I don't disagree I don't think this is Gibbs. And by the way, we all have him ranked two or three. So this is not a full Gibbs takeover. But I'm also factoring in, over the last three years

for the Detroit Lions, Jared Goff's yardage, it's gone up. But it's like three years ago, he's at 4,440 yards. Last year, almost 4,600. This year, just over 4,600. But those first two that I was quoting, he was throwing touchdowns at a 5% rate. He jumped up to almost 7% this past year. I expect that to come back down to around 5 or the mid-5.

Yeah, but I don't think that just switches over to running to rushing touchdowns. I think that the total amount of touchdowns that the Lions had this year, which was the number one in the league, that number will come down. So I don't expect it to just go, well, he's going to throw fewer, so they're going to rush for more.

They're losing Ben Johnson as the offensive coordinator. They lost their secondary offensive coach as well. So do you think they, does the identity of the team change at all? Like is Jared Goff throwing for 4,500 yards again? Or are we getting, are we going higher T? I think they're gonna try to run back how they have been playing the last few years. They did bring, their new offensive coordinator

was with the Detroit Lions three years ago. So I think they're wanting to keep it intact. But yeah, it's really just a matter of how many opportunities is Jameer Gibbs going to get when David Montgomery is healthy. If you look at last year, he got 16.9 opportunities. I talked about that's how many points. Both numbers are accurate.

16.9 opportunities per game with David Montgomery, 23.3 without him. A couple things there. You pointed out, or we talked about 19.2 was it or 19.9 opportunities per game is the average for a top 15 running back. So obviously he's hyper efficient. It was also interesting talking about Bijon.

They won eight games last year just above that seven threshold that only 8% of running backs fit. Number four is Christian McCaffrey. You guys have him at four. I got him at five. I think that's a little bit higher than where people are putting him now, but I think later it will change if he is on the field at training camp and looks perfectly fine. What are the positives and negatives of CMC, Jason?

I mean, the positives are he's the most valuable fantasy asset over the last decade when he is out on the field. He is two positions in one. He will fill as much in the receiving game as a good fantasy wide receiver and as much in the running game as a good fantasy running back. So it's just if he's healthy, he's the dude. He hasn't aged out.

He's 28.8 years old. He's got some fresh legs at the moment. Honestly, when- Well, they're not tired. Yeah, when I- You might be hurt. When I was going through my rankings, it was like, this is where I would take him.

If those three guys are gone, I'm so excited for those three. I put Gibbs in the excitement for me. Then there's question marks for everyone. Christian McCaffrey is going to be the same conversation we had last year. Like if he's on the field, he's great. He's worthy of being the number one running back. They still have a lot of money invested in him. This is a team that odds to go to the Super Bowl, still really surprisingly high. I don't see it that way, but this is a team whose

expectations is to be good. Well the team that has higher odds to make the Super Bowl that I don't want to make the same mistake on is who I have ranked higher than him and he's our next name on the list, Derek Henry. Derek Henry was the running back to last year, insanely consistent, 347 opportunities, 325 carries. I feel like that is the layup that people didn't want to take last year. The way that we, that some people messed up the Saquon and the, and the Derek Henry moving team situation and didn't trust the player, didn't trust the

Superbowl winning, you Bowl winning structure around them. I'm not making that mistake again here. I feel really good about Derrick Henry. So I have him a spot higher and I just feel like it's not as sexy of a pick, but it's the right pick. Yeah, I mean, right now looking at sleeper ADP, Derrick Henry is fourth running back taker.

So he's where you've got him. Christian McCaffrey's actually the eighth. Yeah, people are really scared. I don't blame anyone for being scared, and I don't blame anyone for just saying I'm out. Like, I don't want to hold the bag again, especially if you had the experience last year. I have, as of this moment, my decision is I'm in.

I want to play for the win, and if he, you know, he's done this before, where he's been injured and lost a season and then He just comes back and is awesome Derek Henry and wins 22 fantasy points a game and losses 12.8 That has been the story of his career where he's 19.2 and every win and 9.8 and losses Baltimore is currently tied with the second highest odds of Making the Super Bowl just behind Philly tied with the Chiefs and Buffalo

Henry is They're just gonna reroll this. Yeah one more year Baltimore He like I said, he scored the first touchdown more than anybody in football He does feel like the easy layup who you don't see him as the running back one. Yeah, that's the issue. You don't see him as this game script proof, you know. Correct. Bijon versus Derrick Henry, you're much more excited and comfortable to have Bijon, but man, Derrick Henry,

I don't know how it goes wrong. Right, and so that's why he's in the category to me with Bijon and with Saquon. Now Al chimed in real quick in our chat, so I'm going to go to him. You said, quote, there is no way I would draft CMC with an early pick this year. Correct. Can you tell me why? Because I think this is important.

It might be indicative of why his sleeper ADP is where it's at, but why wouldn't you take it? Just injury risk. I'm not playing that game again. I've been burned too many times. The loss of McCavrey is the worst possible feeling you could have. Yeah, lighting your 101 on fire.

Speaking of lighting, the lighting inducer's alley is obviously not good, because if it was better, you could see how yellow you are, Jeremy. Little Brock Bowers. Yeah. You chicken. You could say I told you so at the end of the season. Howard, OK. What's interesting about Derek specifically Derek Henry and Chris McCaffrey is?

If you said Derek Henry is the RB one at the end of 25 I would be very surprised to go to number one like top five easy top three Yeah, I get it, but number one where that just that would surprise me If you say Christian McCaffrey is the number one running back in the year, I will have no surprise from that. But then on the inverse is, if you tell me that Christian McCaffrey screwed everybody again because an injury was not fully reported, I go, oh yeah, that makes sense. So it's this weird all, it feels like an all or nothing.

Well I think what happens, let me ask you this because I know we got to get through 15 names. So, but I want to stay here with the McCaffrey question of, I think they'll draft somebody that you like at running back right now in the college game. Yeah. I think they're going to do that. I do too. And I think that, I think that it's in their interest at McCaffrey's age coming off of multiple little issues, right? We came into the draft last year and everyone literally said, we're not worried about the camp injury,

we'll just do it because we don't want to be caught without McCaffrey on our team as the number one overall back, and it burnt us. If they draft that other player, it's in their interest to not use McCaffrey to the same volume as they did in the past. Maybe yeah, and perhaps they will do that, but they've always had competent backups. It hasn't been, and they still chose to utilize Christian McCaffrey how they have. And in fact, it might have cost them a season of Christian McCaffrey. It could have, but also if they draft a running back, we'll see where they draft them. If it's day one or day two, great. If it's day three, that's gonna be less worrisome.

But I think it's more about their future if they draft a running back than it is about giving Christian McCaffrey less work. What a crazy five year stretch for McCaffrey because just, I mean, it's three just, I mean it's three games played, then it's seven games played, then 17, 16, and now four games played. Honestly, it should be a seven year stretch

because he was, if you go back after his rookie season, he's the running back three, the running back one, injured the next year, injured the next year, then he's back healthy. The running back two, the running back one, injured the next year, and that was last year. So it's like, if he plays, he's great. Yeah. Where I'm on with the drafting of a backup is I don't think they'll spend a day two on it. The situation is strange. You had

Jordan Mason who at least at the beginning of the year was like this is a very competent player for you. In that run, I think he was leading, talking about Jordan Mason, was leading the league in rushing yards. He didn't turn into that, the pass catching didn't get there, like you had hoped or the team had hoped. But they could have had him very cheap.

Then instead they took that late pick. I don't remember what the pick was from Minnesota. But it was like, why not just keep Jordan Mason if you're in it, if they're going to draft someone, I mean, that would say they're concerned about Garendo, who they took in the third round, who was like, he at least flashed on the field. I don't know if they look at what he put on the field

and say, that's good running back play, because we like exciting plays, but sometimes that's not what a coach is looking for. At six is Devon Achan. Some variety in our rankings here. I'm at six. Jason at nine. Mike, you're at six with me.

Nervous here. The fun fact, I looked up on Achan. No one in the NFL targeted more on early downs than Devon Achan. 70 targets ahead of Kamara, Bijon, Brees. So 70 targets, early downs, weird offense, everything changed for Miami, passing game, it's elite for Devon Aitchin but... Is Tua healthy? Yeah. How many games? I mean I think the way they're running this offense, 17.

I mean, the way they're running this offense, Tua will stay upright. Yeah, I mean, that's one of the reasons I've got him lower is just because you've got the variability of health issues here. Devon Aitchin himself has dealt with injuries, his rookie season, he was injured a lot. But there's the Tua factor.

Like if Tua goes down, you had six games without without Tua and you had a player who with Tua had 19 and a half fantasy points per game without Tua was 7.7 you stack the box you don't worry that doesn't work for Tavon Ahan the targets went from six and a half targets per game to 2.2 without Tua. You don't have confidence in Zach Wilson back there? I don't. That would be one of the things is they were so inept at quarterback after A-chan, or sorry, after Tua got hurt. A-chan's gonna be one of those, let's see what happens at the draft.

Yep. I had people coming out after we talked about Jalen Wright being a swing and a miss, very upset that we didn't give them more time to develop. Huh? They won't remember who that is at the end of this year. So at number seven we have Kyron Williams. I've got him at 10.

I didn't know this was controversial. Didn't know you hated him for all that spicy. I didn't hate him because Sleeper has him at RB12. Yeah, I know. I know, it's funny. The world hates him. Let me tell you the reason why. Oh God, is he returning puns again? No, no, no,. I know it's funny. The world hates him. Let me tell you the reason why. Oh, God, is he returning punts again?

No, no, no, but I deserve that. Here's the reason why. J.K. Dobbins averaged more receiving yards per game than Kyron. I read that, and I had to go make sure I wasn't reading a lie. He averaged 11 receiving yards a game. That's a third worst of 34 qualified running backs. But he's a red zone monster. He was the number one in touches inside the red zone, 4.7.

All running backs considered, he got more touches per game inside the red zone than anybody else. But I'm just pointing out when players don't catch the football, which Kyron doesn't, that's almost nothing, right? 11.4 per game, you're at the bottom of the list. You're below J.K. Dobbins,

who we know doesn't catch the football. Well, and reminder, the average of a top 15, they're averaging 47 catches. Right, right. So I mean, it's just, he's not, he's a red zone monster, but his efficiency in the receiving game stuff hasn't been there.

It wasn't there this past season, I would agree. The year prior, he only played 12 games. So the numbers, while they're seemingly about the same both years, on a per game basis, they were much better. He was on pace for 45 receptions, 300 receiving yards. That's fine to add in. So we know he's got the ability to do it Obviously that it's kind of like say Kwan right say Kwan didn't catch the ball much last year wasn't involved in the in the passing game And it worked for him say Kwan clearly is a great pass catching running back. It's kind of how I feel about Kyron Williams

I don't worry that he can't be utilized when needed in that capacity He's not game scripted out. I don't feel like they're bringing someone else in to be like, hey, if we've gotta throw this ball a lot, Kyron, you're off the field. Well, we should be honest about how they've decided to run the offense, because you have an entire year of it. There are multiple games he played an entire game and got no targets.

Sure. How did he do it for fantasy football in those games? Well, he had a good year. I'm not discounting his year at all. We're talking receiving work. I'm just not leaning on two years ago to tell me it's prescriptive for him getting more work when you got 17 games this year where you didn't

get that kind of work. He is, like this is for one of these players, like that's how it can go wrong. Like for Kyren, you know, he is more susceptible to, you just shave off three touchdowns here. And you're outside the top 10. Yeah, and now you're, it's not terrible. I mean, especially where he's going at his ADP,

but it would be terrible for our current projection. 44th in explosive run rate. So just 1.9% of carries. 45th in fumbles, 34th and yards per carry so yeah if you don't have back stop is all I mean with cut yes he's been amazing we need a contract but there's no there's no compensation for a lack of touchdowns if it were to happen yeah that's what I was I was looking this morning just if for any update on the contract information. He's won around 14, 15 mill a year.

He's not gonna get that. So the nice thing is it's Drew Rosenhouse. So he will get paid. Might be short a turn deal though. Sure, I don't care. Just pay the man and give him a bunch of opportunities. And I still like Blake Coram, so you don't know how that involvement will change,

but he's ranked seven for a reason. He finished at six last year, he deserves deserves it ADP 12 in the fourth round so currently I'm in we'll take a break we got more names at number eight in our early running back rankings we've got Bucky Irving I hate this you You do. We are, we're, I feel like we're giving him proper respect. Like I honestly do. At eight. At eight.

And you hate that. And I hate that ADP, this is Sleeper, ADP is two spots ahead of where we have him. He was. And that feels like. Feels like we don't like him. Yeah, it feels like that and then it's gonna, like we're gonna create this margin of error

for Bucky Irving that's impossible to hit. He's 22 years old. Stability on the offense is there. His explosiveness is outrageous. He averaged 2.7 yards after contact per carry. So remember Saquon was number one in yards before contact. Bucky was number one out of 44 running backs in yards after contact per carry.

You've got margin and room for the offensive line to make improvements. Big plays from week 10 on, he was the RB seven. That might speak to your point, Mike, about he doesn't have a lot of room for error here. Right, like. But can Bucky Irving, could Bucky Irving finish as the RB2 or 3? I think he could.

I do think that's in the range of outcomes for Bucky Irving. I think he could be that good. I think he is talented enough. I don't think that's in his range of realistic outcomes, because you got Rashad Dick White there. Right. He's not going away. That hit kind of hard. That's on you, dude.

You made his name. I don't think I ever said it quite like that. No, no you didn't. I never said it as a sentence, like with Dick in the middle. Yeah. And you've also got Sean Tucker, who they like and they utilize. So Bucky is the primary back here. They love Bucky Irving. I think he's gonna get the majority. Oh, and they've come out and said, like, that's our guy.

Yes, he's going to get the majority of the work, but he's not gonna get all of the work. He's not built for that, and they have two other quality backs on the roster right now. So I love Bucky, but he doesn't, you know, I just don't know if the workload is guaranteed there the way it is for some of the players around him. I think it's pretty guaranteed.

I think he's got 275 on the ground. You think he's got 275 carries on the ground? Yeah, I would bet you that he will have 275 carries sans injury. I think I would take that bet. Yeah, well, we can do it. All right, let's do it. ["Water Bet. Waterbat.

Just for some additional context here, after the bye week, so they were talking weeks 12 through 18, that seven games played, he would have been on a pace of 270 attempts. But that also includes week 14, where he carried the ball four times. But that's because, was it the week before that? Was that the mummy game? That also includes week 14 where he carried the ball four times. But that's because, was it the week before that?

Was that the mummy game? It might have been. Week 13, how many carries did he have? 25. Yeah, he was used and abused in that game. He was so good. And mind you, in those games, 12, 11, 17, and 15, those are carry counts for Rashad White in some of those games.

Yeah, let's stop doing that. I think it's for Rashad White in some of those games. So. Yeah, let's stop doing that. I think it's gonna work out really well for Bucky Irving. I know we wanna. I do too, but I don't like that ADP. I know we wanna pull back, but the reason it's there is because there aren't, to me, a lot of names that I know

are gonna bring me a guarantee, and I think Bucky's in that category. His talent is unquestionable from what he put on film last year. You can't even question it. No, go ahead, try. See? I just tried and it wouldn't let me.

Jonathan Taylor at number nine. Jason's the highest with him at seven. I'm at nine, Mike at 10. He's at nine in ADP. We know how talented he is. He's only 26 years old still. He had a great monster sized end of the year. I mean we're talking 29 carries, 32 carries, 34 carries. They basically said we got nothing else we can do. Yeah, and he was so good. He was so good. You realize his last five games. He would have been on a season-long pace of 2458 rushing yards. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's a you've got questions at quarterback, right?

You don't know if his Jones or Richardson neither sound great Daniel Jones was not a boon for Saquon in New York You've got some weird outlier stat numbers here among 46 qualified running backs with 100 plus carries 42nd out of 46 enforced miss tackle rate, 44th in yards after contact per attempt, and then he was actually stuffed the most of any running back in football on third and short, including more than Ramandre. And he fumbled four times, which is a bit of an issue. So he's also become less relevant as a pass catcher as the years have gone by, the last two years it's gone down.

So those would be the warts. Anthony Richardson gets scary from a passing volume to. From a target volume and from a winning games perspective. Sure, both. From an accurate target perspective. I think the thing you love about Jonathan Taylor is that he, in and of himself, is obviously super talented. He's been the running back one for fantasy in the past,

and he projects to get the vast majority of the work in the backfield. So that's why I've got him ahead of Bucky. I would rather have the big bodied back who's going to get all of his team's carries than a maybe maybe just as talented back in Bucky Irving who's 195 pounds and has two other capable backs on the roster. That's you said backs a lot. That was three. You got a triple back. Josh Jacob. He caught 58% of his targets. Yeah. You catching Anthony Richardson. I dare you. I dare you to. I'm not putting this on Jonathan Taylor who as a rookie caught

36 of 39 targets. I'm saying Jeez Louise, man. It's the it's like the easiest throw on the football field. He's right there You got to get Anthony Richardson. He's right in front of you. Learning how to do the underhand throw Yeah, you know what I mean? Like just like oh like the Rick Barry or the NFL what exactly just a granny throw just just just toss it to him Eric toss it forward no quarterback has ever switched to a Rick Barry style throw yet yet but hey you want to save your career it's to underhand that granny style load it yeah yeah all right Josh Jacobs Jason and I have him at 8. Mike wanted

to take a dump on him and put him at 13. That's right. Hate. He broke the second most tackles in the NFL, which was two short of Derrick Henry. And those two guys were in a completely other tier, almost 15 more than James Connor, who's in third place. So he arrived in Green Bay and delivered everything a running back should deliver. So everything that they signed him for, everything that you hoped you were getting if you're a Green Bay, 14 rushing touchdowns inside the 10, workhorse. He was the real consistency on the offense. The wide receivers, they couldn't figure themselves out for fantasy.

You couldn't trust Jordan Love last year. You didn't even, I mean, you got a little whiff of tight end performance for fantasy in Green Bay, but it was Jacobs. Yeah. Now, are you concerned about the every other year history of Josh Jacobs? He's a real red light, green light situation. If his green, if his red lights are RB 14 or 18, it's not the end of the world for a guy. At RB seven? I mean, it is not good. That's not great.

It's not good, but I mean. Do you know how many running backs the Packers have brought in for top 30 visits? Mike, do you know you've been on this? I would love to know. Off the top of my head I don't. Zero, it is zero. Yeah, you've got other problems on that team.

Go fix those. Also, those green light, red light performances, he had a couple years there that were 13 games out of 17 games played, or 15 out of 17. So his fantasy finish, maybe a little bit deceptive there. Always a shortened season is what I'm saying for his bad performances. We know what you're getting with Josh Jacobs.

You want two of the least sexy picks. Just take Henry and Jacobs and win your league. Yeah, no, I think that those will be good. Henry is being drafted that way though. Yeah. Well, Jacobs is at RB7. You won't get both. All right, Chase.

Yeah, my reasoning for being lower lower, once the stats are in, I'm guessing Josh Jacobs won't be as low as 13 for me. But it's a regression of touchdowns. And not just because, oh, he scored so many of them. The Green Bay Packers went from 24% of their touchdowns in 2023 to 45% of their touchdowns in 2023 to 45% of their touchdowns came on the ground. Like this was a huge swing. This has like we've seen how this coaching staff has handled it before and it's there they tend to be

on the higher side of passing touchdowns so I'm just I'm gonna I'd be on the side betting that that will regress. That doesn't mean Jacobs is a bad pick, but I think that it'll be, it'll swing back to more passing touchdowns than what we had last year. 11 is Chase Brown. We talked about him at the beginning. It will change dramatically

if the Bengals take a running back. It's not a guarantee that they will. He was the RB5 from week nine on. You have an offense, you have a tremendous amount of confidence in. They're gonna score so many points. So many points and Chase Brown is very good. He's very versatile.

He can catch the football. He can be a target for Joe Burrow. We're just on rookie watch right now, I think. I think he played enough games for us all to say, hey, that's a good player. Yeah, if they don't draft a rookie, he will be be very very high. Will he move up in your rankings? You think um he might right now. I've got him an 11. I mean, that's that's an RB one Perhaps when we stat him out post the NFL draft. He'll he'll be higher

But as of now that's probably where I really only see him his his ability to fall. Like if they draft a rookie, he could tumble. I feel like some of the outlook on Chase Brown might be similar to how we were with Kyron Williams after he kind of broke out. Sure. Where it was like, okay, do we have that confidence going into year two? It's very similar because Chase Brown's a day three guy, just like Kyron Williams was where you're like, okay, is he gonna hold onto that starter spot? I think the difference is Kiron Williams, college tape.

Like I remember, we loved Kiron Williams. Yes, we did. We thought, he was unbelievable in college and then he just tumbled in the draft and then had a back seat. I don't remember ever feeling like Chase Brown was some amazing prospect that just was there. No, but I mean on the field last year he was amazing.

Yeah, yeah he was. I think what happened with Kyron is the draft capital made us doubt him going into year two that the team would be committed. Now Kyle gave us his number if a team used his two plus top 30 visits on running backs, which the Bengals have done. 71% of the time over the last decade they take a running back in the first four rounds. So if you want to get out in dynasty on Chase Brown on that number, this is your moment. I would definitely be, if I had Chase Brown, I would be shopping around to see if I could get a big trade for him.

Because if you can maximize on his current perceived workhorse value, you might not be able to in every league, but if you can, great. Because even if he's great, whatever, your trade compensation should be great, but he has the ability to really go poof. 50-50 shot in the first three rounds that that team takes a running back. James Cook comes in at 12 on our rankings.

We've all got him similarly ranked. He's RB 13 on sleeper. One thing that I found interesting about James Cook, he was the single worst fourth quarter runner in EPA per play in the entire NFL. Tuckered out. So you better get him early because he was the number one first down running back in EPA per play. So when they're in that part of the game that they love running the football, he wasn't great in the fourth quarter. They had a lot of games put away. They used other players, but you know, 16 rushing touchdowns.

Yeah. Didn't get extended his offseason. He is nerve-racking. Yeah, I mean, the work went down, you know, targets went down. Rushing attempts, rushing yards. I mean, his yards for attempt was actually slightly up, but his attempts is down. But you go from two touchdowns on the ground to 16. This, he, I loved James Cook going into last year. He was a my guy.

He was a my guy. And he fully feels like a touchdown variance just bounced in the correct direction to totally bail that out. Because 200 carries for 1,000 with 32 receptions for 250 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground? You're like, man, James Cook really let me down.

Because he had 16 rushing touchdowns and he's in the RB8. It's crazy. It's the exact inverse of who he was this entire career. Yes. The only thing that you could be confident in is he's not going to get rushing touchdowns. And then 16 rushing touchdowns ties OJ Simpson's record. It's a wildly efficient season, a very good season. If you had him, you were happy.

I agree completely, he's scary. He's not a bell cow workload situation. He's a talented player. I think they're content using multiple backs. They 100% are. At 13 is Joe Mixon. Mike has him down at 19. I'm at 11 on the other end of the spectrum.

Yeah, that's for getting out of here, Joe. This was the number one running back in all of fantasy for the first 11 weeks of the season. Yeah, he looked real good. I mean, he also was right behind Kyron in touches per game in the red zone. So he averaged 4.2 chances to score inside the red zone per game, which is awesome.

to score inside the red zone per game, which is awesome. The Houston offense, it disintegrated down the stretch. It's a little bit tough because we've looked at CJ Stroud and we've kind of like said, what happened? But I feel like it's been kind of in front of our face when you have injuries to Diggs, Collins and Dell. Those hurt your offense. And so your opportunities per game in the red zone for Joe Mixon, which is where he was making

his hay, those went away. He is older. So I think the quick- He'll be playing at the age of 29. I just think that the default reaction is going to be, okay, he started hot, got old, and then died off. And I think it's more nuanced than that with how the offense lost other pieces. He was hurt multiple times, dealing with a high ankle sprain. To me, this is like Josh Jacobs light

in the sense that the team, the Packers and the Texans both have their running back situation figured out. They did it last off season, they paid them. Nothing's changing. Joe Mixon's still under contract for two more years. He is their primary guy and will receive a massive workload for what could be a very good offense.

I am much, much more in the camp that Joe Mixon's gonna be very good for fantasy. He's a found pick right now. That is delightful. Yeah, I like that. My big worry is simply that this was a bad offensive line that seemed like what they did is they got all their bad offensive linemen together and then they said,

you're all fired, which I get that, because you guys sucked, but they didn't have anyone else to. And then they said, hey, the good one, we're gonna trade you to Washington. You're gone so I'm like really scared about this offensive line situation. It's yeah it seems like it can't get much worse so you'd hope they spin on draft day we'll be watching that. Kenneth Walker comes in at 14 Mike's got him at 12 I'm at 16 this this is the weirdest dude. He's very strange it is. I'm looking up Kenneth Walker 12, I'm at 16. This is the weirdest dude. He's very strange, it is.

I'm looking up Kenneth Walker numbers and I'm not looking for bad. I'm just looking for truth. They're there though. And his 4.4 yards from scrimmage per touch was six worse in the NFL. His 3.9 a carry versus just base defenses, worst runner in the league against base defenses. 3.2 yards per carry in the first half last year, so if the team's

throwing in the second half, in the first half he did nothing. And he did involve himself in the passing game. He's capable. He got 46 passes in... The numbers in the eyeballs don't match up for Kenneth Walker to me because I feel like he's the same twitchy, elite talent in the backfield but he did get really inefficient last year. And now you got a new offensive coordinator who you think's gonna emphasize the run,

now you hope he's out there, he's injury prone. This range of outcomes for Kenneth Walker freaks me out. Mike, talk me into it. It's hard to talk you into him because I am aware, like I said, we're doing vibes checks. These are not our UDK stat projections for these guys where we just, the numbers do the talking for us, even if it can be upsetting.

And I am well aware that my love of Kenneth Walker and my disdain for Joe Mixon, it is about as terrible as you can go, it's just not, it's disingenuous of every argument I make against Joe Mixon. You could just judo throw that thing right back at me and be like, well that's Ken Walker. And I'll be like, yeah, but it's not. Yeah, because I like Ken Walker.

So it's hard, it's what you're saying, Andy, of watching Ken Walker play, you're like, this is an exciting guy. And it's hard to see it. It's hard to see it bounce the right way, but he's the type of player to me that if it bounced right, Kenneth Walker's a top five fantasy running back

at the end of the year. Do you agree that this is kind of a defining year for him for our expectations and for his career? Because it feels like we could say, okay, he's not what we thought he was if this year doesn't go well. Yeah, I think that's a very fair, and it's contract year. So this is everything for him.

He needs to play his way into more money. And what's wild about Ken Walker, because over the course of his career, if you've had him, I think it's been more good than not, where year one it took some time for him to take over, but then he did. And he really, really helped your team win. And the next year it felt disappointing, and except points per game rookie year and sophomore year were about the same.

And then he had more points per game this past year, and you're like, dude, you're killing me. Well, in a different way too, like being more effective in the passing game. Like, it's gonna be a very interesting year for Ken Walker. I'm happy this guy is our number 15 and made it into the list here. Chuba Hubbard sneaks in at 15. He's got some really weird receiving numbers that I thought I'd throw out there.

His 3.2 yards per target is the worst in the league over the last two years. And his 4.9 yards per reception was worst in the league over the last two years and his 4.9 yards per reception was Worst in the league over the last two years. So To me, I've now pictured a man that catches the football and falls to the ground the truth of Chuba is that he is a just a fantastic interior you know bone of five between the tackles running back. And he gets touches in the red zone.

He's a workload guy. I don't think we believed any of these things about him when he was the backup for Christian McCaffrey. I don't think we believed he could evolve into this kind of a player that got a big contract that could deliver big numbers from weeks three to 16. He was the RB7, so he is not going to be drafted highly, period, for fantasy.

He will not be drafted where he could finish. I agree with that. I'm glad we're giving him the respect that he has earned. I do worry a little bit about the workload. He was such a massive workload guy that if that took a hit, that could be really problematic. This is a team who has brought in three running backs on top 30 visits.

So they are, you know, you said 50-50 chance of a top three pick for a team that brought in two. They've brought in three, and I don't know that they know about the future of Jonathan Brooks. That would be the, that's what's so painful about that decision is you've got, you paid Schuba, Jonathan Brooks you just spent a high pick on. Yeah, but I think that-

And then they let go of Miles Sanders. I think that for them- They brought in Rico Daddle, I'll say it. Brought in Rico Daddle, no they did. Yeah. Thousand yard rusher. Yeah, so you- If they were to draft, you know, an RJ Harvey

or something in the fourth round, I could see him coming in and getting a not, not, not work where Chuba is not the primary lead back, but you know, they need to not give him 350 opportunities. There will, there's no way they won't take a player that makes you worried about Chuba because everything about Chuba's career is always, it shouldn't work. That's the last two years, nothing about Chuba Hubbard's situation, bad team, right? We just looked at numbers. You're supposed to play for a good team to produce for fantasy.

Yep. They draft Jonathan Brooks. There goes Chuba, not valuable. Then he gets a bunch of money at the end of the year. So they'll probably draft somebody you love. This is the time that I want to respect Chuba Not draft season, you know what I mean when draft season rolls around y'all can have them. Yeah. All right So there's our top 15. We also I wanted to give you a quick opportunity To name a player that we didn't mention that you still think could finish in that top 15

David Montgomery will be a top 15 running back on a points per game basis. Nice. Nice finish to the sentence. You said quick. Yeah, but do you believe he could finish as a top 15? I think he will finish as a top 15 running back, yeah. Okay. And then I'm going to go with Breece Hall to shine a small light of joy in Breece Hall's time on the show. That's not a phrase. Second most running back receptions in football since 2023. Currently being drafted at running back 10.

Yeah, I see it. I see it being okay. I see it being okay. Oh yeah, that's certainly good. He's RB 10 and he's not in there. You won't draft him. He's not in our top 15. I still might draft him. He's not in our top 15. No, he's not in our top 15. I think that's just because he finished as the running back 17th last year and wasn't good.

For what it's worth, he's that 18 in our list behind Kamara and Connor right now. James Connor is the guy I would highlight. Jason ranked him 57th. So that's why he didn't average out. James Connor is. That's your name? Of the group of the old guys where they're

kind of dead zone running backs. James Connor is someone who I will, I can't see a way right now where I abandoned James Connor and be like, this guy, he should just be an incredible value pick yet again. Yeah, yeah, I mean, he is very, very important to the team. He is the running back room. Trey Benson did not step up.

I can't have, I don't think that they'll spend draft capital on another running back. I think they like Trey based on what I hear Kyler talk about. Right, and they'll just, they'll try to work him in, but the Cardinals will be a team that, they'll be in that win threshold. They'll be right around seven to nine, like, you know, I'll give them eight, whatever,

eight wins or so. They'll find a way to get that. And then James Connor will just beat this workhorse yet again. All right, on Thursday, we're going to go through our early top 15 wide receiver rankings. And so you can look forward to that. If you have them in it and you want to help the show out, we always appreciate a follow on your podcast app or a subscribe button over on YouTube. You can watch the show

over there and you can find us on socials on X at the FF Ballers on Instagram at Instagram.com slash fantasy footballers and of course the UDK is available for pre-order ultimate draft kit.com. That is it for today. We'll catch you on Thursday. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join the foot.com and follow us on Twitter at The FF Ballers.