Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Early Top 15 RB Rankings + Pre-Draft Vibes - Fantasy Football Podcast for 4/14

Episode Date: April 14, 2026

Fantasy Football show for Apr 14, 2026. Early running back rankings! Find out who will be undervalued in fantasy football drafts, and who could be impacted by the NFL Draft! Plus, the latest NFL News with the draft just 9 days away! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. Get the lowest price on the 2026 UDK at UltimateDraftKit.com - Instant access to the Dynasty Pass with the UDK+ Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Tuesday, April 14th. Welcome into the fantasy footballers. Mike Wright is here. Jason Moore. Accounted for. I'm Andy Holloway.

Welcome in, one and all. Great show for you today. It's never too early for the early top 15 running backs. Not when you call them early. No, we have prefaced it. These are the early top 15 running back rankings episode. I guess we have running backs today wide receivers on Thursday. So getting into early rankings.

These early rankings are really about the heart. You know what I mean? Because like when our fully established rankings come out when, you know, at June 1st, the ultimate draft kit, we've statted everybody out. This is like, this is more vibes. You know what I mean? I'm like, I like this guy more. I don't have him statted out yet, and I'm not sure 100% that like,

that's how the chips are going to fall. But if you made me draft today, I'd probably draft this guy. Yeah, exactly. So we're going to go through our top 15 by consensus. So we have some differences of opinion and they get averaged out here. So that's the main event today. We got some news to talk about as well. A reminder, you can watch.

the show over on YouTube. YouTube.com slash the fantasy footballer subscribe, click the bell. We do some live events over there. That way you know what's going on. We have a magic wall. And we have a magic wall. That's what we should just call it. We do.

We have a magic wall. If at any moment... Magic Mike's wall. If we want to just be in the middle of the Caribbean... No. It's just... It's good for search engine stuff, Jay. Okay.

He wants the naming rights. on the wall? He wants it to be Magic. Magic mics. I think you're going to get different results. You know what I mean? We're not going to crack that way. I'm just trying to get a new audience.

All right. YouTube for the magic wall. Mike's Magic. Mike's magical. No, no, no, no. Magic Mike's wall. That's what it is. The draft kit is ultimate draft kit.com. If you want to go pre-order it, it is the best possible price right now. You will get instant access to the Dynasty Pass if you pick up the ultimate draft

kit and you know we're almost to the draft we're 10 days away which is crazy and we're rapidly approaching crazy season and we're even still being surprised at times

that's what I mean we're we're in it where you're a group think in and just like in fantasy football when you get in the tops like some group think does start to take over and NFL mock drafts it's hard to not have, you know,

let me peek at my friend's paper and see how they're doing things over there. But we just had Daniel Jeremiah, who's great at his job. I love Daniel Jeremiah. Always how you like to start a conversation about somebody? Because Papa Josh, he's graded his job,

but. No, we don't ever see that. Oh, okay, good point. Like, Papa Josh is a guy. That's the, and then you go from there. Okay. But he had Jeremiah love, not only falling in the top 10, which I do believe that that could happen.

That could happen, sure. But the team... But going to the Kansas City Chiefs at 9 after making Ken Bone Walker the fourth highest paid running back, it just is like... Yeah, teams do wild stuff, but that would just be such a use of your assets to make your team better to just lock them all into the running back position. I mean, that really would be the closest thing to the running back version of Michael Pinnock's Jr.

falcons where you spent the offseason spending huge money on somebody. Now you don't normally do that at running back, especially when you look at that team and you're like, well, they could use McCoy and limit. They could use Jordan Tyson. They could use Cornell Tate. One of those guys would be there at nine. Certainly at least one will be there, if not all three.

Yeah, Kenyon and Sadiq. So. Don't put Sadiq to the Chiefs, Jay. Why? Because we can't survive it. I know. All of us who are holding the wall of like, Kenya and Sadiq has some red flags. in his profile.

He is as a prospect you're like, golly, it's really hard not to push up the chips all the way into the middle of the table with what he can do just who he is as an athlete. With Mahomes. But then you put him on the chiefs

and it's like, it'll be Clyde Edwards O'Leary all over again. You'll just, any red flag, you'll split him in half and you'll go right through him and say, what, what problems? He's on the chiefs. That's everything that the draft represents. level of conversation and insanity.

And there will be, it might not be Jeremiah loved of the chiefs, but there will be so kidoki. Oh, we got a magic mic wall. See, we didn't. Oh, goodness gracious. We did not ask for that. This was not. I'm out of here.

See? We've got a new audience coming in. Al comes back from vacation and he's just, thinks he can do anything. Am I wrong that I'm mad at how long? long it took if that was the gag? That was a while. It should be pretty quick. I would think he doesn't have all the protocols down for Mike's

or Magic Mike's wall yet. There's just no reason for any of this stuff happened today. Okay. We got news to talk about we'll do it right now. News and notes from around the league. The Eagles have acquired Jahan Donson. Oh wait, no. No, no. Sorry. This year's

Jehan Dotson. It's Donovan. It's Don't-Tavian Wicks from the Packers. They are ready acquired this year's Jahan Dotson when they picked up Hollywood Brown. Oh, so this could be different. And Elijah Moore who's also on the team. Don't forget. Because I did. One Elijah Moore

plus one Hollywood plus one Duntavian Wix equals one trade at AJ Brown. It feels that way. It definitely feels like this is all preparation for him saying Sayonara. I mean, it was two picks. It was a fifth round and a sixth round or fifth run this year, six run next year.

And they gave him a one year $12.5 million extension, which I don't remember. Kyle, do you remember what the Hollywood Brown contract was? Wix is the best player not named A.J. Brown and Devante Smith in the wide receiver room. But on a team that doesn't throw the ball

with the volume that we're excited for in fantasy combined with, you know, do they take, I mean, they've been rumored to be a home for Tyson or one of these young wide receivers. They will draft one as well. That's what I'm saying.

They're going to draft a wide receiver. A.J. Brown will be a patriot. That's what I believe. Rossini told me. And we don't have any answers, people. We got questions. Yeah, we got the same questions you do. I can tell you.

Did you go like danger field on that? I could tell you boots on the ground. I have been to that resort. Mike has been to that same. He has inside. I went with my wife. To this resort. It is a romantic.

It is a very romantic spot. That's just telling you I've been there. Not saying one way or the other. Oh my gosh. I believe you said that that the spot of that photograph. Yes, was on top of. room. It is a private balcony that all the rooms have. Yeah, and Mike did the research. No answers. No answers. Just, um. Just questions. Hollywood Brown was a one year five million.

Hollywood doesn't matter. So Wix is, or really doesn't matter. Wix could matter a little bit. Yeah. But you have to convince yourself that the number two or three guy on this receiving room, I mean, Dallas got it. Is he still a question mark? I mean he's a question mark because he's never done anything until last year I'm just saying from a past catching standpoint it's just hard for me to believe wicks will be relevant regularly of course but it'll be the what's his ADP like wicks will probably be left into the double-digit rounds of someone who's interesting to take a shot on he's a last round pick guy also the green bay packers implication that one is almost more interesting

because when they so dob's left and it was like oh well wicks might hang on and actually be you know, somewhat relevant on the Packers. So they trade him away. So you have Watson, Reed, and Matthew Golden are your primary wide outs. And as Tucker Kraft comes back from the ACL injury. But it's like, if you're team Golden, just keep, hope they keep shipping these wide receivers out. Yeah, and I think, I think Christian Watson, I mean, before this move, Watson was climbing up my boards as a true like, early, my guy candidate. that is happening, you know, Wicks leaving, it makes it even more of a just, is he going to be healthy?

And if he's healthy, he's probably going to be good. Devon H.N., not close to agreeing on a contract extension so far. That makes sense. It's April. And he just stopped showing up. So don't work on that. Travis Hunter expected to be a full-time cornerback this upcoming season. Oh, man.

Now, let me tell you a little story. Once upon a time, moments before this moments before this news formally broke. There have been speculation that this might be the case. Still, there was talk about Brian Thomas Jr. getting traded. Like, that's still a rumor. So I thought to myself, like, maybe I could get Travis Hunter super cheap. Oh, interesting.

In a dynasty league. Okay. Because of the rumors. And maybe I'm like, this guy's too good of a wide receiver to keep him off the field. anyways, I pulled that trade back. Yeah. As soon as this news broke and I'm very, very happy that I did. Yeah.

It would have been, it would have been a problem. It is a very interesting question in Dynasty. What do you do if you have Travis Hunter? You invested a early pick. You know, he was a first round pick last year. And now you're worried, presuming you're not in an IDP league where you can use him as a cornerback. you're worried that he might literally have no value for the rest of his career for fantasy. My whole thought on it was that one, where he was drafted and two, he was the, wasn't he

the, wasn't he the Blitnikov winner at wide receiver? Is that the, maybe that's a tight end. Huntin. Isn't Bolitnikov wide receiver? The, the, the Blitnikov is wide receiver. But I don't remember if Hunter won it. He won the Heisman. Yeah. Thank you, Kyle.

Also. He also won the Bolitnikov. Award. Spell as the nation's most off, Jason. Yeah, please spell Bolitnikov. B. Okay. I. Litnikov. Yes, that is correct. He was the nation's most outstanding receiver. To me,

you look at that situation and you're like, how do you keep that guy off of the offensive side? One injury, one situation. I think his days contributing on offense are not over. I will say that. But I'm not trading what I was offering. Okay. So what would you trade him? away for if you had him. A future second? No, I'd still need a first.

Oh, I don't think you're getting a first. But then I'm not trading. I'm saying like, Dad, you have to come, I have to recoup something. I was off for Travis Hunter for a couple future seconds. And I turned that down and countered with like a 2028 third and a 2027 second. And then I pulled that away when this news broke. But I think this news is a bit, could be premature. I mean, Travis Hunter is disputing it, isn't he?

Yeah He'd said something on Twitter But that doesn't necessarily mean anything Um Bayshald Tutin Rumors Let's just stay with Jacksonville Roll an opportunity going to see a major hike

Amazing Amazing breaking news here Travis A Chan Jr. Yes Was traded That's Or was signed by the Saints

By the way This is our first attempt At properly pronouncing his name I'm going to go ahead and put myself out there on a limb and say, I'm going to get it wrong. Yeah, that's all right. But we're going to try. Yeah, so we'll give it a go.

Formerly, the artist formerly noticed Travis E.T.S. Travis A. Chan, Jr. in New Orleans. Yeah, the opportunity is, of course, going to go up for Bayshaw soon. Can I report stuff like this? John Shipley did. But it's also he believes. We're not 100. percent sure. This is on us for mentioning it.

Bejohn Robinson's fifth year option has been picked up. He's going to be expensive soon. We're going to go ahead and kick it off here. We're going to get right into the running backs. Running bags. I can't believe we're here, guys.

Our top 15 running backs, early rankings. We get to discuss a number of these players. We should also layer in, like, could they get messed up in the draft. If there's any other names in there. Kyle put together some stats for us. What makes the top 15

running back? The average for a top 15 running back, 312 opportunities, 250 rushing attempts, about 1100 yards on the ground, 10 rushing touchdowns. On average, 60 targets, 47 receptions, 365 and 3 in the receiving game.

So over the last five years, 77% of top 15 running backs average at least 18 opportunities a game. So you need workload. Yep. 77% had at least 10 total touchdowns. So between the rushing work and the receiving work, at least 10 touchdowns.

And then, you know, they were also on winning teams. This one matters, though. Top 15 running backs were on NFL teams that average 8.9 wins. Like when you're going through the list, there are definitely guys who will break through because they, you know, like, like,

Devon A-chan. Or now I'm messing his name. It's not Devon A-T-N. It's not Devon E-TN, that's for sure. I did. I froze there. Devon A. You're any A-chan in the conversation. Oh my gosh. We'll get it. But it's like, the dolphins,

they don't project to be a great scene. Let me ask you this. Some guys can break through. Is A-chan? Is it like a Louisiana way of saying E-TN? Kind of. We have Papa Josh here. who grew up in Louisiana. He did confirm this. The way they pronounce things is very different.

Thank you. Thank you. So anyways, you're going to mess up. Poor Devon A-chan is going to get messed up. He already did? I was like, oh, crap. If you didn't see Kyle Brandt talking about the name swap, well, not swap, the correction of A-chan.

Him bringing up Brett Farf was like the funniest part. because it's like, yeah, hold on now. Yeah, those are in the wrong order. The letters, they're backwards. The problem isn't the name at all. The problem is, I wish we would have known sooner. Yeah, when you go to the NFL combine, or at least like the NFL draft, when you're drafted, that should be part of the processes.

Okay, now tell us. Second contract name changes are not, I'm not cool. The only time that it's acceptable is if you're basically adding a senior. You had a son. Now you can amend your name. I think it's, you know, there's, there should be rules in life. But you bring up a good point. Like, how is the NFL, do they not do this?

They must not. Like when they. Seems pretty easy to solve. Like everyone comes to the combine. Give me your name. See, I do. State your name. Maybe you change your mind.

On how you say it. Well, they called him ETN for so long that maybe it was just like, yeah, he's just, whatever. is I can't keep correcting people. But now we got paid. Yeah. And it's time to straighten people out. But this is your last one. None of this chosen Anderson stuff.

We're not doing this 10 times. We're not doing this 20 times for you. All right. You guys ready to get started? Yep. We'll include number one and number two in the same discussion pretty much because the debate is going to be these two guys. But number one on our list, Bejan Robinson.

Number two, Jemir Gibbs. We did not all agree with the order here. You guys both had Bejohn at number one. Number one. I have Jamir Gibbs at number one. That is just a product of the Montgomery. How dare you? I know. It's unacceptable. But yeah, I just like Detroit's offense more. That's it. That makes sense. I mean, you just talked about these top running backs usually come from good teams. Right now it's a seven and a half win total for the Falcons. They haven't had a winning season in quite some time. Since 2017. Wow. Gross. Sorry, Kyle. Um, not sorry, I'm a Cardinals fan.

Yeah. Cardinals are like one in 10 years or so. Yeah, it's not sorry. That's congrats. Yeah, your team is pretty good. Uh, but yeah, I mean, the, the question between Bejohn and Jemir Gibbs is splitting hairs. I think the more explosive, um, games will come from Jemir Gibbs. You don't see as many breakaway touchdown runs from Bejohn usually, although he did, uh, last year.

Oh, yeah, he did. Have a couple. Yes, he did. You know, he's been last year and now this offseason training with CMC. It seemed like you got a little bit more explosive last year. Maybe that'll be. I just think Bijon is the better running back. The just overall, you know, if I was building a NFL team, I would draft him over Gibbs.

Yeah, he is a video game character. Number one in forced miss tackles on rush attempts, number one in yards after contact, number one among all running backs and percentage of teams first read targets. You know, I don't know or like their quarterback situation. So we'll see how their offense is able to move. They agree. They agree. Jamir Gibbs also is getting, I know we like to joke about the blobfish,

but the running scheme, I trust it in Detroit. So it's splitting hairs. I lean the Gibbs way. It's hard to repeat at number one. You do see changes. and I like them winning more games. I just think that there's no one to compete with Gibbs at all. Bejohn's amazing.

Flip a coin. The really ironic and insulting thing here is we're talking about who between these two guys should be the running back one. And it's those two. And we're not even considering the guy who was the running back one, Christian McCaffrey, who very well might just continue scoring more fantasy points than every other player out there as he has done multiple times in his career.

Is this just age? Gibbs was tied with McCaffrey in the first read targets, you know, getting the receiving work. So we like that as a special recipe. But yeah, I think it's age, injury risk. I mean, it's not a small difference. Number three is Christian McCaffrey. We'll take a quick break and come back and talk about last year's

absolutely dominant victory lap for Mike. Wee. All right, Jason, you brought it up. Christian McCaffrey, right now we all have him at three. So that's including Mike. Mike is one of us. Yep. And he has him at three.

It was an incredible year. He had 413 touches, which is the most since DeMarco Murray in 2014. I remember that DeMarco Murray season. Oh, yes. And I remember it wasn't that good forever. CMC has been good forever. It's wild. I mean, it was everything that Mike could have dreamed and more,

21.5 fancy points per game and all the touches. he could handle. He... In 17 weeks. Yeah. That's the thing is he stayed healthy. You know, there's numbers of running backs who get this many opportunities, then they get hurt the next year.

You know, like this was part of the conversation for Sequin Barclay going into last season. But it's like, I don't know for sure if this is truly a correlation or causation event of, you're like, well, I had all these opportunities. it sort of makes sense, but it's just every running back gets hurt. When you play all 17 games, as much faith as I had in McAfra, I don't expect 17 games. That's preposterous to expect it from anyone at the running back position. When you draft them, you should think,

I hope I'm getting 15 games from this player, and I hope they're not out in championship week. He only played, he's played 17 weeks twice, and both times it was after a seven-game season, and a four-game season. Yeah. So he definitely didn't, you know, you talk about workload.

This will be the interesting one. He's not the same player. This is not McCaffrey of two years ago, watching him, you know, where he always had kind of a sneakier burst. And, like, you're like, oh, yeah, Chris McAfree really is faster than I remember. That's going down.

But he's going to catch the ball so much. You have the George Kittle torn Achilles is a situation because it's a weird of, well, if he's out, I would expect McCaffer to catch the ball more. But if George Kittle is out, it's not as good for Christian McCaffrey and the San Francisco 49ers. Their offense, they really need guys there. Like who's really going to stop up? Bringing in Mike Evans, I think helps their passing game a lot because the resistance game. It's like you lost George Kittle and now you're bringing in Mike Evans. I mean, there's, so you really only, you have like one alpha player besides Christian McCaffrey.

Yeah, it's funny. When they got in the red zone, they passed the ball to McCaffrey. McCaffrey led the league in red zone receptions, tied with Alman Raw, which that's the first running back to ever do that. And so I do think in the red zone, Mike Evans is going to be a pretty important piece. of that offense. And Kittle coming back eventually, so they'll have both in the red zone. Yeah. So, I mean, that's, you can't really say much negative on Christian McCaffrey other than just

with that much work. And at his age, he carries a lot of risk. And we've seen it before. But if he's on the field, he's going to score more fantasy points than everyone else. Yeah, to Mike's point about not being the same guy during his prime seasons, his average long run was like 26.5. 20.5. Last year there were, it was like 13.

Like he didn't, and that's just looking at all the long, every game, what was his long run in every game, and averaging it out. He didn't have as many explosive plays. I think the second to last game of the season, he had a 44-yard run. He had a 41-yard run, but before that, his long on the year was 24.

So he really, he wasn't ripping off the normal chunks. 3.9. Yeah, so this was a product of volume, and so if the volume comes down, whenever the volume eventually comes down for McAfee, you're going to see those numbers come down. He's not going to do it forever, but he can probably do it again on a team projected to win 10 and a half games.

We just talked about that recipe for success. They're not going to go away from him unless injury comes his way. So, you know, Mike, considering what he represented value-wise last year, compared to what he's going to cost this year, how are you looking at the McCaffrey proposition compared to the other names? So right now on underdog, so in basketball, he's going as the running back four. I think we have my three, three or four is fine. I feel my confidence level in Bejohn and Jemir Gibbs is just much higher than it is in McAfree

because those guys are still younger and they can still rip off the 50-yard touchdowns every once in a while. So I'm not abandoning McCaffrey, but I just prefer the other two guys if I'm picking 101. last year the number two running back was believe it or not jonathan taylor who comes in at number four for us in our early running back rankings i have him at six jason and mike have him at four what it's been an interesting career for him i mean sophomore season he's the number one overall fantasy running back goes through a couple years where he's missed time banged up offensive and quarterback problems. Has kind of a

more of a weird year in 2024. Finishes his R.B.9. Anthony Richardson and company figuring out, was that a Carson Wins here? I don't remember when the Carson Wins year was. But

probably the year before. But we just didn't get to see that top tier Jonathan Taylor again until last year. They got the offense figured out with Daniel Jones and all of a sudden he was a dominator again. It's his best season since 2021, and he was a steal in drafts. He was the RB 9 off the board.

I think you, as someone who in our league of record, I had Jonathan Taylor, and my goodness, I was ready to sell early in the year. Yeah, you were ready to bail, play for the future. And I'm like, I can't. I've got Jonathan Taylor. He is single-handedly going to win people championships. The first 10 weeks of the season, when their offense was good, he was lapping the field. Christian McCaffrey was the running back two at 21.4 points.

Jonathan Taylor was averaging 25.9. It was so crazy the breakaway runs and you would be carried by him. He was unstoppable. And so I think the big question mark for Jonathan Taylor is the health of Daniel Jones. We'll know as we get closer to the season what this offense looks like. But it really is about that is the question to me. because I think he could absolutely be the number one running back better than Bijon if their offense is good, if their team is good, which that was the surprise last year.

The Colts were not supposed to be a good team, and then it turned out they were the number one seed late into the season. Well, that's two questions then. Question one is, will Daniel Jones be healthy? And question two is, if Daniel Jones is healthy, are they a good team? I think so. I think that they will be. He is competent enough to allow, like Daniel Jones is competent enough to allow

Jonathan Taylor to not just see stacked boxes. And if you don't stack the box against big old Johnny Taylor, he's going right through you. Yeah, once Daniel Jones went down, they were, I think, leading the league in points per game at almost 30. They went down to 20 points per game with Rivers and Leonard, Riley Leonard. We don't know if Daniel Jones is going to be 100% when the season starts. So it does add some risk to Jonathan Taylor. but in terms of the top-tier names, it's hard not to include him.

Number five, James Cook. I have him at four. So I do have him ahead of Jonathan Taylor. Jason and Mike, you both got him at five. James Cook has basically forced himself into this conversation with the consistent play and the way the team is running the football and making that a priority.

He is, he's strange because he feels like the anomaly to me of anomaly. Oh, okay. Did I say it wrong? He said it interestingly. Okay. Well, however I said it, that's what he is, because he's an interesting player. You know, Andy ran through the numbers of like on average, you know, the running backs in the top 15.

Top 15 are getting 60 targets. Cook is at 40. He's never had 60. This is not someone who is just, you know, know, hitting you with the PPR scam, just patting those points at the end of the half or at the end of the game. That's not been the game. It's just, he just, he's so dominant on the ground. And the touchdown regression, that never showed up. They just, they kept using him the same exact way. But he feels, oh, I, James Cook is, it's frustrated because he feels more fragile to me.

but then you watch him play football you're like that's dumb. You should not have any concerns about him. Do you mean physically? Or his consistency? Like physically fragile? No, no, no, no. I'm not even talking about his size.

I'm just talking about how he's utilized in an offense. It's more like Derek Henry. It is a good compliment. And he's 190 pounds. That's the weird thing is he is not. He loved the league, right? Yeah, in rushing, I believe he did. Yeah, so I mean, the other thing that's like,

like Derek, what did I say for Cook for targets? Do I say 40? He had 40 targets. Yeah. Henry's a 21. So that's a sizable gap, but it's like both of those are not numbers that are, that you would typically expect from a guy in the top five.

He had 11 top 10 finishes. So only CMC had more, which is like the anti-fragility argument, is that if you finished in the top 10 that many times, you actually were the most reliable. He was pretty dominant all season long. Yes, he also played every single game. So, I mean,

I didn't expect them to pay him and then he would just walk into the shoes that they paid him to walk into. Yes. Yeah. The size of the contract they gave him based off of how much work they were allowing him to take didn't seem to match. And they corrected that. I mean, the nice thing is, I agree with you, Mike. He's always the scariest pick to me because it's like undersized, not super involved in the passing game. Do not want to play against him, though.

No, no. I mean, he's on a great offense. That's the one thing that we know is that Josh Allen and the bills. They're going to score a lot of touchdowns. So his opportunities to have a lot of touchdowns is much better than, say, Bijon's. But he's always the one that I'm holding my breath when I draft, even though he is literally leading the league in rushing. Yeah, I'm trying to change that.

That's why I got him where he's at. I think he's, you know, we have consistency on the offense with Brady now. So I'm pretty excited about another solid season from James Cook. I don't think DJ Moore is going to talk me out of him in any capacity. You're always going to have Josh Allen as a threat to steal some of those goal line TDs, but over the last two years, it's been wild. Devon, E.T.N. At number six.

We can't just flip him? No, good day. He's going to confuse us. See, we had to do it. That's the funny thing about it. We had to do it with A-Chant. Yep, yeah. Because when he was coming out, he was A-Chane.

He was A-Chane. He was A-Chane. And then he corrected it. So anything to do with A-chan gets corrected. Devon A-chan is 24 years old. I got him at 5, Jason and Mike at 6. He had 11 plus fantasy points in every single game he played last year. He was the picture of consistency.

He was one of the only watchable parts of that team. I mean, his consistency is outrageous. You look at just his game log last year, and his worst game was double-digit fantasy points. The worst. No real bad games the entire season. inconsistency. Now he is finding himself in a situation where you expect the offense to be bad. I think that this will be a bottom third offense. However, he is all of it. You know, he's going to

catch a million passes this next year. And I don't know how it doesn't work when you are, when you are so good at pass catching at the running back position. That's the one area where I think you can be on a poor team and still succeed for fantasy, because if you're down, you just getting dump-offs like crazy. 1,350 rushing yards to go with it. This will be a team with a brand new quarterback, a brand new head coach and offensive coordinator, probably two rookie wide receivers will be talking about after the draft. I don't know what their names will be, but they'll probably draft at least two worth

talking about because they don't have anybody else. No more Tyreek Hill, no more Jalen Waddle. And we will go into the season really questioning their offensive capability. The nice thing about that is I feel like we're probably only going to be able to be pleasantly surprised with the expectations. Because you just said it, and you've been saying it all offseason. I don't necessarily think the dolphins are going to suck on offense. But because they did suck on offense.

Right. And so, and A.M. was awesome. So I think that Malik Willis is a, I liked him, right, in the off season. So I think he, there's the possibility that we get surprised in a positive way. A. Chan, to me, is still one of those guys that can finish it number one at the position. Not everybody's going to agree with that. but I believe it's very possible with his consistency and big plays. So number seven, O'Marie and Hampton.

Okay. All right. O'Mari and Hampton, I got him at eight. Jason at seven. Mike at 10, a little bit more of a disparity here. He got it going, started to get it going in week three. Naji Harris got hurt. Top 10 finishes in weeks three and four.

Then he gets hurt in week five, and you don't see him again until week 14. they had established other running backs in the offense. He was not fully healthy, doesn't really have a big fantasy finish to the year. And here he is at seven. Yeah, it takes a lot of projecting here. He hasn't done it yet. We don't know that he's going to have the workload that you would hope to be drafting him as like the running back seven. But the projection for me is very easy.

The dude is awesome. I mean, as a prospect coming out of college, he was a top tier. he's an S-class type of running back to me. The fact that he hasn't done it yet means that I think there will be value in the draft. I don't think he's going to, you know, he could very well finish super high. I think the offense is good.

Justin Herbert is good. Their offensive line, they got the best center in the league out of nowhere. They're getting their left tackle and right tackle back. I'm just very bullish about the opportunity and the player. So it is projection to say, I think he's going to get the workload. that's the scary part is what if it's what if it's more of a time share than we hope or want when i was looking at the top 15 running backs and we you know we rank beyond 15 to get to our consensus it was very clear that there's only there's only so many names where you can create the narrative

and the path and the story of how it's going to go extremely well from a workload perspective offense touchdown opportunities good team hampton's in that category there's not you you drop down this list, there's certain guys that you just can't make the case that they're going to be everything for their team. He certainly could be. Underdog ADP has him at RB10. That would be kind of the value you're potentially talking about. In your situation, this is a borderline first round running back for fantasy. Yeah, that's how I view them. And I can definitely see it. I want it to happen. Let me be very clear. I really want it to happen. I don't know why I'm as nervous, but I think it's just, like you said, we didn't get to see a lot last year.

Yeah, they were handing in the keys. He could have been a fantasy MVP. He didn't. Had he been healthy. You didn't see a lot, you know, at the very beginning, when he had to get everything. Like, he wasn't as efficient on the ground, you know, what of his first five games, he had one huge game, the 12th, or 128, including a 54-yard run. But it's like each other, each of the other four games, he's,

3.7 yards of carry or fewer. Now they had offensive line struggle. So I think that's all a part of it. And you had as it seems ridiculous to be like, okay, we're talking about Hampton a first round NFL pick. And then we got Kamani Vidal Sassoon who is just, it feels like he should be an afterthought,

but he was quite good for the team. And Harbaugh was talking him up quite a bit, although, you know, this Harbaugh really talks up his players. They bring in Keaton Mitchell and free agency. I think Hampton's going to be like a workhorse, but I'm a little more hesitant compared to you guys. Number eight, Kenneth Walker the third. Yeah, baby.

Jason and I have them at nine. Mike at seven. Surprise is not one. Underdog ADP is nine where Jason and I have it. I've got a few months, Jay. Yeah. Let me craft the narrative. You know, we've talked, I think, the most about Ken Walker of all the names on this entire list.

So I don't know how much we need to get into it. My hesitation is only that it has been lined up for him to succeed many times in the past. And something gets in the way of it in terms of being an every week dominator as opposed to an occasional week dominator. I think we are all waiting to see is Mahomes going to be back for week one? is this offense going to get back on track to be what they are supposed to be. Nine is not disrespectful. Nine is good. I'm happy with nine.

It's kind of disrespectful. I mean, for the RB22 last year? For the Super Bowl MVP. Oh, my God. Yeah, like Sonny Michelle? Well, you really liked Sony Michelle after it was a Super Bowl MVP? I did, and I've learned my lesson and I've changed. You went in on the wrong guy.

Yeah, I mean, this is obviously tough. It should work. It should work. lined up for him. You know, his rookie year, he was the running back 16, then the running back 19, last year the running back 22. And there's always been, whether it's injury or Charbonnet or whatever, something getting in his way.

The money they gave him was so much that I just don't, I don't think that there's any world where he doesn't dominate total touches. He could still get injured. But on a good offense with Andy Reed, with that. investment I am in. I am willing to get hurt. Yeah, there we go. That's a guy. I say all this. I mean, I've got, he's

one of my keepers, Mike. My guy. You know what I mean? My keeper. Sure. So I wonder what... I'd love to have you dunk on me all year long while he scores points for me. I wonder what the targets will look like. Because I went back to look. So Kareem Hunt, year two for him, which that was

essentially the Mahomes first year. So it's, you know, not his rookie year, but his sophomore. year and going from Alex Smith to Patrick Mahomes, Cream Hunt dropped from 63 to 35 targets. Now there's a game disparity, but there's that's the only way I think it goes sour as we don't, if we're not getting like a 10% target share, then you'll be more like the running back 10.

Okay. Yeah, that'll be something. And that may what happens in the draft, whether it's Sadiq or Lemon or or Jordan or uh Jeremiah love or Jeremy I love oh that will that'll make a difference oh man that'll be I don't want to see that because it's terrible for fantasy it's terrible for both players my mental health

I will laugh profusely for so long I mean God forbid that Chase Brown and Kenneth Walker oh man Michael Michael lose it we'll take a quick break we'll come back with the We are continuing our top 15 early running back rankings. Number nine.

Ashton Janty. I've got him at seven, Jason at eight, Mike dumping on him at 12. Not surprising, but just based on some of the conversations we've had and the concerns that you've had for, I think, a committee backfield, and again, that are you on a good team factor? Both of those kind of came true last year. I mean, Ashton Jinty, he suffered under the thumb of the league's worst team. I mean, they got the number one pick.

They have Fernandez on the way for a reason. He had to be a part of a putrid, abysmal offense all year long. So some might look at the RB12 finish as a rookie and say, that's darn impressive for that. To be on that team. Because what do we say? The average team wins nine games to be a top 15 running back. He was the RB12.

on the team that got the number one pick. So I lean a little bit to that glass half full side of things. I mean, the hard part for that is the way you overcome being on a bad team is workload. And Ashton Gentile was 39% of the team's rushing attempts and targets. That is McCaffrey, Johnny Taylor, and Bejohn are the only running backs who had a higher percentage. So he was the entirety of the running back position. and because the team was so bad, you only had a couple spike weeks from Gentie,

and he didn't finish as he was drafted, as you had hoped. The offensive line was putrid. Now, they went out and they got Linda Baum from the Ravens. That certainly helps, but, I mean, the metrics on their offensive line is pretty close to dead last in yards before contact, stuff rate, rush success rate, things were all bad for running backs behind this, this line.

So that, and the, and the stat that you're alluding to, Andy. So running backs with a rookie quarterback over the last decade, teams with a rookie QB who have started 10 or more games, a.k.a. their rookie quarterback is their full-time starter. The running back won for those teams average seven and a half total touchdowns. That is a, that's a very scary number when you're looking at the other running backs who are in this range. I mean, the thing with him is it might not be Mendoza for a while.

And we do like the new head coach, Kubiak coming in. Yes, I agree. It's just how long until Mendoza comes in. I mean, it could be the year. When Kirk Cousins is there, one of the things that was great about Gentie and the usage that you were just alluding to is that Gino Smith checked the ball down a lot. Gino Smith would throw. I don't know that Mendoza will do that as a rookie to the same degree, but Kirk Cousins will. Kurt Cousins will check it down a ton.

I think the touchdown totals could be higher, and hopefully you get half a season before that transition is made. I believe... End of year, Bijon was excellent. Yes. And that was Kurt Cousins as the quarterback, a bad team. I definitely believe that Cubs wants a committee here. I do not believe he can do it.

They don't have... There's not a free agent to sign right now that could hurt him. And really this is not a running back class where nine days from now, I'm afraid of what happens to Genty. So I think he will have a solid workload. And obviously he has the talent to be talked about as just a pure running back like Bijon, like Gibbs. That's a big part of it is believing in the talent that he possesses. Number 10 is Chase Brown.

I've got him at 10, Jason at 10, Mike at 9. underdog hasn't met our RE 13, so we're above at least best ball ADP with Chase Brown. I'll bet people are afraid of the draft. I'm afraid of the draft with Chase Brown. I think Chase Brown. It was last year. It was very fair. I was afraid last year and we got, we came out unscathed and he ended up being the

worst player in fantasy for a few weeks until Mike could acquire him and he could dominate for the rest of the year. I put a call in. Yeah. I was like, dude. Jake Brown. Get him in there. Take your value real quick.

and that'd be awesome. I mean, he was a true workhorse. The RB7, averaging 17.3 fantasy points per game on 100 total yards per game from week six on. First five weeks, very powerful in the psyche of fantasy football players. They make a big impact. We just talked about Tucker Kraft. It felt like Tucker Kraft was a part of a majority of last year.

He wasn't. He was a part of like six weeks. But those first six weeks with all the anticipation, it makes a big deal, a big impact on fantasy players. So Chase Brown, started slow, ended hot, was truly dominant. And if he's alone, he should be fine. If he's alone, he's fine.

I mean, this is the player definitely most liable. I am terrified for his value. If love were to fall to 10, which I know is not likely, but if that happens, they will take him. This is a team that has brought in a lot of running backs for top 30 visits. So they are looking at this position as one of a position of need. And I know I just said that this isn't a great draft class for the running back position. But there are a couple of guys out here that, I mean, I just don't think Chase Brown can be great if he's not getting a ton of work. I don't think you're going to like him in fantasy as a 50-50 guy.

They did bring back P. Ryan? Yeah. who was in addition later in the season last year? Yeah, but yeah, so P. Ryan and the, and they've drafted Taj Brooks. So last year. Yeah, as we are going through this argument, there were,

there were Brooks supporters who were like, that was it. That's the guy that's going to come in and fully disrupt this backfield and take over and make Chase Brown irrelevant. So it, if they, like let's say, it's round three, Jay. It's a, it's a round three. It's a guy you already don't like. Are you

going to let that influence how you feel about Chase Brown here? I think I would. If it's round three, uh, meaning day two. If it's a day, yes, if it's a day two pick, um, yeah, that'll, that will lower him in my rankings. Even if it's, you know, Mike Washington in round three, I'll be like, yeah, they're not drafting him to not give him the work. Tage was what, like fifth round, six round. He was a he was day three. Yeah I mean they didn't invest in him a sixth round pick so that would be very different to me if if they use a top three pick on a running back. Um I think I think I'm while I'm a little bit afraid I think I think Chase Brown is probably going to be okay and I think that this team would be wise to go into the season leaning on him for another year versus drafting the

a non-defensive player. It's like, if love is there, I get it. Yes. I totally get it. Yes, that will end it for him. Other than that, so right now the Bengals I pick 10, 41, and 72. 41 won't be priced. He'll be gone already.

And just for this team, what they need on the defensive side of the football would be. Which is 11 new guys. I think we had a pretty similar discussion about Chase Brown last year. That's the funny thing. is we were like, oh, I... We were looking for the big name to ruin it, but they didn't waste the pick there. And they were fine.

So, you know, I think we tried for a lot of years to make Kyron not a thing. Like, Kyron's gonna, the time, and it just kept happening. I don't know if that'll be the case here. Number 11's Josh Jacobs, who I feel like, you know, he's got his own little CMC light story going to a degree

where like you, you know, you had the down year in Las Vegas. you want to be out on him. He's not the new hotness. He's the old busted, but he just plain gets it done. This is clearly the key cog in the entire offense for Green Bay.

They just traded away too wide receivers. Are you going to bank on Jaden Reed who's always hurt? Matthew Golden has never done it. And Christian Watson who's always hurt? Are you going to bank on Josh Jacobs being the kind of centerpiece of this backfield once again?

Yeah, I mean 15 touchdowns two years ago, 13 touchdowns last year. He is their goal line machine. That's going to be pretty important for scoring fantasy points. I feel like I'm too low on Josh Jacobs. I do too. Mike's got him at 8. We both got him at 12. I don't like it.

I was pretty surprised. But this cluster of players, when you don't have your actual stats for them, it is difficult. Yeah, it is. It is. Because we've been around the block with Josh Jacobs. You'd love to find the narrative. This is where, like,

it scares me the most Hampton, Jacobs Right. That situation could be one of the most like Clearly you should take I don't want to play with you anymore You should just take Jacobs That's the answer to that

But no one's going to do that first Right I'll take Hampton Hampton's going to go ahead of Jacobs In every draft What if what if this year he could score 13 or 15 touchdowns You know? Right, right, exactly

I mean because we have them ranked this way And then I was like, if I was like, hey, you know, you got to draft one of these guys and you got to guarantee their fantasy productions higher than the other one. And your life's on the line. Yeah, I'm taking Josh Jacobs. You're taking Jacobs. These are like the silly ones sometimes. So be careful. Jacobs is just a machine. The offense is good. I mean, I just mentioned like Matthew Golden and two hurt wide receivers. Well, guess what his debt chart is? It's Marjohn Lloyd, guys. Marshaun Lloyd looked at another guy pulling his hamstring and that pulled his handstring. It was a mirror. He's an empath, man. Yeah, it's like the people that throw up when someone else is throwing up. He pulls his hamstring if somebody else is pulling his hamstring. Yep, you have Emmanuel Wilson is a Seattle Seahawk. I mean, check this is just.

They got to add somebody here. You, it would be surprising if Green Bay is like, okay, we'll go one more time into the year, believing that Marshall and Lloyd's going to be the backup. And you got more. I'm sure they hope. They hope he was. it was a, what, a third round pick two years ago and we've really not seen him.

Now the next two names we'll lump them together, 12 and 13, Sequin and Henry. Oh, man. Sequin at 12. Saw 300 plus opportunities. He's done that for four straight years. Saw 50 targets, cool.

The Eagles offensive line is elite, but they were missing a key piece of their line for the majority of the season. It was a down year big time for Seekwon. He's now the RBA eight in best ball. so we are low on him as well. And that's another one. Hampton or Sequin?

You look at that situation and you're... You can at least say, look at last year. Yeah, you can. It was trouble. And A.J. Brown, if he's out the door, do we figure out the offense? I don't know. It's still Sequon Barkley is my point. It's a hard name to pass on.

It is. I think having a down year, you know, he'll turn 30 this year. That's a little scary. You know, we talked at nauseam coming off of his RB1 finish two years ago about the efficiency and what happens after that much work. He had a massive workload going deep into the playoffs. And, you know, it was unsurprising? Now, was that all Lane Johnson? Was that, you know, missing Lane Johnson?

And once he's back, it's all fixed and it's a great offense. They changed the offensive coordinator, which helped a couple years ago. So there's ways that it could get corrected. but I guess I don't expect the efficiency to get better as he gets older. It should get worse as he gets older. And so I would like to have Sequin, but I don't think he's going to be a top three back. Yeah, the biggest counterpoint is the guy that we're talking about next,

who's 32 years old who we... He's never slowed down. Okay, that might be fair. Derek Henry is still playing running back in the NFL. He's 32.2 years old. All he did was go out there. He was the Arby. Because he's been old for five years.

He was the RB7 and listen to the fantasy. I mean, look at the fantasy finishes from week six on, right? That's when the old guys get better, right? The later part of the year. Well, that's when the weather gets colder. 10, 8, 9, 23, 6, 5, 10, 23, 19, 1, 11. So from week six on, just, I mean, guys,

he was on pace for 1,800 yards. He's not going to catch the football. 2319? That was an issue. I mean, wait, what? I don't know. I didn't hear him. Yeah, you were going down through your list of all his rankings,

5, 10, 2319. 2319 is a big issue. It's a code. Code red. That's a human sock. Oh, this is a monster zinc. Wow. You got me.

Yeah. You just outp cultured me, bro. Deep. Is that being out culture? Yeah. Yeah. Pop culture. I want to leave the show.

14, 14, 14, 13. Derek Henry. Yeah, who's going to do it? Who's got the stones? Who's got the stones to say this is the, that we're done? I don't think it's, I don't think it's over. I mean, you could, you could say, the aforementioned Lina Baum. Harbaugh is gone.

Maybe they mix it up a little bit committee-wise. They lost their center. Changing full, oh, yeah, that's a big deal. They lost their fullback, Patrick Ricard. Let me ask you this. Are the Ravens going to be bad? Because that's possible. It's possible the Ravens aren't good.

If the Ravens are good, Henry is good. We've seen this this whole career. Yeah. I think the Ravens are good because they have Lamar Jackson. I mean, if you've got a great quarterback, it's very difficult to have a great quarterback and be a bad football team. It can be done, but it's rare. So the bad year in Tennessee, the single bad year in Tennessee,

oh, no, he played eight games. He probably would have been fine. he probably would have been fine. Yes. He's played 17 games three consecutive years. His body is a wonderland. A temple. It's spectacular.

But they do have significant offensive line. The Ravens win. Fullback situations. Ravens projected win total is 11.5. Don't they still need to pay Lamar? That's coming up. I believe they still need to pay Lamar. The nice thing is...

I don't know. This feels like maybe they get that passing game going. The nice thing is he's not a new hot, sexy, So he'll be lower in the draft. You're talking about maybe having a value. I would guess he's near the back of the second. Right now he is the back of the second RB12. Yeah. So if I can get him near the two three turn,

I feel like he will outproduce that. Last two names on the top 15. Andy, real quick. He's what I'm going to say in a bit. He's got this year and next year under contract. Next year, though, the cap. For Lamar? For Lamar Skyrock is to 84 million.

Like he's good. This is the negotiation window. Right. I'm just saying like they can go through the entire year and not do anything technically. He won't be back if they do that. But that would be dumb. So, yeah, expect a new contract for Lamar relatively soon. Last two names, Travis A. Chan Jr., Javante Williams, to finish our top 15 early rankings.

A. Chan is going to be the guy on a team that, we are curious about in New Orleans. Jason. Yeah. Jason has him at 18. Mike has him at 13. I don't... I've always been the hater. I don't know. You love him. You're the highest.

Yeah. Are you against... You don't like the name change. If... I think Alvin Camara is going to be more involved than we think right now. So you do believe he'll be involved? Yes. Yeah, I mean, that's the question. That is all of it to me. The entirety of my... of my low Travis E.T.N. ranking is I think... A. Chan. Oh, my gosh. Travis A. Chan.

I'm going to throw out a suggestion. Try going A. Chan Jr. Okay. That's what I did. You noticed that. Because at least... I was throwing the junior in there to get a new memory. At least you'll know. And then we can... Travis A. Chan Jr. Yeah. His... One of his best abilities, especially for fantasy, is catching the ball. But that is shared with Alvin Camara. And I think Camara will be involved in the passing game in a way.

that it hurts H.N. Junior. No, he was not good. There's a reason the team went out. I think it's over for Camaro. The team went out and paid a ton of money for Travis A. Chan Jr. And so you would think that means he will be the guy. Usually, almost universally, when a contract of that size is given out to a running back, they inherit the vast majority lion's share of the workload. And it seemed like when it happened that people were saying that Cameras,

not even going to play. Like maybe retire, walk away, whatever. But then it came out that he's going to play. And I just don't think they're going to take this Saints legend and be like, ride the bench. You're not involved. Well, there is a middle ground, too, of retirement and the expectation that he plays on the Saints. There have been a lot of trade rumors that have surfaced regarding Alvin Camara in recent days,

including, and this one, maybe you guys would be okay with it. It's a lot better than Jeremiah I love going to your Giants. It's Alvin Camar going to the Giants to solidify that backfield. That's one of the big trade rumors that have come out recently. I don't think that you pick up Travis A. Chan, Jr. With a plan to keep Camara. That's still my view. That's why I haven't ranked higher than Jason.

I lean that way too. If you go into the season and A. Chan looks like he's going to be there with Camara, I'm going to lower him in my rankings. I agree with all the principles of your ranking being if Camer is involved. because you can't not use Camara in the receiving game. The way out I would see for the Saints is you have what year or two of coach Kellan Moore who all he knows as a coach was Camara not being very good. It's like does he feel that I owe this player when we just gave H.N. Jr. a truckload of cash.

So I'm sure until that's like confirmed I'm going to keep betting on HNG to be I think he's going to be solid it's such a weird thing to spend that kind of money in free agency without a definitive plan for that situation like do you think it was just a acquisition of opportunity I think so just like oh we can get this guy so let's do it because he's from the area I'm and then we'll figure it out I would think it was hey yeah you just they got a phone call. I was like, no, you can actually get him if you offer him money. And they went, oh, really. And they, and they know that Camara's not good. Right. Camara's old. They have to have a replacement for him, even if it's not this year. Also, it could be more delayed. Dennis Allen was like, don't you

give Kendra Miller a chance? And they listen. Javante Williams, the final name. Whatever, Surgent last season. They went out and they signed him to an extension. He was third in yards after contact per attempt. He is maybe the least sexy player you can draft, and yet is so deserving of a pick and will contribute every week. I feel like he is such a locked-in RB2 for fantasy, where that's, you know, he's not going to carry your team, but he's also not going to kill you ever. No, I mean, he had 1,200 yards, double-digit touchdowns on the ground over 300 opportunities, even though he is the least efficient pass-catching running back of our generation. he's just going to get...

51 targets and turn that into 137 yards? Yeah, it's just terrible. Wow. Less than three? Yeah, less than four. I mean, that's just awful. And really, he's done this for a long time. He was doing the same with the Denver Broncos.

That's the fewest yards for any player with 50 targets in the last 40 years. Yeah, that's what it seemed like. I mean, but they're going to continue. I was like, Chuba Hubbard. had to look at them and like, that. That's amazing, Chufonte. Because Chuba was 54 targets into 171

yards. And that was bad. Well, this is worse. Yeah, yeah. I mean, but we saw this the year before and he doubled down. Look, he's just a tried and true solid running back.

I mean, some of our other early rankings just to throw the names out there. Bucky Irvin came in at 18 in our consensus. Trayvion Henderson came in at 20, Scat at 21, Judkins at 22, the aforementioned Chuba down at 24. Technically, there is, is there another couple players tied with this spot?

I guess technically, Kyron and Bruce Hall are in that same conversation as well. So we will be going through our early wide receiver rankings on the Thursday episode of the show, so make sure you join us for that. You can follow us on Instagram, Instagram.com slash fantasy footballers. And we got some stuff playing in the next few weeks

before the draft gets started. Man, I've got to correct myself, it's nine days away. It's not 10. It's nine days away. Nine days away. Closer by the moment. And, no, it should be fun. I'm excited.

I want to see where Mendoza goes. I have no idea. All right, that'll do it. Jason, you can practice your Travis A. Chan, Jr. in the mirror. Yeah, I'm going to need to get that going. You need to do that a lot. Maybe he'll come out and say, never mind. I hope so.

See you. 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.