Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - The TRUTH: Top 10 Fantasy RBs + Wheel of Shame - Fantasy Football Podcast for 1/22

Episode Date: January 22, 2026

Fantasy Football show for Jan 22, 2026. The TRUTH series continues! A deep dive look at the top running backs from the 2025 fantasy football season! Consistency ranks, week-winning performances, and tons more. Plus, the latest NFL News, and find out who must spin the Wheel of Shame! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast.Connect with the show:Subscribe on YouTubeVisit us on the WebSupport the ShowFollow on XFollow on InstagramJoin 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. Welcome in Thursday, January 22nd. Welcome into the fantasy footballers podcast. Mike Wright is here, Jason Moore, the goat himself, Andy Holloway. I think it's the hat. Look at his hat. Oh. Yeah.

Self-proclaimed goat? It's just a Christmas present. I mean, I don't know if he's proclaiming he is a goat or it's just stating there's a goat on my hat. There's a goat. Only the goat would eat two hot dogs for lunch. Oh, baby, hot dog lunch. Hot dog lunch. I ordered three, so I had a lot of self-control.

Wait, so you left the hot dog? Yeah, I didn't know how big they were going to be. I think that's a good strategy. Right? Order one more than you should eat. Yeah, because you know. what Jason did? He didn't finish it. That's right.

He was like, no, if I only ordered... It's too much. If I only ordered two giant hot dogs and I ate them, then I ate everything I ordered. But if I ordered three and I eat two... You showed self-control. Absolutely. What a... Because here's the thing I was...

I was... It's not just to make yourself feel better. Yeah. Well, it's not just to make yourself feel better. I was asking... No, he feels terrible. Yeah, no, it doesn't make you feel good. Do you feel? No, I feel awful. I feel like I ate two giant hot.

dogs. But one of the tips for fitness that I was just getting from Chad GBT was eat 70% of your meal. Oh, so smart. I'm at 66%. That's what I'm saying. How do I not lose weight if I keep ordering that much? It's pretty scientific. Oh, man, we figured out a pretty, I got a new diet coming out of America. Get ready. Your lunch could have been 1,700 calories. Yeah. But it wasn't. No way. Because you stop. Because I'm not going to go all the way and eat. That bad. No. No, you did a great job and we're glad you're here. There may be weird sounds emitting from your microphone, but that's okay. It's not from the microphone.

We got NFL news to talk about. We have the truth of the running back position on today's show. We have another fantasy face off and a Jason Moore Wheel of Shame dominating the Wheel of Shame. Okay, okay. This is not fair. During the playoffs. This is not fair. I'm the shame every week, but what's happening, everybody, is I'm tying. You're tying. Yes, Mike won this week, Andy and I tied. And so we had to win.

It's a win. Yeah. Mike went two for three because one of us was a tie. Yes. Yes. He won. Anyways. Two out of three hot dogs for Mike. The last two times that I have been the shame, I have not been the soul shame.

I tied and I lost in a pistachio throwing contest. It's actually twice. was pistachio once you lost the tiebreaker. Oh no, you didn't lose because yeah, yeah, I got you. I'm just saying the, the, the pistachio off, which we're doing around the, the studio, throwing a pistachio closer to the wall. I'm not as good as Andy at that. I'm just going to say it.

You're better at throwing a pistachio than I am. Thank you. I've been waiting for that for a long time. But it sucks that now I get shamed. You can, you can pick a new game. Annie. Oh. If we have like a few of them, anything you want to throw, we'll throw it.

Oh, I don't do paper. No, no, I want to do any game. He doesn't want to throw. I want to do tick, you can't take to. well that's just that's a lame that's a lame game it's not infinite the point is there's one way to win jason is getting shame today yeah so you can look forward to that it's it's it's more hot dogs you will be in a hot dog outfit no we're bringing the third dog out yeah uh mike still on the table you've got an announcement for us yes i do foot gland it's time to assemble we have something we need to

help or we need you to help us out. Go to footclanvote.com. The annual FSGA awards are going on right now. It's the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association, you know, industry we're a part of. And every year they do a best social media award. And it is a vote award. So we really need you to go out. Click footclan vote or go to footclanvote.com.

It'll be really, really fast. It's just like a survey monkey thing. I promise it'll take you two minutes at the most. And assuming we win with the Foot Clan, who are strong and mighty, Matt the Falcon, our social media director, doesn't get fired. So maybe don't vote? Is that what you're saying? I don't want to sway people to not vote.

Wait, did I convince people to not vote? I do feel like you talk people out of doing this. Now if we lose, he will remain on board. Okay. All right. So if you want him out, go vote right now. Okay, there we go. Either way, go vote. Yeah. And we'll get rid of them. We'll do whatever you want.

No matter what the results are, we'll get rid of them. Totally up to you what you want us to do. If we win, I will put a poll up that says, should I fire Matt? And then I'll just, whatever the poll says, that's what we do. Let's check him with Matt real quick. Oh, he's not here. Pre-fired. He's not here to do. Interesting.

Footclanvote.com. Thank you very much. Quick question of the day. David writes in from the website, among the remaining playoff teams, which players, teams, and storylines are you rooting for the most? We have the Patriots and Broncos game, Jared Stedham. We have the Seahawks and the Rams. I am, I've got a reason. You left yours blank.

I don't even know what it is. Because you don't know? You want me to go first? No, I'm not a lack for words. I'm just, I don't really. You don't care. I don't really want any of them to win. If I had to choose,

is New England. I'd pick New England to win because I'm a Drake May fan. I'm a Mike Vrabble fan. But then in the back of my head, I'm like, they've had enough winning. They don't need more winning. Then there's only one team for you to choose. And that's the team that I... Jared said them? Yes. I want the Broncos to make... I don't like

Sean Payton. Everyone upset. I don't like Sean Payton at all. That's true. You don't. I do. I think Broncos fans are awesome, so I want it for them. Love the city of Denver. It's delightful. It's a good person. And so, and I like the team. I like Bo Nix.

That story of losing the story of having your backup come in, Nick Foles-esque and, like, win a championship. I don't believe that the Broncos are going to win the Super Bowl. I think they can, but that's where it's like the most fun outcome for me. So would you say you're rooting for them? Would you say you're rooting for the Broncos to win? I say. Because I will open this can up on this show right now.

There was a problem with. the definition of a word. They're meaning something. And Jason defined it in his own. No, I did it. His own upside down. Are you rooting? No, I just hope that they win.

Yes. That's rude. No, but the thing is, you were like, you think the realistic chance of a team winning is tied into rooting. That's insane. All right. Hold on. If we're going to open the bag of worms. I do agree with you.

If we're opening the bag of worms, you got to get it right. This was, this was right after the injury. and my point was, if I knew that the Broncos... Let him do it, man. I know. Just listen to my case. Just listen to the case. Okay.

If I knew that the Broncos would win the Super Bowl, right? They, like, go forward in time, they won. That would be like my favorite... With Stiddy. With Stiddy, obviously. After Bonex goes down, that would be my favorite outcome. Because I don't believe they can win in the Super Bowl, I do think they can beat the Patriots.

I don't think they'll win in. in the Super Bowl, I kind of, I don't want that to be the actual game I watch. I think the most fun game would be Drake May against Sam, not Sam Donald, I would think Matthew Stafford, Drake May is the most fun Super Bowl. Therefore, I'm kind of rooting for the Patriots to win that game. I'm not actually rooting for the Broncos, but my favorite outcome would actually be the Broncos winning the Super Bowl. Both of those two things.

one that you hope is the outcome, you're not rooting for that team. Correct. Okay. All right. Now the people out there know exactly what we were dealing with. And by the way, let me just say this. Papa Josh immediately wrote, I feel like I'm looking in the mirror with a dumb argument, which should alarm you.

It has very alarming. That should alarm you. You root, to me, rooting is all about, it doesn't matter the probability of winning. It's who you'd want to see win the most, which you said is the Broncos. You'd want the Broncos to win the most. I will say this. It is such a fascinating thing in sports when as soon as a game starts, and no matter what you thought prior to kickoff,

all of a sudden you know exactly who you're rooting for. This happened to me with the Bears. You realize that they were the team you wanted to win. 100% last week. I mean, the game started, and I had said earlier that I was literally rooting for the other team, but as soon as it started, there was no doubt. My heart wanted. I think it's because you don't know what rooting means.

It is pretty unanimous on that opinion. I think I can root for a lot of things. Mike, my heart is bigger than yours. We'll study his brain for science later on. I'm rooting for nobody. I'm bitter. I'm rooting for Buffalo. I'm rooting for Buffalo.

I am in on the Denver Broncos and Jay Stiddy. Just the chaos. The chaos that would ensue would be very, very fun. I'm not rooting for any of the NFC West teams. I can't do that. Okay. So just jump to Broncos. Sure.

Sure. I'm rooting for... I'm rooting for Ken Bone Walker who now has an opportunity to get the bag. Yeah, so is Andy. Get the bag. Go get a starting feature roll. You know what? Do it on the biggest stage. You just

helped me figure out who I'm rooting for. You're rooting for the C-Ox aren't you? You're putting it into fantasy football. I've got Ken Bone Walker on my main league team. That's my new... That's who I'm going for it. How crazy is it to think that the incredible draft, the incredible NFL My guy, Ken Bone Walker, Andy's guy.

Yeah. It's happened. What were you saying? How Incredible is what? So, was I think the 2018 draft where Josh Allen was drafted, I think was Lamar in that draft class? Yes, he was.

Like 20. Baker. Yep. Darnold. Wait, wait. That's my point. Who's going to win the first Super Bowl? Is it Josh Allen or Lamar? No, it Right now it seems like a Sam Darnold has the best chance. It's not Josh Rosen.

No. He was. Oh, man, there were a lot of wins and won Josh Rosen in that draft. We will, uh, we'll go ahead. What did we get? That one. News and notes from around the league. Well, we'll have coaching news probably every show for a while.

The more exciting offensive coordinator options out there, Mike McDaniel of the formerly the Dolphins head coach. The report, was it Shepter? It's out there. It was a little bit of everybody. The expectation is he will become the Chargers next offensive coordinator. This is good. Greg Roman was let go. Very disappointing playoffs once again for Herbert and the Chargers.

If Mike McDaniel ends up with Miami, or sorry, with Los Angeles, I think that's pretty exciting and everyone would agree on that. Yes. Yeah, I mean, you... Makes me happy for Hampton. It's like Hampton and... And Gadsden, we just talked about Gadsden on today's Dynasty podcast, which we recorded that yesterday, so we didn't have this Mike McDaniel news.

And it's like, it's nothing for sure, of course, that McDaniel would come in and be like, oh, no, Gadsden, I need to, I need to have some real offensive packages surrounding him. Like, you know, we had a few of those in Miami. It's not for sure. But you have, you have hope because you have. proof of concept that there were great players on the Miami Dolphins and then out of nowhere

Jonu Smith is the one who's just dominating. So this is super exciting. The Herbros around the nation are they should be celebrated. Yeah, I mean, a couple of seasons ago Tua led the NFL in passing.

We don't even really think of it like that that this dolphin's offense was the most passing orders. They were the high NFL. And so getting Herbert and the weapons that this team has, which, you know, other than than Keenan Allen, are very young and explosive. I'm very, oh, I love Tray Harris. I love what he did even this season with the running game in Devon H.N. in Miami as well. I just feel like his running schemes, they work out. So that makes me excited for the whole offense.

We found out, I guess this would be what, criminal charges are not going to be filed against Jordan Addison. Which that's great. He's preparing for a civil claim. arising from the wrongful arrest. Oh, he's going to file his own civil case. Yes, yeah. Against what he's alleging to be a wrongful arrest. Brandon Bean said Josh Allen may need a procedure on his foot, but if he does, he will be ready for OTAs.

This would be the Buffalo Bill's superstar general manager, Brandon Bean. This is not in the dock, guys, but it's too amazing to me. This whole, like the fiasco of McDermott being let go, and Brandon Bean retaining his job, promoted, promotes, thank you, improving his job in spite of the fact that Brandon Bean, when it comes to drafting, has not been good.

He has not been good for the Buffalo Bills, and then more stuff starts to leak out that, oh man, there was like him and McDermott, kind of got a little heated of McDermott thinking, I don't have the right staff to win a Super Bowl. That would upset the general. general manager I get. And then yesterday, you had everything coming out of there was a press conference with

Brandon Bean and the owner of the bills. And the owner starts going, hey, because Keon Coleman comes up. And it's like, you guys need to leave Brandon Bean alone on that one. The coaching staff wanted Keon Coleman. This was not Brandon Bean's guy. This was the coaching. He's like throwing the McDermen. and crew under the bus.

And since then, we just have a steady trickle of draft videos behind the scenes of Brandon Bean highlighting who's the guy that we're going to draft. It is for sure. Who gets the kind of if Keon Coleman had been great. Oh, Brandon Bean does. Brandon Bean is a genius there, huh?

Like, this is... What's craziest about that situation to me, now it's really funny looking at the receipts. The receipts that are coming out showing that this was obviously not just like you're a liar. The coaching staff running... You're a liar.

But the craziest part is Keon Coleman is under contract. You're bodying your own player. Like, oh, dude, the general manager did not want Keonan Coleman. That guy sucks. He's your wider. He's under contract. He's probably watching your press coverage. It's definitely gotten back to him. Brandon Bean.

Mr. Bean, which is his new name. Oh, we're going, Mr. Bean. He's missed. I am. That is his name. Exactly. Totally for this. It's respectful of us. Mr. Bean. Yeah. There is no other. reasoning to me

other than he has you know in Aladdin Jafar has his staff right yeah and the sultan is just under under the spell that's the only thing I could think of that is going on for brand to be he's like no Sean McDermott wanted Keon Coleman

and he's like yeah but I'm watching this video no you are not Sean McDermott wanted Keon Coleman oh my gosh Mr. Bean can't want to follow this it is good stuff pretty unprecedented when the player's still on the team to talk about how much of a whiffy is. Unredeemable, man. It's an unredeemable pick at this point.

The only thing is fun is the Mr. Bean GM situation is the Giants GM situation where they hire Harbaugh and Harbaugh. Oh, yeah. This has been such a fun time. Yes, it really has. And the issue of why John Harbaugh does not work for Bidwell and the Cardinals. A hundred percent. And so the, the hardship in getting the. contract signed was apparently he needed to know that he has final say

over who is it Joe Joe Schmo Joe Schmo Joe Schmo Joe Schmo their GM that's right and then the quotes that have been coming out from that guy first of all when he introduced Harbaugh at the press conference he looked like the most nervous man on the planet I have

I have presented I've given speeches in the midst of a panic attack that's what it sounds like where you just you can't talk. You can't get air. You can't catch your breath. And then he was asked later. I would just surprised he's not excited.

Right. Well, because he's... Why is that a nerve-wracking one? I think it's because... How about the press conference when you're like, I traded Sequin? That one you should be hyperventilating. He is holding on for dear life for his power.

Did you, yeah, did you hear what he said about the... I'm still very important here. When he was talking about, well, you know, question about Harbaugh's can... This was the hold of the final say. And he's like, Yeah, it's really no big deal. Yeah. It's just a thing on paper.

It doesn't really matter. It's just a thing on paper? It's just a contractually binding thing that says, I don't have the final say anymore. But I am still a very important person. I drive a Dodge Stratis. Dude, it's the, it's, uh, I'm one of the people here. It's Star Lord and Thor. He's like, he's like, oh no, we all, we all know who's in charge here.

Of course. The 49ers announced they want to re-sign John Jennings and John Lynch said it's safe to say he's played his last snap with the 49ers. Speaking of Brandon Ayuk. Oh, yeah. So Brandon Ayuk is, yeah, we know he's not. I don't know if he's ever going to play football again. I really don't.

I think he's going to lose so much money. He's going to need to play football again. Probably right there. But that'll do it for the news. We will take a break and jump right into the truth. You want answers? I think I'm entitled. You want answers.

I want the truth. You can't handle the truth. Well, the last couple of episodes we've looked at the quarterback position. Today we're looking at the top 10 running backs and looking at the truth. If you're new to this series, we are basically taking a look at how fantasy players finished at the position and what their true value was to your team by way of consistency, week in and week out performances. And, you know, we have a different threshold for what a great, a good, and a bust game are for each position group. And so we walk through and tell you what we found.

kind of a post-mortem on the season, a chance to look at the reality and the truth of the situation. We like to give a little bit of overview information every year. We did this with the quarterback position on how the running backs performed over the course of the year. Interestingly enough, this was the second most total rushing fantasy points, so not talking about running backs performing in the passing game, but the second most total rushing fantasy points for running back since 2011.

So that was a big year in terms of just rushing the football. Rushing touchdowns, too. Yes, yes. They were, it's the second most rushing touchdowns by running backs in that span as well. 23 different running backs hit 7 plus rushing touchdowns. The average over this last decade was 17. I thought it was also interesting, though, that the running back position has been less efficient as a receiver.

It's the fewest running back receiving yard since 2011. I don't know if you guys have thought processes as to why that's happened. I mean, I think that they're more zone. More zone defense? Yeah. I mean, I think there's some also some highly prolific pass catching running backs that have phased out of fantasy. Like we had a lot of years with like Echler, right, where he was just one that comes to mind.

But that makes sense. Only seven running backs this year caught 50 or more passes. That's really surprising. I feel like in the modern NFL with this. them throwing the ball so much more, you would expect it to not be going that way. But it's actually been a trend over the last few years. It's kind of been lower and lower each of the last couple of years. So I expect when you look at a long enough chart, those things ab and flow and they go

backwards and forwards. So I would expect an uptick in receiving for the running back position next year over what it was this year. I would also expect the health to change because running backs can't stay healthy predominantly for like the history of the NFL until the last two years they are incredibly healthy once again in 2025 you want to look at the games played from the top guys you know bejean a full season sequin gibbs christian mcalfrey derrick henry ashen jen jen like everybody was just healthy the whole season um well you guaranteed it the majority i did for beijon um and uh you know i don't

see enough of those clips i was 100% sure CMC would be healthy the whole year yeah he sure never end out. But yeah, it was why, I mean, I remember this show over several years where we are talking about that how few players, usually like in the top 20 running backs, only two guys played a full season. Right. Like that is more normal than what happened last year and this year, which I do think, you know, now that it's back-to-back seasons, maybe this pushes running backs even further up draft boards next year. because you just think whatever just happened will happen again and it usually doesn't.

Yeah, I do think the defense is and what they're doing right now in the NFL played a part. I also always like in a neutral situation where you're not swinging the pendulum back and forth. I think since this show started, I much prefer taking running backs in the first round of the draft. That's how I want to build my team. Injuries can like sway your emotions year to year,

but in a situation of true neutrality where like, look, let's be honest, anybody can get hurt at any position at any time. And we're all going to blow picks in the first, you know, 10 to 12 in the draft because some injuries are going to happen. About 50% of the first round will be bad. Like, I mean, I think this year is a perfect example of like the power of the dominant running back was on display. Why? When it works out, when you take that chance on that position group, and we'll be getting

into the truth of the wide receiver position and maybe your opinion will change on it. It just showed, I think, you know, Christian McCaffrey this year, Bejohn Robinson, difference makers, Devon H.N. on a week-to-week basis, Jonathan Taylor for the majority of the year, when you take those players and they are healthy, you're very, very safe and secure on a week-to-week basis. Now, looking at the running back truth data, thresholds, great games are 21 plus points, good games, 12 plus points, bus games fewer than seven. We don't count missed games against their consistency score. We don't have to spend a long time here, but we might because there's a

dude sitting across for me that might need his time to celebrate. Number one in total fantasy points. Number one in consistency. Number one in the first half. Number one in the second half. At 29 years old. Yeah. 47% great. So almost

50% of the time he gave you a performance of 21 or more fantasy points. That's absurd. Zero bust games and 88% good games. Arguably the most complete performance of his career, even if not the most dominant. Christian McCaffrey, 311 for

1202 and 10 on the ground and a nice 102 and 924 and 7 through the air, two positions in one I mean what can you say? Unfair. Unfair. I mean it's just it's literally two positions in one.

If you just use his receiving stats only and he doesn't touch the ball on the ground he would have been the wide receiver 11. He would have been a wide receiver 1 and then he also gets all the rushing stats that on his own would be. I mean, it's just outlandish. He didn't really score too many touchdowns. No, it wasn't like.

He was number one everywhere, but this was 10 rushing touchdowns. I think he had seven receiving? He had seven receiving. That's not crazy. Those numbers are not crazy. For the volume, correct. I'm just saying for the volume, like you talk about. Well, a couple of years ago they were giving him the like, what was it,

the cumulative games in a row with a touchdown. They were forcing the issue. who's breaking records. I mean, he's ebbed and float on the ground, but like his last full healthy season, he was at 14 on the ground. That same season, he had seven through the air. It's his third highest season in touchdowns,

if I'm doing the quick math. Yeah, he missed. When he's healthy, though. Yeah. Like when he finished number one at the position, let's put it that way. He finished number one this year, right? His previous two number one finishes 15 and 14 on the ground.

It was just... It was not nearly as effective on the ground. Not a lot of big plays, right? Injuries, yeah, especially the big plays on the ground that we saw, that we're used to as a San Francisco 49er, those really were not there. Yards per carry, do you know what it is? It was 3.9, I think. Yeah.

So that stinks, especially when you, you know, two years ago, very, very small sample, but I think he was at four in that year. Kittle did miss a lot of time. He was at 5.4. Oh, is that five? Two years? Last year in his like barely limited work he was at four. That's what I was thinking of it.

His last healthy season was five points. It was only four games. And Kittle, when Kittal was out for the 49ers, it's a really, really big deal, which. Going into next year. It'll be a big deal for next year because he'll have the Achilles injury. You should trade him to me. McCaffrey's inefficiencies. He next year will, I, like, I can't imagine I won't be in on Christian McCaffrey, but I don't know if he'll be,

I'll be in on him. Let me help you. Well, Bejohn's going to be the top one pick, but it's like Gibbs. You know, a... Yeah, Montgomery could be gone. There's... If Gibbs was alone, there are... Jamar Chase, if you want to go wide receiver, you know. I'm just pure running backs.

There's going to be guys that I will consider over McCaffrey next year. Underdog shared this. This was Christian McCaffrey's third time topping 400 touches in a season. Obviously, he's been a workforce many times. also a scary number. The other two times that he did it, the following season he played three games and four games. Yeah. That was kind of the arguments.

How do you think he is so fresh at 29 years old? Off seasons? Yeah, full year off seasons. What if they did that proactively for somebody? Yeah. Just every other year. Like, we're going to get a good draft pick this year. You're going to sit out.

You're going to be healthy for next year. We're going to have more ammunition. Now, it's obviously the touch. threshold is not everything. There's a bunch of other variables, but if you want to put that into action, you know, last year, Sequin Barclay on that huge season where he's just touching the ball like every play, that was one of the red flags. He's a bit older.

He hit this number that that we have seen statistically when running backs hit this number of this threshold of carries and touches. Things don't really go well the next year. You realize this was a career high, by the way. for touches? That makes sense. 440. It makes sense.

And they had, the whole team was hurt. Like the wide receiver room was just devastated for about half the year. And then you won't, you won't have kiddle going into next year. You might have some more wide receivers that they bring in because they either need to resign Jennings or draft somebody or do both. Pierce always hurt all year, like you said. We'll see. Having said all of those things, I mean, he's great. He's great.

The receiving numbers, he would have been a wide receiver one with just the receiving work. He will still be able to do that. Maybe the big players are gone for the ground. It's more inefficient. But he's still going to catch the ball a ton. Number two, Jonathan Taylor in fantasy points. His consistency rank, though, was number five. And it's really a tale of two halves for Jonathan Taylor.

The first half, he was the number four in consistency. You had one, two, three. Bejohn didn't catch him. You had four different number one overall finishes before week 10 by week 10. For Jonathan Taylor. In the second half, his highest finish on a week was running back 13, 41% great, 65% good, 12% bus games, 11 fantasy points less against top defenses. If you look at that first half of the year, he did dominate Denver's defense, but then it was like Tennessee twice. His two number one overall finishes, Tennessee twice, Atlanta once, Las Vegas.

So, you know, it got tougher in the second half, and you lost. lost Daniel Jones. It was a bold. It's really tough to know how he would have done. Obviously, week two against Denver's awesome offense when they were with Daniel Jones. He was the number one running back on the week that week. It's a shame that when they played Houston and Jacksonville twice and Seattle, these great defenses at the end of the year, we didn't get to see what the real Colts would have done with Jonathan Taylor. Houston twice, Jacksonville, twice Seattle and Kansas City. The Kansas, so week 12, 13, that's Kansas City, Houston. Those were Daniel Jones games.

12 and 13? Yeah. Okay. So the Houston, one of the Houston games. So two Jacksonville's in Seattle and the Houston. The injury was the beginning of the Jacksonville game. It's tough. I mean, you don't, you didn't have the threat. You had the Rivers games. But this is not like, like we know this. Like Johnson Taylor was the number one overall fantasy running back in 2021. He's been through the dark ages at quarterback.

You got some life from Daniel Jones. And suddenly he's the number one back. again. But that disparity between top and bottom defense is worth paying attention to if you don't have the threat in the passing game. And then home road splits. He was 10 points better at home. It was like a lot.

Like a pretty huge disparity in both of those situations. Yeah, you don't want it. It's very normal, but that large of a split for both is. At home against the bad defense, you better count on a boom game. And then the question of what's the quarterback situation? Daniel Jones, as of this recording, is not under contract. recovering from Achilles surgery. I think we all project he'll be on the team

if it's just a franchise or tag or something else. But to start the year, for the first month, it might be Riley Leonard. I was going to say Anthony Richardson. Or Anthony Richardson. Oh, yeah, he had the busted eye. I mean, I think there's a good chance that those guys are placeholders until Daniel Jones can come back.

And I think the team would be even happier, assuming it's like a one-year deal with Dan. Daniel Jones, a redemption deal, a chance to go back to the market, which maybe somebody pays him more than that elsewhere, but they'd love to see Richardson do well. If next year is kind of an inverse of this year, because he doesn't have the healthiest version of the Colts to start, Daniel Jones, maybe doesn't start week one. And when he comes back in week four or five, he's not completely ready. But maybe the second half of the year, the Colts are clicking. I would be so, like if you ended up having the exact season Jonathan Taylor had this,

this year in reverse. Where at the beginning of the year, he was ho-hum. He was good, not great. It was like a running back two. He wasn't crushing you any of those weeks. You know, all those tough matchups without Daniel Jones. It was the running back 20, 22, 17, 13. Like, you're fine.

But then the rest of the season, you go on that heater through the playoffs. And we would be talking about him as the league winner right now. So he's got that potential in him. Yeah, I like that. So next year, I'm going to be very bullish towards Jonathan Taylor. So Anthony Richardson, I just did a quick look. We have, I'm seeing 15 documented starts. He has surpassed 270 passing yards one time.

He did it. I bring that up because Riley Leonard in that last game of the year, threw for 270. Now it's last game, wacky stuff happens. He looked okay in his opportunities this year. But that will be, I think it'll be a camp battle between Leonard and, Richardson. That was the game against the Texans, right?

Let me double check it. Richardson completed one pass this year to himself. Impressive. That was it. Yeah, final week was against Jacksonville. Bijon Robinson at number three. Nope, that was last year. Sorry. Houston, you're right. I want to get it right, man.

Bejohn Robinson was number three, consistency rank of number three. First half, number five inconsistency, second half number three inconsistency. Jason guaranteed the instructable indestructible, Bejan Robinson, it happens, 17 games played. 12% bused games. He had two bus games.

One was week 18? Yeah, who cares? 76% good games. 47% great games. If you compare it to last year, very similar. Last year was 38% great, 81% good with no bust games. Honestly, his season was very, very comparable to last year.

He dominated bad defenses. The good defenses, he was not. point differential, which was significant. Like if you, this is very common for the running back position in general. Don't be alarmed by any of that. I mean, CMC was six points worse against good defenses. Jonathan Taylor was 11 worse. You don't want huge splits on both sides of defenses and home road.

No, and Bijin was even on the home road situation. He was great. I mean, he had a couple of those more significant breakaway game winning, week winning type of performances towards the back of the season, number one overall in week 13, and then four, seven, and two in the playoffs. So, you know, I don't know how much there is to say about him. He's just dominant. I think the back half, if we look at him being better, he was great with Michael Pennix. He was on pace for over 2,000 all-purpose yards and 70 receptions. You were so thrilled with what you were getting from him with Michael Pennix. But he was even better with Kirk

Cousins. What do you think they do? Because I've seen I've seen more comments now about Cousins being their starter next year. I don't know if they will have a choice health-wise. Panics not being ready? Right. It was the same ACL, right?

We have a new re-injury of it. Kyle, am I remembering that right? Kyle would be the one to know. It was, what, week 11? Partially torn left ACL? They were five and two with Kirk Cousins once he started. They won four in a row to end the season and tie for the division lead.

Cousin's best chance to start is to at least start a little bit of the season for Atlanta. Absolutely. But there's a deadline, right? When's the deadline for the money? Yeah, there's a renegotiation. They did something with the contract where it's the, like right around league year starting. They have to make a decision. Yeah, he was Bejohn, number one in force miss tackles on rush attempts,

number one in yards after contact, number one in all running backs, in percentage of teams first read targets. Number one in awesome per play. Yes. Like, just when you watch and you go, oh, that was awesome. Like on a per play basis. Nobody can cut like him, man. It's unbelievable.

No, he is very unique. So the Michael Pennix was he tore. Stay safe. He store. I make no future predictions on him. Pennix tore his right ACL twice in college. So, and then this one was a partially torn on the left. Oh, just to even it out.

Yeah, it's not great. And what does the team do with Tynexel? Tyler Algier. Who will be a free agent. Yes. Yes. They bring him into Seattle to be the new Charbonnet for Walker for you. That's what they do. The most upsetting thing about...

I mean, Al Jair's a great player. Algiers will be very good. He's a good player. He is eight rushing touchdowns. The problem is twofold. That feels bad. Sometimes you get really frustrated when a player, who is inferior on the goal line is getting used on the goal line because maybe he's bigger or something. But this wasn't a bad thing to do for the Falcons.

Alger was really good on the goal line and they constantly used him to success, which is what hurts the most about Bijon. Because if Bejohn had all the opportunity inside the five that say Christian McCaffrey got percentage wise of his team or Jonathan Taylor got percentage wise of his team, Bijon Robinson would probably be the number one running back on this season. For sure it would have been. Number four, Jemir Gibbs, 23 years old. Consistency rank of 11 for Jemir Gibbs.

It was not a pleasant fantasy playoffs for Gibbs. Right before that, he was pretty much on fire. He had two number one finishes, weeks 12 and 14. But a consistency gap of, you know, four to 11. That's a big deal. in the first half he was 12th in consistency, eighth in the second half. It got better. There's talk of David Montgomery and the team parting

because Montgomery is a good player. It's the unfortunate situation that who do you want on the field? You want Gibbs on the field. You just can't, it's a little bit like Ramandre and Trevion to a degree. I think Trevion, you know that

he can go to the house on any play. Now, I think Romandre has more Fundamentals. Romondra has more big play upside than Montgomery. Well, and I think he also just does some of the other stuff better than Trayvon. Like right now, Gibbs does everything that Gibbs, like if they do a contest, Gibbs run around, Monty run around. Monty runs a good round. It ain't as good as Gibbs.

Yeah. Break away, all that stuff. So look, if he departs, I think Gibbs enters a new category. Right? We've been sitting here, the committee, the committee back situation forever. his percentage of good games went down this year. His percentage of bus games went up this year. Great games were about the same.

He was worse by 10 points against bad defenses, and he was seven points better at home. Man, I'm looking through the names, and I don't want to reveal all the other names just yet because we're doing a countdown type thing here. The variables with... Count up. The variables with...

pretty much every player we're talking about is wild. Like McCaffrey, not coaching, but you have the George Kittle stuff and all the touches. Jonathan Taylor has a quarterback problem. B. John Robinson has a coaching change happening. Yes, he does. Jemir Gibbs has a coaching change with Drew Petzing as his new OC. Devon H.N. is next. He has a coaching change. This is very interesting.

Yeah. Yep. The nice week, 10 to 14, was insane for Gibbs. It was awesome. Tough division. Tough divisional opponents on the defensive side. Gibbs has every ability. Like, he's one of the guys that you would say could finish number one. Absolutely.

So that's the nice thing. This guy could too. Devon A. Chan, again, new coach situation coming his way. But let's give him his flowers. Yeah, never tell me the odds. Number five. He weighs like 162 pounds or something. He's so good, man.

consistency rank of number two. The second most consistent running back in the game. 94% good games with no busts. Man. Always has breakaway potential. 19% great games. Less of a split against bottom and top defense is so integral to the offense. They have a new head coach, a defensive-minded head coach.

What their offense looks like, we're going to find out who they bring in there to run it. Better at home. But this was the picture of consistency. We have, if you go to the fantasy footballers.com, you search the player profile. You can see the color-coded map of every single game in the game log. She green, baby. Yeah, it's, I can promise you, I don't need to go to the page to see he's an A in consistency. Yeah, that's correct.

So, you know, what more can you say about a guy who overcame drama on the ball club all the time, losses, all that stuff? You always want to be winning, right? Well, they weren't winning. He was still producing. For our consistency score, you guessed that he was an A. but what percentage of games do you think that he had an acceptable game? 100. That would be correct.

100%. He was unbelievable. And two years ago, there were worries after, because McDaniel's been on the hot seat for a while. It's like, what if the coaching staff changes here? Because the reason we loved A. Chan when he was drafted, far more than we loved him literally the day before, was this is a perfect scheme to use his skill set, his four, three, two. speed. And there were worries back then of like if it wasn't that match, A-chan might not be very good for fantasy football as an undersized back that maybe gets only used in the receiving

game a little bit or it doesn't get the open lanes. He has been so good through his three seasons that I have zero worry about a new regime coming in. He is one of the elite special talents in the NFL. He's established that. So whatever coaching staff is coming in, they're now going to look at this player and say we're building our offense around him predominantly. I mean, who else on this team are you saying we're building the offense around? Not Waddle. No. And he might be next, but some of the rumored names, one of the ones coming to life. These are if they don't get head coaching jobs, but like OCs. OC potentials that I'm that I'm reading about here from some Miami beatwriters. They just talk through the idea, Joe Brady,

right? Like Joe Brady could end up as an offensive coordinator for them. Daibel would be somebody that they could be interested in. Anthony Lynn, if you remember him as a head coach. He's now a running game coordinator. That might be interesting. Mike Kafka, who is the offensive coordinator for the Giants. But now that job is probably gone with Harbaugh, Kingsbury, Mannion, Munkin, if he doesn't go to New York. So there's some, okay, names.

There's options. I am, I'm not as far to bullish as Jason is. I have no concerns about the player or the talent, but if you get an OC in here who is a diehard running back by committee, and it's like, no matter what, this is just how I do it. And then I think I'll be a little more nervous. I'm more nervous about the quarterback. There is that too.

That's my biggest, because if they, are they going to be one of those players? Is it Gino Smith in Miami, right? Oh, blah, blah. I don't think it'll be Gino. It seems like it will certainly not be Tua. Well, it could just be Quinn U. And they won too many games to be, and really, as of right now, it's like Mendoza in the draft. And no one else is really interesting.

Man, that's what I mean. I don't know what they do. I feel like Tua had that nerve in his brain that was firing like one, two, three, A-chin. And so you want to see somebody come in with that rapport, but he is too good, in my opinion. That's where I side with Jason, where he's just too good to not. The differentiator between him and the rest of the group and the offense, it's a lot like Gibbs to me in Miami. All right, we'll take a break and we'll run through 6 through 10.

So just a real quick follow of H&, interesting stat from, so 2025, he had one rushing touchdown inside the 5. That's for someone that consistent scoring that many face, which feels impossible. He had five carries inside the 5 and one, touchdown from there. But to me, that's only positive news. He was not reliant on, you know.

He also wasn't a 95 reception guy. He was a 67 reception guy. So he still did it on the ground. Right. It wasn't like you're looking at him dipping from 95 to, you know, in a different offense. Yeah, I mean, that's the nice thing. He proved he can do it on the ground.

We already knew he could do it through the air. I think there are enough ways to get this talented of a player involved that the new coaching staff, whoever it is, they'll do a good job. The NFL's leading rusher comes in at number six. James Cook, over 1,600 yards on the ground. Consistency rank was number four. Really, the story of James Cook is one of the steals of the draft. I mean, a third round draft pick that finishes in the top six,

really number four in consistency. It was even on both sides, first half, second half. Again, going to have a new offensive coordinator. So we'll see what happens in Buffalo. But he proved the story of James Cook, that he proved himself to be a true workhorse dominator. Yeah, I was more on the side of I didn't want to draft James Cook at his ADP. I was concerned about how many touchdowns he had two years ago.

And goodness gracious, man, he just, he was so excellent on this. Pretty much every time he touched the ball, you're like, no, a big play is going to happen here. He had hit that status. And you saw a huge surge. in volume because that was one of the other things of like James Cook two years ago. That happened to. There was that. There was that. But two years ago, not the volume he need for the touchdowns he scored, but then everything balanced out and just his greatness shown through. It showed itself in the Denver game. He tried other than the fumble, which was a problem.

He fumbled six times this year, number one in the NFL. But he even, you know, he had a great game against Denver. Yeah, he's he's a great talent. And the split. that he was getting. It was at times in 24 a three-headed timeshare. You didn't know how much that would, you know, Ray Davis, yeah, getting more involved. And he got

over a hundred more carries than the previous year. Yeah. Over a hundred more. They were the number one rushing team in football overall. It would make sense. The leading rusher, and then you have Josh Allen on the team too. Derek Henry at seven. 32-year-old

Derek Henry came in at seven. Consistency rank of nine. Now, he was drafted as the RB5 off the board. So this is it took some time. It did take some time. 17th inconsistency in the first half, four in the second half of the season. It's colder. Once you hit the buy week, things were very

good. Which, again, it's just such a testament to how he trains to be better as the season goes on. Where the defenders are now bruised and battered and they don't want to tackle this guy, but 24% great games, 59% good, 12% bust.

I think I forgot to read those numbers off for Cooks. Let me give you those. 31% great, 69% good, 6% bust rate. But back to Henry, weird year for Baltimore overall. You know, he kind of, it seemed like it wasn't going to happen for him until they hit the by week. You had Lamar Jackson's injuries. It was very scary.

And then what are we doing? We're just doing this over and over and over again until the end of time. It is hard when you factor in his age. I mean, we came into this year saying we weren't worried about it. He looked so fantastic in 2024. I'm glad we did and you stuck with it. He finished very good down the stretch. Honestly, the Baltimore Ravens would be in the playoffs if their team just realized, oh, we should be giving Derek Henry the ball more down the stretch. It did happen a few times. Eventually it happened after a little too little too late. But he is, all jokes aside, a human being. And he will

be 33. There will be an age where it will catch up. There's only one running back in history, age 32 or older, that has had double digit touchdowns in a season since 2010. DeAngelo Williams. Oh, man. Is that the Steelers year? I remember that, man. I mean, if you're going to bet on any human to do it at age 32, it's going to be Derek Henry. It's definitely the outlier. It's, it's wild. He was very good. Third and yards per carry. Fifteen yards before contact, seventh and explosive run rate. We probably shouldn't bet against them anymore. Yeah.

We just, yeah. Age is just an idea, man. I, yeah. Tell that to my knees. Well, I was going to say, can you handle the hot dog lunch like you could when you were 20? Oh,

no, I'd be doing much better if I was 20 right now. Hot dog check. Hot dog check. Hot dog check. They're doing work right now. Yeah, they're working through the system. Apparently, you need to only.

because the two hot dogs they fight. Oh, that's what's going on. They each want to be the only hot dog in your stomach. It's like Highlander. Yeah, there can be only one. And they are going to war. I'll let you guys know who wins in the end. What is the winner get?

Well, I hope they both don't win because if they both win, the winner gets a bad time for me. The winner gets a trophy over there. You get to retain your. You think about it. Are you about cashing in the toilet? I mean, look, I already got it. I could walk over to that bathroom anytime I want, fellas.

I'm going to give you the last three names on this list in some of the basic numbers, and then we'll move on to the fantasy face-off. But at number eight, didn't seem like it was going his way for five weeks. But Chase Brown comes in at eight, consistency of eight. And consistency of two in the second half of the year. It's like what we said on the quarterback show with Burrow. We know the story. When Burrough is healthy and his weapons are healthy, they all perform for fantasy.

18% grade, 65% good, 6% bus. games. It feels impossible that it worked out for him. It really does. It felt like he was a dead man walking. The first six weeks of the season, he was hot trash. I mean, he was worthless in fantasy, crushed you, killed you. And if you stuck with him or traded for him or heck, picked them up off of waiver wires at that point, he was everything that you, everything that you loved about him, Mike, you know, coming into the season. And me too. I said behind the scenes, like,

if you didn't make him a my guy, I might have. He showed all of it. He was. He was better this year than he was last year in terms of the numbers. Because last year he busted 19% of the time the year he broke out, and this year was only 6% of the time. You could argue it was a better year, even though he had that tough start. Which is crazy.

I mean, the first six games, he had a combined 200 rushing yards. Kairn comes in at 9, consistency of 6. I don't know if this is just my perception, but Kyron seems like the most invisible, consistent player in fantasy because nothing he does is really flashy or exciting. No. He's just kind of, he's a product of a great head coach and a great system, great quarterback, great wide receivers, great line, great defense,

and he just functions within it to greatness. And a third of the time you look up and it's one digit off on that jersey number. Blake Gorman looks pretty much the same. And it's really wild. What was the total carry differential like this year to last year? Went way up this year. I'll get Corum's numbers. Well, I guess I just, yeah, I'll look at Kyron.

Kiron had 356 opportunities last year, 309 this year. And with one extra game. Corne was 66 ops up to 159 this year. So, I mean, those numbers are something to pay attention to a little bit on where you slot him in. And it'll be more reason to doubt him. And you'll probably make a mistake to doubt him. because the production is probably going to be there. As long as this quarterback and this head coach are...

He's a really talented running back. They're keeping him fresher. It's smarter and might help them win a Super Bowl. Yeah. Travis E.T.N. comes in at number 10. What team does he play for? I know. It's wild. His consistency was 14.

That feels right on the money. I mean, in terms of how it felt. And in the first half, number 19, inconsistency, second half, number 10. They went on their run in the second half, and he was integral. it. Dang, he's going to be 27. Yeah, he was drafted late and he missed a full season right off the bat with his knee injury. So you forget how old he is. Going on to the free agent market, I'm very curious if he is a hot commodity or just like, eh, he's a little older and outperforming. Ken Walker's younger, right? Oh, yeah. So, I mean, and it's like, do you pay? Because ETN's going to want

a lot of money. It's like, or Tyler Algier is 26. Do you want to pay less? There's just a big versatility differential there for me. It's like you definitely want ETN because you just want somebody that, you know, is capable of doing more in the passing game. I would think. Yeah, he, ETN is a very well-rounded player. He can do it in short yardage. He can go out to the outside. He can catch the ball. Really, really well. I think that's probably his strength is in the passing game.

teams will want Travis E.T. and I just really hope that it's the Jaguars that want him. There's no world I don't believe where he goes and scores more fantasy points next year for a different team. It is unfortunate how that works out sometimes. 6% great, 59% good, 24% bust, but ends up in the top 10 at the position. So we'll talk more. The hot dogs have new weapons, guys. They have really been putting their scientists to work.

And they have evolved. These aren't swords anymore. No more brass age. No way, man. Gunpowder has been found. Gunpowder has been found. The industrial revolution has begun. The steam engine's cooking.

And you thought this was a good decision, huh? I didn't eat the third hot dog, Andy. When I had my stupid piece of grilled chicken and vegetables, and I looked over at my guy eating two hot dogs. This is like, what am I doing? How you feel now, Mike? I mean, are you at peace? Not good enough to have not eaten the hot dogs.

Okay, all right. Just to wait till nuclear capabilities are found. Well, we don't have much time left for multiple reasons on the show. So we'll jump right into the face-off in your hot dog shame. Oh, man, we still have that. Your hot dog shame can become real shame. Fantasy Face Off, presented by prize picks. This guy can't throw a pistachio to save his life.

Will of shame. The timing is great, Jason, because it is poop your pants. Oh. That's the shame. Yeah. For real? Yep. Oh, my gosh.

I might do it. I might do it. I'll tell you what. Just go ahead. Cheesehead. Oh, it's Timu. Timu Mike. Timu Mike, right.

Okay, let's start here, Jason. I get to be. Put some tattoos on. These are little some arms sleeves for you. Yeah. there you go. All you got some skulls on there? Yeah, brother.

Oh, dude. I've been thinking about sleeving up. Yeah, this is a, get a little taste. A chance to try. Get a little taste. Good, brother. Timu Mike Wright on the way, baby. I get to be cool, guys.

I mean, yeah, here you go. Mike's liking it. If your ink looked like, that's pretty good work. Here you go. If that were real. Oh, yeah. And the beard. I already have a beer.

No. Brisley. I was got to go with. Yeah, you got to get the, I mean, it's not the right color. So there you go, Jay. What is this beard that has no mustache? All right. Here you go, cool, guys.

Oh, look at Mike. Oh, baby. Yeah, baby. Oh, yeah. Oh, man. Yes. All right. Well, now we're jumping right in.

Okay. Quarterback, Jason. Why don't you kick us off? All right. Quarterback. I'm going with Jared Stedham. Half an interception. I'm taking more than that.

Yeah. I think, you know. But that's your green, that is my green goblin, yes. I'll follow it up then because I have Jarrett Stedham and the green goblin. Oh, no. I'm going positive. More than a half touch. 174.5 passing and rushing yards combined.

174.5, I'm taking the more for Jarrett Stenheim. That's a sneaky find. Yeah. I've got Sam Darnold in the heated matchup with L.A. 235 and a half passing yards in your bra taking the less okay all right team of Mike right we go on running backs

so from here on out because I've been the shame a couple weeks in a row yeah wanted to have a theme to my playoff fun I smell some hate yeah Kiron Williams Yard you love Kairn Williams I love Kiron Williams you love them

Yards on first reception five and a half. Okay. No, I'm going less than that. Yeah, okay. I'm going, I'm going to defensive battle. Defences are getting up for the first, the first parts of these game, everything's going to be short. When it came to the interceptions, though, you're like, no, there's more. Well, that's a negative. Yeah, I know. You're just, your hate. Uh, so what? Your heart is full. That was running. That was your running back, right? Don't talk to me. I'm full of hatred here. Ramandre Stevenson. Oh, yeah. Forty, 48.5 rush and are.

No way. I'm taking the lower less. Ken Bone Walker. This is my green goblin. One and a half receptions. Okay. For Ken Bone Walker all by himself. That's a steel.

Yeah, I'll take the one. That's a great one. Yeah. A wide receiver. Cooper Cup. Yards on first reception. You love Cooper Cup. I love Cooper Cup.

Yards of first reception. Yards of first reception. Seven and a half less than that. Oh my gosh. See you next week, buddy. Get a Cooper Cup screen. I went Rashid Shaheed in the same game, and I took 0.5 rushing yards. I'm taking the more.

Okay. So give him one into round. I got Kishon Booty. Booty. His projection is at four receiving targets. And I am crossing my fingers and going more on that one. That's a scary one. That was really scary.

I think he's like pretty much been right at four. I expect you to just tie there. I glanced at booty. Yeah. Don't stare too hard. I thought about it. I thought about it. And I went away.

Yeah. I was just uncertain. I, yeah. Jason. I was like, do I, which direction do you go? Do you go, do you go Stefan Diggs or do you go a booty? Tight end. Evan Ingram.

Yards on first reception. Oh my gosh. Seven and a half. No, I'm taking less than that. Yours is going to be over so fast. My whole game is going to be. I just need everything to be short to start these games. No big place.

I went Hunter Henry in the New England game. I think that the defensive backs, booty digs, I think they're going to turn towards Hunter Henry. I'm taking 43.5 receiving yards, and I'm taking the more for Henry. I have Colby Parkinson. Okay. His projection is at three and a half targets,

which I'm trying to go back and count the games. It's like, it seems like in the past 10 games, he has only not past three and a half targets once. I'm loving this projection. We'll see what happens next week. That was Fantasy Faceoff presented by Price Bix. Join millions of users and sign up for America's number one fantasy sports app. You can see our lineups if you are watching on YouTube.

Use the code footballers and get $50 in lineups when you play $5. Jason, all sleeved up. We'll say goodbye to you for today. Back with more truth. Playoff reactions. Way cooler. Next week. I feel way cooler.

Let me see these. Look at those arms. Yeah. Should I get a sleeve? You should get two. Oh, man. And a motorcycle. I don't know about that.

See you later, everybody. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FF Ballers.