Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - RB Rankings Countdown: 20-11 + Preseason Power-Up - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/8

Episode Date: August 8, 2024

Running back value picks on today’s fantasy football podcast! Which middle round RBs have the best chance to be difference makers for 2024 fantasy football? Preseason kicks off tonight! Find out what players and teams we’re most excited to watch during preseason!  Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for August 8th, 2024. 2024 ULTIMATE DRAFT KIT is available now at UltimateDraftKit.com (00:00) - Intro (06:05) - Pre-season Power-up  (06:10) - Caleb Williams (08:50) - Bengals battles (11:25) - NFL News (18:40) - Running Back Rankings (19:00) - Rhamondre Stevenson (23:40) - Josh Jacobs (28:55) - Raheem Mostert (32:55) - James Conner (36:05) - Kenneth Walker (39:00) - Joe Mixon (43:35) - Alvin Kamara (47:55) - Rachaad White (51:50) - James Cook (56:55) - De’Von Achane Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://www.USAA.com/Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Scotiabank you're richer than you think. Unless one has an affinity for looking ridiculously foolish, it is wise not to stumble aimlessly into a fantasy football draft. The Ultimate Draft Kit from the Fantasy Footballers contains all the information you need to avoid the jeers of your enemies and to snuff out any glint of hope in their souls. Imagine the gasps those trouser-wearing turnips will emit as you make yet another triumphant draft selection. Imagine their tears forming a formidable puddle as you assemble an unstoppable force.

The Ultimate Draft Kit comes bursting at the seams with fantasy goodness. When you enter the draft room, you'll feel as if you were a monstrous beast let loose in a chicken coop. Head over to ultimatedraftkit.com today. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. It's football time. Yay!

Oh, you wore the shirt. You darn right I did. We keep it secret. Keep it secret. Keep it secret. So you whispered it. That was the solution? Let us whisper together. It's one half of teams playing one quarter of its football time.

Soon. Soon, everyone. Yeah, I mean, I'm excited. We shall shall rejoice i'm very excited it's thursday we do have football there's some football there are a couple games tonight how i mean it's how do you talk in italics how do you talk how do you speak italics yeah um i will say this um you know the buzz is football time wait a minute that's italian not italics my bad those are different words yeah they are they really are oh that's a football wish jay oh that's incredible uh i did watch the first episode of Hard Knocks, Mike, including the introduction of the – How off-putting was that?

It was pretty off. I mean, they should not have narrated through it. I think I know why they did it, though. They shouldn't have. But what happens is they do the intro to Hard Knocks, and this is the Chicago Bears. Right. I thought the episode was fun.

It was okay. It was okay. Yeah, it was good. Not enough Keenan Allen. But they go right into a musical intro to the episode. So you got the intro to the show. Then they go into this musical intro to the stadium and everything. And I think they felt like they needed narration,

and it was a mistake. And the actual narration, to be fair, of setting up, reminding people that – The team history. Once upon a time, the Chicago Bears were a feared team in the NFL, and they're trying to get back to that. So I understand what story they're setting up. I'm just saying that the first time you hear that music in August is like an electric jolt to your body.

We have two games, Panthers-Patriots, Lions-Giants tonight. Preseason week one officially getting started. What did you think of Iberflues? I think he's he's interesting um like he I thought he seemed like a uh maybe a fun guy to be around yeah oh really yeah that that's it so I have I have not watched but in press conferences things I've watched there Eberflus hasn't come across really as like the the fun guy so I'm that'll be interesting be interesting. He seems like a dad. Yeah, the one thing that hit me, for sure, yeah,

and his daughters are featured a lot, like knowing football, watching all these games. And what was crazy to me is just that like the dichotomy for the Bears and the Bears fans out there between keeping Justin Fields or making this transition. Because that was the discussion in the debate long ago. Justin Fields, the fantasy numbers, so prolific. And it's just such a different feeling for the future of this team

to have Caleb Williams. Yes. Very disappointed in his rookie performance. Oh, that was bad. It was. Talking about singing in front of the – Yeah, and like not going after it. You're the leader of the team, man.

Get after it. Not a good sign. All right, ultimatedraftkid.com. Head over there. 100-plus player profile videos. We break down everybody. We've got player projections. They're changing all the time.

We've got our My Guys episode coming up soon up soon which is an it's an outpouring you know i'm gonna give a hint oh whoa i'm gonna give a little hint because there's really no way for people to figure this out so i did notice i have my my guys figured out like they're locked you're number three you got locked yeah i got i'm all locked up i I didn't see it. I mean, reserve the right to pet us. But they're locked up, but they ended up magically. And I didn't notice this until afterwards, back to back to back in my rankings for one of the positions. That's all I'm going to say. Yeah. Is that they are somehow right next to each other in one of my positional rankings.

So there's a little reveal. Is that next week? Yes, it is. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I, um, there's, there's a little reveal, but is that next week? Yes, it is. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I've got, you know,

high expectations and, excited to hear your guys as my guys on the show, but, um, ultimate draft kit.com available now. Check that out. Uh, let's do some,

uh, let's do some preseason. Preseason power up. All right. What are you watching for this preseason? So this doesn't have to be just one player. This could be a team. This could be a position battle.

This could be Matt Eberflus' beard. I don't care. Tell me what you're looking for. I mean, the number one thing I've been wanting to see, and it's ironic that I haven't watched Hard Knocks, is Caleb Williams. I want to see the number one overall pick, the highest touted rookie in several years. I want to see what he looks like because from a fantasy perspective, I, as well as all three of us, are still well behind ADP. His ADP on the what could be is really, really high. People wanted to take a shot

at getting that superstar. There's great potential. Oh, for sure. He comes in and rocks as a rookie. But that's why I want to see it because I understand there is huge potential for success with the wide receiver core he has. I've done most of my statting on just historical

truth. Even great Hall of Fame first ballot quarterbacks that don't usually come out guns a-blazing in their rookie season, especially when it comes to throwing touchdowns. So yeah, that's one thing that I will be certainly watching. And I'll double up because the Chicago Bears are playing the Buffalo Bills, and we just got word that Josh Allen and the first team is going to play up to a quarter. We'll see if it might just end up being one drive, but point being who is out there? Who is out there immediately? The Bills wide receivers, it's not an absolute

mystery, but it is shrouded in a mist of war that we just we aren't 100 sure of who's going to emerge and be the guy if anyone but on top of that we know that josh allen is probably going to throw for 4 000 plus yards and a whole bunch of touchdowns and someone could be incredible and yet the adp on all these guys is at a point where if one of them hits, it changes your entire fantasy roster. All right, Mike. All right, Mike. Okay. Their first team's playing. Their first time they line up in three wide receiver sets.

Call your shot. Who are the three wides? Well, Curtis Samuel. Shakir's out there. Yeah, Curtis and Shakir are locked. It's the, is Keon Coleman out there right away, or is it someone like Matt Collins who's gotten a little bit of buzz about being an outside wide receiver? Yeah, yeah.

We don't even need – And will Matt Collins be wearing cleats? I think by rule he has to, but will he be eight feet tall yet? Because boy is still growing. The Bills, there might not be the guy, but we would like a guy or two to count on for fantasy. Yes, absolutely. And I'll throw in another offense, just the Bengals battles,

like the backfield with Chase Brown and Zach Moss, and then beyond Chase and Higgins, who have dealt with injuries, Higgins is going to move on at some point. Chase is dealing with a hurt bank account right now. Yeah, Yoshi Voss, Trenton Irwin uh jermaine burton and whether he can break into the rotation we've seen big games from you know jason you've talked all about burrow and not forgetting how great burrow is and have we gotten news if uh if burrow is starting in preseason week one because i he is someone that i i really want to see like his health i'm so excited if he's if

he's back in health. My vague memory... Oh my gosh, I wouldn't play him if I were them. Let's see. Okay, we have... We know Kyler's not playing in the preseason. Coach Taylor on up in Adams on August 4th, I intend for Joe to play. There was a point

where we wouldn't have whispered it's football time quite as quietly. But the preseason is so different now. whispered it's football time quite as quietly but the preseason is so different yes it's it's been six years ago of what it used to be six seven years ago it was just it's football time we get a quarter of football this is like you've got a sleuth down beat reporters to see who's playing in these games and then you end up with situations where first-team offenses play second-team defenses, and you're not really 100% sure. And like last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers look unstoppable.

Do you remember this? How unstoppable their offense was. Kenny Pickett's entire career in a week. He was like 90% completion through preseason. Every drive and a touchdown, it was like, wow. We should be in. It turns out it turns out it's preseason football against some

vanilla second streamers. He is who we thought he was. And we let him off the hook. I don't think you can learn very much at all watching offensive systems in the preseason. Almost nothing. So when you talk about like, oh, I want to see the Falcons. Are they going to be great? You're not going to know that.

I can watch Brock Bowers run a route. I can watch what he looks like against NFL-level defensive players. Seeing some signs and signals from individual players is I think the most valuable thing. It will get the hype chains going.

It will move the ADP of players in different directions. We all remember the Kerryon Johnson run around the world that, you know, a couple preseason runs. Oh, Amir Abdullah. Yeah. And Amir Abdullah had the one cut to rule them all. Just boom, choo. It's true.

So, yeah, it'll be a lot of fun. Those are a few things we're looking for. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. The Jets activated Mike Williams off the PUP list, which is, to me, a great step towards not wasting the money you spent signing him. Yeah, that's great. I mean, if they've got him week one,

I think it changes the offense a little bit. Jaden Reed mispracticed with a calf injury. He is back today. Christian Watson took a big hit, stayed down for a while, but then returned to practice, and the team said they had just kind of avoided a major injury, and they think he'll be good to go. It's a little scary.

Yeah, I mean, I don't want to be on this ride. Was that auto-tuned? It really was. I don't want to go on the ride. You're saying that specifically and only with Christian Watson ignoring the Jaden Reed calf? Yes. Okay.

I just wanted to make sure. No, let's be fair jayden reed missed time at the end of last year he dealt with injuries he plays a little bit debo-esque with not a debo body so you're gonna get beaten up um but i yeah christian watson we have the the the longer run of frustration so i i don't i actually did uh make a change in my rankings based on this combination of news. The fact that you got the calf injury and yeah you're back so it's over but it's like

Andy you know this when you tweak a calf like you better hope it's over because you don't know until you're out there you know exploding off of it and then Christian Watson's just peanut brittle. So Romeo Dobbs then? I mean maybe. It was actually flipping Jordan Love and Kyler Murray.

I had Jordan Love ahead of Kyler Murray, and I just see that there's a little bit more risk there to me if you've got a questionable health of the very talented wide receivers. The Cowboys RB depth chart, there's been some comments about Rico Dowdle. Mike would be remiss for us not to bring it up. I didn't put this in. But you wanted it. Just let the record show I didn't put it in.

I think the quote you're referring to is from John Machada. At this point, it would be a surprise for Rico Dowdle not to make it. He is my favorite to lead the team in rushing. I do want to point out it is this guy's favorite to lead the team in rushing? I do want to point out it is this guy's favorite to lead the team in rushing, not necessarily Mike McCarthy's favorite.

Yeah, and I agree. We broke down Rico Dotto a lot on this week's Dynasty podcast, so you can go back if you want more of an in-depth, but the reporting out of Cowboys training camp has been since the pads have been on, Rico Dotto is the one with the most juice, the most electric player. That doesn't mean that Mike McCarthy and crew will not feature Zeke. It just means that there is an opportunity here for Rico Dowdle. Yeah, and I think everyone would agree Rico Dowdle has more juice than Zeke

at this point right now. The question is, is he as trustworthy, as reliable, as entrenched in the game plans, et cetera, et cetera? Yeah, I mean, do the Cowboys look at their offense and say, we need the player with the most juice here? Or do they look at their offense and say, look what we did last year, trusting the passing game and Dak and Seedy and Ferguson,

and do we just need reliability like you said so uh the IU trade watch continues oh man I hope it never ends lame lame morning guys I know no new news the past few mornings that you can wake up to find like 25 beat reporters talking about he's going here he's going there and today was just nothing iuk wants to thread the needle in such a way yes with this deal that i i started to wonder is he just gonna play for the 49ers because you know he oh i want i want 30 million dollars okay we'll give it to you oh not the patriots i'm not interested he wants the 49ers to give him $30 million. We're at the point now of has Iuke seen what the market for – like the teams he actually wants to go to, does he have the contract?

We've seen reports that him and Pittsburgh are aligned in what the contract would be, but San Francisco and Pittsburgh are not aligned in the compensation to trade for IU. I've seen people disputing that, saying that no one has gotten to the finish line of an agreement. It's all over the place. But we're now getting to the point of we need a resolution. If Brandon Iyuk is changing teams next week in preseason week two,

that's not great. Offensive integration. Yeah, it's football time. Yeah. We're already here, man. So where are you guys? Are you at the point of maybe just plays it out? Yeah.

It's the best thing for the 49ers. Yes. Have you seen Nick Bosa's comments? I mean, he's just like, you can tell that dude is depressed about losing Ayuk on this roster. It's a devastating blow to their Super Bowl chances if they actually trade him away. That was today's News & Notes presented by USAA Insurance.

Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Let's take a quick break, and then we're jumping into running back rankings. I will say this before we jump in. The IUK news and just the compensation requests from the 49ers. There's rumors that they wanted Pickens back. They want Amari Cooper back. They want draft picks. All this money.

I do think the NFL looks at Brandon Ayuk as at least a player that could reach a top eight, top five range at the wide receiver position. The compensation, if the Patriots are going to give him $30 million in picks, that's just a lot.

So I think the view of Brandon Ayuk is very, very high in the NFL circles. Yeah, I think the one player not getting enough talk in this whole situation, both pro and con, is Ricky Pearsall. Their first round wide receiver they drafted this year, he's been injured a lot. If he was tearing up camp would they be so we have to get pickens back we have to get cooper back like they draft they knew that they might not be able to play both debo and brandon iuk and so they drafted a first

round wide receiver and it's like that that should be the solution it seems like to the 49ers so far it's like well i look it's it's not necessarily pierce hall right like juan j Jennings has been a contributor on this roster for a while you talk about deeper leagues you talk about dynasty leagues there's no guarantee that Ricky Pearsall has taken all the snaps like when we if this trade goes through and they don't get compensation back a wide receiver this conversation goes well beyond Ricky Pearsall no for sure I'm just saying I think Ricky Pearsall it must not be impressing them that much well he's just not been on the field sure that's yeah I saying I think Ricky Pearsall must not be impressing them that much. Well, he's just not been on the field. Sure.

Yeah, I mean, I think they drafted him, as you would say, to be great. Running Backs. All right, we are in our Running Backs ranking countdown, 20 through 11 on today's show, looking at our half PPR consensus ranking. So this is not, you know, we have these guys at different spots, but this is where they landed on our big board together. And starting out at number 20, Ramondre Stevenson. I am currently the highest at 20 on the dot.

You guys are a little bit behind on that one. Got the bag of cash, obviously. He's on my dynasty team. I made sure to get that done for him. But a four-year extension, he's now the seventh highest paid running back on a per-year basis. And I have a lot of... I think he is capped by the offense and the team in terms of total fantasy finish upside, but I think Ramondre is going to do literally as much as he can possibly do this year from a workload perspective. And so I'm pretty enthusiastic about his chances to finish between 12 and 20. I think he's like one of the more solid RB2s you can get,

and right now the draft cost is at the back of that range. He's a sixth round draft pick. I could see his name slipping in certain drafts, right? Where, you know, there's just not an interest in Ramondre coming off an RB36 year. Where are you with Ramondre? Yeah, I'm very, very similar to what you just described. I'm confident in his ability. I'm confident in his workload. Those are great things. I'm also pretty confident in his health. I'm confident in his workload. Those are great things. I'm also pretty confident in his health. I know he missed four games at the end of last season with the ankle sprain. However, this was a team that was on track for a quarterback pick. And when he got injured in

week 14, it was like, Hey, let's shut him down. You know, this was not a team trying to make the playoffs where he was trying to rush back from the ankle injury. He's got the body, the size to be able to take a workload. You know, work load. What? Allow myself to introduce myself. Hold on. Let me get that right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Run that back. To take a workload workload. Yes. So workload squared. Yeah. The team loves him. The team is confident in him. They do.

They want to run the football. It's just a matter of are they going to be ahead in enough games, in enough scoring positions to have – I mean, if at the end of the year you've got five total touchdowns for Amandre Stevenson because the offense wasn't very good, you're going to have the running back 26, 27. But if he ends up with eight or nine, 10 touchdowns, he very well should be around running back 15 or higher.

He was on the My Guy finalist list for me, and I just – a four-and-a-half win total for New England hurt that. But, Mike, could he finish as the running back 10? No. You don't think so no I do not think that he can get there the look an offense can turn things around the Houston Texans were projected to be the second or first worst team last year obviously CJ Stroud came in and put that into the garbage can can Drake may do something similar? I mean, at this point, it doesn't seem like it because

it certainly feels like Jacoby Brissett is going to start the year for the New England Patriots, and then they'll eventually make a changeover to Drake May. I don't want to bet on a running back in such a bad offense when the guys around him is like... DeAndre Swift. I have a lifelong feud with DeAndre Swift, but... You guys are in civil court right now sorting it out. Yeah, we're hashing it out.

And I have Ramondre just in my median projection slightly ahead of DeAndre Swift, probably because of the feud. It's personal for me but like Swift or Najee he's more of a question. He's kind of really

similar I think to Ramondre Stevenson but there's guys going right around Ramondre that he feels more like the consolation prize of the running back in that range as opposed to someone who I think that the offense could really take off. Yeah, the money says that he should be the guy. He was the RB11 in 2022.

Yes. It's not like they won the division that year. Right, but what was his reception total? Yeah, I was going to say he had a million Mac dump-offs. So that's a huge question. I still think that's going to be part of his recipe this year with the wide receiver. It 100% should be.

Yeah, he had 88 targets, which is a great way to become an RB1. I, without Drake May turning things around, I don't see running back 10 in Ramondre's outlook. However, I disagree with you, Mike. I think when I look at the running back 10 in Ramondre's outlook however I disagree with you Mike I think when I look at the running backs he's going around Swift Najee Zamir White he's steadier I would much rather have Ramondre of of all of them Josh Jacobs comes in at 19 26 years old being drafted as the RB 11 right now that is a big man is one of the areas where we unanimously have him a little bit lower than i i think this is one of the areas we could just be wrong oh for sure i mean this is the

number one area where i could see um good offense check yeah and a workhorse guy pass catcher a lot of talk about that marshall lloyd ball control ball security issues and um There is a lot of talk of A.J. Dillon being the running back, too. I think I said we were bringing this up a few weeks ago. This is one of those situations. You may want Marshawn Lloyd to get opportunity, but they like what they have in A.J. Dillon right now. I felt far more confident in our take of Josh Jacobs when it seemed like Marshawn Lloyd's the exciting rookie who's going to come in.

And Green Bay will platoon. They're going to 100% platoon. I know that Jacobs in his history has shown, no, I can be the three-down guy. I don't think that's how they're going to use him. And if you have an electric player behind him getting those efficient, he's ripping off chunk runs, I'm less confident, Jacobs.

But if it seriously is A.J. Dillon as the running back two, then this will be a ranking that I move, I eventually scooch him up a little bit. Yeah, obviously everything you're saying is good. And the fact that there's ball security issues right now with Marshawn Lloyd is concerning because that was one of the major knocks on him in college. He put the ball on the ground a lot. So if you're a rookie and you're doing that, it's very hard to trust for a team that has championship aspirations to say, hey, put the rookie who's going to put the ball on the ground out there. It's tough.

But Josh Jacobs is not going to be a workhorse back. It's just not the system that has ever been here. A.J. Dillon, we all remember how bad he was last year, and he missed games. And he had 208 opportunities. They don't give it to anyone. And they had Aaron Jones, who was well. So I will agree that this could be a huge whiff. Josh Jacobs, on a good offense, who just led the NFL in rushing two years ago, should have goal line opportunities and catches the ball,

this could be a massive mistake. But he was very inefficient last year and won't have the total volume he's had over the last several years. Yeah. He's only 26. He might get a lot of that volume. I think that might be one area I disagree. I think that there's a very good chance he could be the workhorse for this team. LaFleur, I mean, if you listen to LaFleur, he has said this more than 100 times.

He's said, I don't believe in having a workhorse back. He believes in using multiple backs to keep them fresh through the season. I mean, I just could, I would be so shocked if it was like, now he changes his mind when he's said that so many, he's said that to the beat reporters, like, ah, you guys know me, you know, that's not what I do. So I would just, that's what I'm basing it on. Certainly Josh Jacobs, just based on the talent, if you've got a rookie putting the ball on the ground and you've got A.J. Dillon behind you, you would want him to get all the work and be a workhorse. We talk about injuries with Watson and Reid earlier.

Jacob's in the passing game is something they've talked about extensively, and that's something they want to use. He does have opportunity. I don't think he's realistic to finish at 19 where we have him i think you either have more disappointment or you end up with way more upside we're just not willing to throw uh he's at like the two three turn right now so that that's where i have ended up with none of him if he was you know where we have him ranked i would love to take the shot at the upside but if you look at who's going around give me some names um okay so around the two three pacheco yeah i mean i'm i am easily

on the pacheco so right in front of him adp wise on sleeper would be derrick henry i'll take derrick henry pacheco that one is like that one's not even close for me but like rashad white who is about a round later let's say you're you know you are in the back of the third, you're targeting a running back and Josh Jacobs slips a little bit. Are you going to go with him or are you going to take Rashad White? No comment. Yeah. I thought you were asking Andy because I'm asking the room. I would take, I would take Rashad White there personally. And it's not just the running backs there. I mean, you look at the wide receivers that are around where he's being picked and the tight ends.

You know, Nico Collins. I would much rather have Nico Collins than Josh Jacobs. I'm curious. Do you guys have the ADP comparison tool up right now with Jacobs? I can grab that for you real quick. Because, okay, so he's going. He's a fourth-round pick in ESPN. Underdog, wow.

He's a fifth-round pick in underdog. That's wild. But then his highest ranking right now is that sleeper's at 302. Yeah, if you've got the UDK, we have under the research tab an ADP comparison tool. Go look at what platform you're on and take a look at some of the differences there. We might highlight some here coming up. 18, Raheem Mostert. Wow, he made it up this high?

He did. Whose fault is that? Jason's. Yeah, and it is my fault. What, you got an apology for us i don't i didn't mean fault i meant more like who's doing who's responsibility yeah no i you know look he was the running back two last year yes he was he got money this off season he's perfect for this system i do believe when they get near the goal line even though you know i love

devon h and i i think most are is their better option for goal line even though you know I love Devon Achan I think Mostert is their better option for goal line opportunities but goodness gracious I mean he had 22 touchdowns last year I think he had 19 in his career heading into last season he had an outrageous amount of his total fantasy points come from touchdowns so my ranking of Raheem Mostert I believe is needing an update Mostert yeah you were you were really really in on Mostart a couple of months ago. His two seasons in Miami was RB26 and RB2. His ADP is RB25. The excitement around Mostart needs to be about the value that he represents

in fantasy drafts more than the opportunity for him to repeat last season. Because, you know, even if you salvage 30% of last season's upside, you're going to finish above RB26 in this kind of an offense. This is a machine, and the machine worked with Mostert as a key cog in the red zone. It just was too abundant to repeat. It was nearly 50% of his fantasy points came via touchdowns. That was the highest of any top 12 running back since 2018. Only three games without a touchdown, and those games were flops. How often do you have a seventh-round draft pick in fantasy

that you feel like has no chance of failing for you? That's what Mostert feels like right now, is that he's like the safest seventh-round pick in the history of the game. What do you put his touchdown floor at? Eight. Eight? Eight is seriously what I was going to say. So, like, eight touchdowns in the seventh round for the running back position

with what if A a chan gets hurt right if a chan gets hurt it's oh my god it's holy crap raheem mostert goes to a back to a potential league winning running back so i i love his i love i love where he's going yeah kyle just pulled up his line on underdog it's eight and a half rushing touchdowns and he's going that late it's yeah I mean that's a stabilizer me having him at running back 14 feels too high but where he is he's an exceptional value and this is one of those things where sometimes you want to know if you love him if you love Raheem Mostert you're like that is I think the best value in the draft

then then then bypass Devon Achan earlier so that you can grab him later. Having ideas of where you're going when you start your draft. He had 19 career touchdowns going into last year. He had 21 last year.

The thing about both Achan and Mostert is we build our rankings off of a, like a median projection, you know, kind of calling your shot on some guys where you see an upside or you see some regression coming. Truly projecting the Miami running backs is very difficult. Like to say what H-and was like eight yards a carry or something absolutely ridiculous.

You can't within good conscience say, this guy's going to carry the ball for six plus yards a carry. That's just, it can't happen. So both of these guys, H-N on the upper end and Mostert as a value, they're both hard to project, but I want them both on my team at number 17 james connor of the arizona cardinals 29 years old being drafted as the rb19 in the late fifth round his body is 42 years old man no he's like a he's just better with age he's buff he's like he's got old man strength but he's got wear and tear on his body because the way he plays,

it takes usually about four or five guys to bring him down. So he takes like six hits every play where most players are just like, every now and then that first hit brings you down, and that's good for your body. Yeah, he said if there's a certain guy that starts to fall off because of age, he'd be the one to delay that. That was Coach Gannon. That's Gannon's thoughts on him.

He is the guy in Arizona right now. Yeah, I mean, all the talk of Trey Benson early in the offseason, the fact that they spent a day two capital on a really talented back. Right now he has not established himself as even the backup to James Conner. There's a three-way competition for that. The clarity in the Arizona Cardinals offense is that James Conner's the dude, and then there are backups. He's a team leader, team captain.

They run the ball a ton. He was a league winner last year. This is not James Conner. This is just a recent update. If you had not caught it, the preliminary depth charts are coming out. These are always to be taken with a grain of salt. Trey Benson was the RB2 listed on that initial depth chart despite all of the rumblings coming out of training camp.

That is something to pay attention to. What is the chance that James Conner finishes in RB1? I think he has a very good chance. So you look at him much differently than you look at Ramondre Stevenson? Yes. In terms of – because, I mean, from a projected win standpoint, Arizona's a better team, but – I think the Cardinals offense is going to be the surprise offense of the season.

Yeah, the nice thing about the – I mean, obviously the Cardinals' win total is higher than the Patriots'. The Patriots have a really, really, really good defense, and the Cardinals have a really, really, really, really bad defense. So for fantasy football perspective, the Cardinals are going to have to put up a lot of points, and they have the weapons now with Kyler fully healthy, Marvin Harrison Jr. here, where you don't look at the Cardinals offense as a bad offense, even though you look at the Cardinals as not a great team.

RB 5-11, 5-3-1 to finish the season last year. That was fun. All right, number 16. That was fun. RB 6-4-12-5-15 to to finish the year prior he loves the end of the year he does be some other defenders get tired what is what is a yeti in the desert that's just bigfoot yeah no bigfoot's in the woods too much fur man yeah a desert yeti has to be hairless yeah oh for sure really yes yeah that's disgusting i would not look at that i would not i would not want to look at that when i

see it's probably cactus like furred animals oh cat yeah it's just a saguaro yeah with legs the arms grew downward uh kenneth walk Walker comes in at 16. Mike, I feel like you have things to say about Kenneth Walker. Right now, you have him at nine. You're keeping him inside this top 20 for us. Very good word from Ryan Grubb over there last week about Kenneth Walker and all of his potential in this offense. I feel like there's a player like Kenneth Walker and all of his potential in this offense I feel like there's a player like

Kenneth Walker's one of the players that has been talked about not woefully not enough yeah the it has it felt really like radio silence on Kenneth Walker and but the a thing about that is to not let just a silence dictate what it dictate your complete thoughts about a fantasy player who, when he's on the field and healthy, the guy is an electric home run hitter, loving the fact that Ryan Grubb, specifically on the quote that came out, he's electric out of the backfield as a pass catcher. Could be coach speak 100 but the fact that we're even talking about kenneth walker as a pass catcher from the coaching staff

is a very positive sign i mean you want to talk about it's been radio silence on kenneth walker what about zach charbonnet like the who exactly so i mean if you are Who? Exactly. I'm attributing that to both of them, that silence means that nothing has really changed. When on the field, Kenneth Walker is the guy, and Zach Charbonnet is just a backup, a capable backup that would become a bell cow running back should Walker miss time. But in the meantime, it's Kenneth Walker's backfield,

and he's one of the running backs like young Saquon, Cal running back should Walker miss time but in the meantime it's Kenneth Walker's backfield and he's one of the running backs like young Saquon where if you're at the 50 you go there's there's a chance that he houses this Kenneth Walker is not yet 24 years old I don't know why it doesn't feel that way you know he's his his road has been exhausting already yeah exactly and and if you look he's going you know he's being drafted next to Aaron Jones um Kenneth Walker has physical capabilities to have upside that other guys just don't because you can end up the season with four different games where he had a 40 yard touchdown the pass catching would stabilize him and I don't think when we did the divisional breakdown show, I think all three of us had Seattle at the bottom of the division. Yes.

Which, you know, so much talk about the offense and Metcalf and yesterday was JSN and Geno, but winning ball games is going to be essential because he's been game script dependent a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Home games he's much better. Wins he's much better. So that is just something to pay attention to but at 16 um and his his adp right now is right around there so rb 16 fifth round pick joe mixon coming in at 15

look joe mixon is going to be a selection that you don't take pleasure in making. You don't make that draft pick and say to yourself, oh boy, it's James Cook and Pacheco and youth and upside and unseen capability. It's probably just a pick that you make and you're like, you look back five weeks from now and you're like, you know, I'm really glad I made that draft pick because Mixon's going to, he's getting all the praise from the entire coaching staff. We are long, we're gone with the Pierce excitement in Houston. And Mixon's been brought in to be the workhorse. Yeah, I mean, I have excitement over Joe Mixon. You saw the Damian Pierce experiment the first half of last year.

It wasn't working in the system, and he's been talked up kindly from the coaches, but I think they're really going to utilize him in the special teams, maybe in the new kickoff return rules. Joe Mixon was brought in and traded for and then paid a ton of money. When you listen to them talk about Joe Mixon, they can't speak kind enough words. They are just espousing glorious adjectives all over Joe Mixon, what a pro he is, how he can do everything, his work ethic. They're very excited to unleash him. When they changed to Devin Singletary in this offense last year, From the time that he started getting the majority of snaps on,

Devin Singletary was the running back nine, and he had, I don't have the stat in front of me, but I want to say he was on a 17-game pace of 50 targets. So I do think there's a world where scoring opportunity is up from the Houston Texans offense last year. You add Stephon Diggs the second year with C.J. Stroud, and if he is used as a three-down back and a goal line back, Joe Mixon could easily – I mean, this is a guy who last year we talked about

Raheem Morris, obviously same team – or Raheem Mostert, same team and all that. But Joe Mixon was the running back five last season. Yeah, he was. He was so solid. He had the second lowest bust rate was the running back five last season. Yeah, he was. He was so solid. He had the second lowest bust rate of any running back, only behind CMC at the running back position. And I just think he's so steady. Like when you look at Mixon and Walker, who are back-to-back in ADP, Mike,

I mean, that is a very difficult decision to make based on your team makeup. Yeah. And, uh, to be fair, I felt down, I felt low on Joe Mixon last year and I was a complete L he's still, he was the workhorse for the Cincinnati Bengals. Uh, I mean, the, a difficult part is one is his age and his, the amount of seasons that he has played in the NFL. He is at the cliff of a situation where it could just evaporate and be absolutely gone. I'm talking about he's two steps too slow. He's been very inefficient the last few years, and he's getting it done on volume. The volume is probably the same for there.

I'm concerned about the running back targets. I know Singletary started getting more involved. I've got it now. He was on pace for 51 targets and 40 receptions. But on the course of the season, it was still the second fewest targets to the running back position. And I just, looking at him compared to other guys, I have huge red flags that I'm concerned about,

where even when Singletary took over, I mean, you had those outrageous games where he was running back three, running back four, but then 20, 33, couple good games. So I just, I have concern for the ADP of Joe Mixon. You would take Walker? I would take Kenneth Walker, yeah. A couple good games. I have concern for the ADP of Joe Mixon. You would take Walker? I would take Kenneth Walker. What would you do, Andy?

I would take Mixon. Cool. Next guy. That didn't help you? No, it did. I just didn't want to answer the question. I thought you would easily take Mixon. I would take Mixon. This team could have brought Devin Singletary back. Yeah, they could have. They went out and got take Mixon. This team could have brought Devin Singletary back. Yeah, they could have.

And they went out and got Joe Mixon. They had to make that effort. So we'll take a break, and then we will come back with the remainder running backs on the countdown. Well, it wouldn't be another year of fantasy football unless we were talking about... I forgot this existed. Alvin Kamara, Super Kamario. I feel like we didn't get to play that last year, even though he was great for fantasy.

It implies speed. Yeah. You know? It implies not getting tackled by the first guy. You know? last year even though he was it implies great for fantasy it implies speed yeah you know it implies not getting tackled by the first guy you know because yeah star power yeah you're you're flashing yeah he was maybe the smaller version of mario last year but it's still like a pretty right man a mushroom yeah i mean i want we're going to talk a lot about alvin camaro over the next few weeks as we lead into the season because you talk about my guy hint that's not what I said that's not what I said uh he's 29 years old um last season was awesome once he got out on the field and his skill set is the kind that translates better over time right

like he is sure-handed knows the offense can pass block uh great release valve for uh uh what do you call somebody who's not courageous uh coward ah derrick car derrick coward yes um derrick carward sure derrick car no yeah i'm fine on that so air ball the the reality for alvin camara is that you just need to accept the boring points. Kyle just highlighted it. We all remember. Oh, boy. We all remember how disgusting it was to watch the offense. Talk about the Saints offense.

If you're in a PPR, absolutely delightful and delicious. Kamara's first game back, 14 targets. Oh, heck yeah. Unbelievable. Wide receivers don't get 14 targets. How many of those did he catch? He caught 13 of them, Jason. 13 receptions?

An unbelievable catch rate. For what, 200, 300 yards? 33. That's 33 yards on 13 receptions. Don't care. 13 receptions. Don't care. 13 receptions. Point. Point.

Point. If you're in a PPR, fantastic. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it, and I accept that this is probably another re-roll, a good situation. Fifth round pick. For fantasy.

Yeah, you don't have to spend a third on him you're you can load up on wide receivers like you you can literally go get three elite wide receivers get it you throw a tight end in there and then alvin camara's they're just catching how old is raheem oser 31 right yeah 31 32 alvin camara's 29 he was the rb2 in fantasy points scored from weeks 4 through 15 yeah and he's in the same system and the thing is and who did they find in the passing game that's what I was going to bring up

you might like Rashid Shaheed and believe like oh I think he can catch some downfield bombs and has good sync with Carr this is not a guy that's going to be up there at 140 targets A.T. Perry you know it's like coming into his second year you've got Dennis Allen even like it Dennis second year. You've got Dennis the Menace up there. No, Dennis the Menace does not like A.T. Perry.

That's what I thought. Does he like anybody? I don't think he likes his players. I think he likes Alvin Kamara. Yeah, I mean, Equinemius St. Brown, Cedric Wilson Jr., Bob Means. These are the wide receivers. So the wide receiver two here after Chris Olave is Alvin Kamara. Oh, yeah.

And we've seen the Kendra Miller buzz is terrible. Jamal Williams is mostly toast. He's burnt toast. Taysom Hill just comes in here and there. It doesn't matter. Oh, Dennis Allen loves Taysom Hill for sure. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's true.

He's in his will. Yeah. Like Dennis Allen's house goes to Taysom. So I think the headline here is... Taysom gets the vet. We do have him three... You know Dennis Allen has a vet. Oh, yeah, he does.

He is 100% driving a Corvette. If there's some Saints players listening, go out and take a picture of his vet. Because I know it's there. He drives a Corvette for sure. I can't stand that guy. You really can't. Take the disgusting points with Alvin Kamara. We've got him three spots ahead of his average draft position.

Oh, man, I hate it. Yeah, but he's going to be very good for any kind of half PPR, full PPR league. Kyle's going to do the research on the vet. Dude, if it's true. if it pans out just on point. Rashad White at 13, 25 years old. Also gross. RB7. He's like young Camara.

I do think that, I think he's a very talented player. I love him in the open field when he has the opportunity to get the football, and it's not your traditional lineup behind the fragmented, broken offensive line. I still saw a lot from Rashad White that was, I think, better than other players in the receiving game, obviously. Nearly 100% catch rate. And the question with Rashad White is just what you believe about this

offense's ability to come back and do enough. Yeah, it is. There's concerns about the offensive coordinator change, and it just, like, at this point of the career, it would, I think, be shocking if Rashad White is all of a sudden, like, an explosive rusher. You know what I mean? Like, if he jumps up to a high four yards per carry that that would be very surprising so he it seems like he is who he is is this the right price what Jason give me the ADP again he's the RB 13 off the board

he finished his seven last year is this the right price for Rashad White, early fourth-round pick? I think it's a fine price for him, and I'll be taking a wide receiver next to him. It's not that he is a bad player. He's very Leonard Fournette. I think he will get a ton of work. He will receive a lot of passes. So this is, you know, that's not bad. It's very similar to Alvin Kamara.

What round was Kamara? Fifth. Yeah, I mean, I would rather have a fourth round wide receiver in Kamara than a than a fifth round wide receiver and Rashad White it seems like though Rashad White is somehow feels like a rock solid volume play but also a house of cards of the fragility of if his inefficiencies continue and the new old coordinator or whatever, maybe they like what they see from Bucky Irving or something like that for pass catching. If the volume dwindles at all, there's nothing to fall back on should that crumble. He's RB7 and they were dead last in the NFL in yards per carry. You got Liam Cohen now as the offensive coordinator.

Canales is gone, but you have stability at quarterback and in the head coach and what they've been doing. So very comfortable with that spot personally. And depending on what you believe about the player like i don't think rashad white is i i think the efficiency can improve i really do yeah if the offensive line takes strides um you know he had a real bad offensive line last year and i don't think he's got a great one this year but if it does take strides and steps forward, maybe opening up some stuff for him. Because he was very efficient in the pass catching game.

And so it's like I think some of his inefficiencies in running the ball are team. I don't want to make a Travis Etienne mistake with him either. Sure. Like the depth chart is as terrible as a depth chart as you can really get in football. But for Travis Etienne, I know that if some snaps go away, that this guy can run it in from 30 yards out, where Rashad White's not going to do that. Since 2019, 14 fantasy running backs finished top 10,

but at.75 fantasy points or fewer. And then 13 of those 14 dropped in fantasy points the next season. So it's a very fragile situation. I think I like Jason's take of, like, if he drops in a draft, I'm happy to take him. But where it is at ADP, I'm probably going to look at a wide receiver or maybe even a tight end. James Cook comes in at 12.

Or James Cook, baby. Yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, he's one behind Rashad White right now. Keep it that way, people. I talked a lot about the Buffalo offense and the question marks that I believe exist when I was bringing up Josh Allen earlier. Tough division. Sure, your offense worked for a little while,

but is Joe Brady going to get figured out? Here's what we can say. James Cook was an extremely effective player for this football team. 20 opportunities per game over the back half of the year as the offense turned into a running offense. Number one in yards before contact, super explosive. RB 11 on the year last year. There's tons of reasons to love James Cook this season.

Absolutely. The second half was fantastic. And we have seen – Kyle, the article is still on the website, right, about vacated targets and running backs? Still there. So you can go check that out at thefantasyfootballers.com. Tons and tons of articles going up there every day. But our team looked into it of vacated targets.

It's so easy for us to put the puzzle piece down. Oh, Stephon Diggs is gone, and he vacated whatever, a high 20% of the targets. Let's just put Keon Coleman in here, and we'll give him whatever 20-plus percent. It rarely works like that, and often we see the running back is the one who benefits the most from siphoning some of those things off. And James Cook, more than capable, should those targets go his way, I think that he would be an absolute steal at his ADP by the end of the year.

Yeah, I'm not going to overstate this. This stat sounds pretty cool. I'm not saying that James Cook is Brees Hall level, but Brees Hall last year had 318 opportunities and finished with 1,585 total yards. Amazing. James Cook last year had 291, way fewer opportunities, finished with 1,567 total yards. Almost the same as Brees Hall.

You don't remember how efficient he was. And he didn't score touchdowns. You know, he had two rushing touchdowns, six total. He had four receiving touchdowns you know he had two rushing touchdowns six total he had four receiving touchdowns so this is a player who in his second year was the running back 11 and now is becoming probably a more important piece of this offense going into his year three no Stefan Diggs probably more involved in the passing game and if a few more touchdowns go his way, he has a ceiling out there that I don't think people are seeing. Do you take any issue with Joe Brady referring to him as Jimbo?

So I would have taken issue with that if not for the fact that in him calling him Jimbo. Yeah, read the whole quote. Oh, is it in here? I've got it for you. I think from a running back, as long as they're able to drive their legs and play physical, it doesn't matter the size of the back. As you know, I feel confident with Jimbo all the way

down that it's third and one. So the question was talking about goal line backs and short yardage backs. And in fact, it started talking about Ray Davis, and he switched it over to talking about Jimbo that he's confident in fact, it started talking about Ray Davis, and he switched it over to talking about Jimbo, that he's confident in him even in short yardage.

And that would be amazing. I mean, obviously the goal line back here is Josh Allen. You're not going to have eight rushing touchdowns for James Cook, so that is a true cap. However, when he's on the field, he's going to be great for fantasy. And when the offensive coordinator shift happened he was phenomenal it is uh it's worth saying he had a 35 percent bust rate that was the that was tied with the 2022 Jamal Williams for the highest bust rate among top 12 running backs yeah but most of that I believe was during the first 10 weeks of the season when he wasn't doing

very well like the first you know you you went from 14 opportunities a game to over 20 when the offensive coordinator shift happened. And he scored 15 fantasy points a game. Are you telling me all his bus games came from his bad games? I'm saying that it was a different system. I'm saying that when the system changed, that is what we're going to see more of James Cook this year because it's that system coming over.

He wants to come from his good games, though. Yeah. It would be our true trick. The last thing to throw in for me is he was a second-round pick. In the NFL draft. The stench of his rookie year, I think, is still permeating the success of the second year for him. He is becoming the player that they hope they drafted.

Didn't he fumble on his first carry? Was he one of those guys? I'm pretty sure. I almost positive James Cook came in and fumbled on the first play of his career. Oh, yeah. Kyle is echoing you. Yeah. I mean, this year he becomes who he has always been, James Dalvin Cook.

It's his birth name. We got got it he forgot that Boston Devon 8 Chan comes in at 11 the last name we'll talk about today Jason you don't get to talk um just kidding he was your fire pick on the ice and fire show and you know Miami's fast, man. Miami is so fast. It's such a machine. The first half of these past couple of years have been incredible for the Dolphins. They just, people aren't ready for the speed. I don't know if it's the lack of practices.

I was, when I was watching the hard knocks, I just marveled at this conversation between Ibra Floos and Caleb Williams, and it was all about seven practices. It's like, wow, you had seven practices with this team, and you've made great strides. It's like, they don't practice enough, man. They don't anymore. And Miami hits the ground running every single year. His efficiency was out of this world. It wasn't all amazing games for Devon Achan.

Like we, you know, I don't know what the season looks like if you just take away the Denver game. 203 yards on the ground, and I think he had four touchdowns in that game. He did. That'll change things a little bit, but, you know, we saw some more variants over the back half of the year we saw the upside we also like Devon HN that there's a world where

Devon HN just doesn't get on certain games he doesn't get the touches you want him to get that's all I I think is worth saying yeah I mean I I talked him up on on the the fire episode if you want to go back and listen to him I I'm fully in. I spent the whole off season going back and forth because it's a dangerous pick. He's small, he's breakable. He got injured several times last year, but he's also electric. This is the first year coming in where he's not, you know, practicing for track and field in the 40 time he came in to be an NFL running back. And a lot's been made about that. And to answer your question, Andy, if you take away that insane Denver game and the game before when he was 10% snaps, the nine games he played,

he had a 17-game pace of over 1,100 rushing yards, over 300 receiving yards. He would have had a real, real nice season with double-digit touchdowns. That's without Denver. So A-Chan comes in. ADP's RB9, Jason. So are you offended by us having him at 11? I am

no. I am not. He's dangerous. He's a risky wildcard pick. I will be drafting him. He's dangerous. Anytime I get the opportunity I want him on my teams this year. That's one of those where it's like, you gotta be okay okay if you're wrong. And if you want to bypass him, you know, I talked about it earlier. If you want to get Reem Mostert later in the draft that you think he's a

good value. And so you're going to take someone else just to leave you that ammunition later. No problem with that. Is there a world though, Jay, where you take A-Chan in the second and then you just also take Mostert. Yes, there is a world where I would be willing to do that if it's at a good value. If Mostert is as late as I've seen him in some drafts where it's just like, what is he doing here? Yeah, grab him. A good pick is a good pick. Now, in the mock draft

we did head-to-head, I also had Tyreek Hill. So I'm like, okay, that's too much. What is a group of dolphins a pod pod yeah you didn't want a pod that was only pod three we're up to the pod four yeah no i'm on a roll here i am on a roll here you do mike yeah okay all right that was that was That was for you. But I didn't like it. Andy's face is of pure disgust. What does the Dolphin King think about having three dolphins on the same roster?

Would that be a mistake, Andy? Is there any more office jokes you want to slip into this conversation? We have a live show on Los Angeles, BallersLive.com, if you want to come see Mike and I. Ballerslive.com in LA on August 24th. Tickets are available. Lower level is pretty sold out, but the mezzanine seats are beautiful. They're great up there.

That's where Mike, or rather Jason will, if we let him come, he will shoot a bunch of autograph memorabilia and shirts and things up into the crowd. And it will be some sweet signed jerseys to shoot up there. It'll be a lot of fun. And again, that is presented by our friends at sleeper.

So excited to partner with them on the live show. And then a pristine auction and fantasy cares also partners there. Ballers live.com for the 10th anniversary Megalus show. It is a great time. Do you think anyone has ever been irresponsible enough to take to take actual signed

memorabilia and shoot it out of a cannon? No. Nice. No, but you'll be doing that. I can't imagine. We have our top 10 running backs on tomorrow's show, Friday episode, and so looking forward to counting down the rest of those quarterback and tight end rankings next week

tips and tricks episodes next week and the my guys episode coming next week as well because guess what it's football time it's football time it's football time alright that'll do it for today's episode of the show Football time. It's football time. It's football time. All right.

That'll do it for today's episode of the show. Thank you for listening to us. Oh, yeah. Enduring. We love you. Catch you tomorrow. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast.

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