The Herd with Colin Cowherd - FantasyPros - Will Saquon Barkley Bust? | The Top 50 Running Backs for the 2025 Season (Ep. 1580)

Episode Date: May 31, 2025

Make running backs relevant again by joining Ryan Wormeli, Derek Brown and Andrew Erickson for their top 50 fantasy football running back rankings for the 2025 NFL season! Will Philadelphia Eagles RB Saquon Barkley bust coming off a 500+ touch season? Are rankers disrespecting Seattle Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III? Plus, what makes Dallas Cowboys RB Javonte Williams a high-upside RB3 candidate? The Pros keep the ball on the ground! Timestamps: (May be off due to ads) Introduction - 0:00:002025 Running Back Draft Strategies - 0:00:21FantasyPros ECR - 0:04:13Nico Collins Houston Texans Autographed Jersey - 0:04:31Tier 1 - 0:04:54Tier 2 - 0:11:53Tier 3 - 0:23:40DraftKings Pick6 - 0:32:46Tier 4 - 0:34:12Tier 5 - 0:46:33Tier 6 & Beyond - 1:01:03Outro - 1:07:33 Helpful Links: DraftKings Pick6 – Download the DraftKings Pick6 app NOW on Google Play or the App Store and use code FANTASYPROS. This offer is for new customers to play $5, get $50 in Pick6 credits. Only on DraftKings Pick6. The crown is yours.  Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777, or visit ccpg.org in Connecticut. Must be eighteen plus, age and eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction. Pick6 not available everywhere, including New York and Ontario. Void where prohibited. One per new customer. Bonus awarded as non-withdrawable Pick6 Credits that expire in thirty days. Limited time offer. See terms at https://pick6.draftkings.com/promos. Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator - Our Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator lets you complete a mock in minutes with no waiting between picks! Customize your league settings to match your league’s exact format. Premium subscribers can test trade scenarios by mocking with their traded draft picks. Prepare for rookie drafts AND dynasty startup drafts in one place! Use the Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator to dominate your rookie draft today at fantasypros.com/simulator! Discord - Join our FantasyPros Discord Community! Chat with other fans and get access to exclusive AMAs that wind up on our podcast feed. Come get your questions answered and BE ON THE SHOW at fantasypros.com/chat Leave a Review – If you enjoy our show and find our insight to be valuable, we’d love to hear from you! Your reviews fuel our passion and help us tailor content specifically for YOU. Head to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts and leave an honest review. Let’s make this show the ultimate destination for fantasy football enthusiasts like us. Thank you for watching and for showing your support – https://fantasypros.com/review/ BettingPros Podcast – For advice on the best picks and props across both the NFL and college football each and every week, check out the BettingPros Podcast at bettingpros.com/podcast, our BettingPros YouTube channel at youtube.com/bettingpros, or wherever you listen to podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Hello, everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy Crows football podcast. I'm Ryan Warmly. Joined today by Andrew Erickson and by Derek Brown. Fellas, we just did top 50 wide receiver rankings where we ran through some of the

tiers and our early thoughts and guys that are going to be too high, too low, et cetera, et cetera. And we're running it back doing the exact same thing here with the running backs. Before we dive in, D-Bro, what were kind of your early thoughts on the running back landscape? because it's such a key position to get right. I always equated to in fantasy baseball, it's like pitching where it's the most important thing to get right, but it is also sometimes the trickiest to actually get it right on draft day. So what were kind of your early thoughts and just the landscape of the position?

I think looking at it from a hundred foot view this year, honestly, it's another great year for zero RB. I guess I'll lead it off with that. I know that we saw running backs crush and all the veterans stay healthy. I know we're probably all in agreement that that doesn't. usually replicate year over year. So it's a good year when everybody's going to possibly dive head first into running backs often and early to maybe we see a war of attrition and things go sideways for that. But all it is to say, man, I think, I mean, I'm going to be in drafts just

kind of looking at this, probably waiting on running back. Either I'm going hero running back, or I'm waiting on a lot of the positions and the rookies later. Erickson, what do you think? I mean, I personally historically tend to be a hero running back kind of guy. Are you a zero? R.B. Truther, do you think that this year's landscape maybe would lean you towards one direction or another that would be either the same or different than you usually go? Because last year, to Debrose point, we saw early running back smash. Do you think we're going to see an overcorrection by drafters this year? Potentially, maybe more of the superhero RV approach where you're double downing on some of these running backs in the first couple rounds. I still think that hero RB is the way to go

because I think that it's smart to draft a running back with one of your high picks because that's where usually highest scoring running backs come from. Sequin Barclay, yes, was the highest scoring running back back last year. He wasn't going in the top three, but he was also going at the top of the second round. It's not like he was a really cheap running back, but you still had to invest high in draft capital. He was still part of if you went HeroRB last year, you probably had some Sequan Barclay here and there. So he was part of that strategy. So I think that you don't get it twisted. I think it's still about Hero RB. You stay out of the middle with these middling RB2. The thing that you want to prioritize least in your fantasy lineup every year is your

RB2 slot. That is the worst. That's the position. You should invest the least amount of draft capital because it's the easiest one to replace. So the fact that we're coming in with this great rookie class, you lock and load one of these top running backs, whether it's a bejeon, whether you're buying the dip on Christian McCaffrey, one of these guys in the first couple rounds, you lock him in as your RB1, and then you just late round running back, late round running back, late run running back, and maybe you hit on this year's Bucking Irving or a Tyrone Tracy in the later round. So that's the strategy I'm going to go. That's the strategy I did last year. Strategy you want to do this year. So yeah, your RB all the way.

One last thing I want to add on here, Worm, is that going back to NFL draft season, we kept talking about it. And it's true. This is one of the best running back classes we've seen come out in a number of years. That's leading. We're going to have all of these amazing options of youth and guys that if we want to play the variance and players that are getting a little bit older, like the Aaron Jones of the world, other players like Alvin Camara, like all these guys, or Jonathan Taylor,

can't stay healthy for another year. all of these guys in this strong running back rookie crop that we got incoming, again, that leads me to these final darts you're taken in the last two to three rounds of your draft or you want to go zero RB. It's a wonderful year for it going back to, yeah, if we think it is a strong running back class, then it should lend itself to, yes, those darts at the end of drafts or just going zero RB, it's a great year for it. We're not doing this today, but we could have made this show an all rookie show. Like that's how many intriguing names spread out throughout the rankings.

There's a guy right there in the top five all the way down to guys that didn't make the cut in the top 50 relevant rookies that are going to impact fantasy seasons. So we will talk about some of them, of course, but definitely somebody to pay attention to you. Just kind of in your early draft strategy when you're thinking about what you want your drafts to look like. Just a reminder for everybody, I know we're going to run through a lot of names today. If you want to kind of follow along as best you can, all of our 2025 consensus rankings and tiers can be found. at Fantasypros.com slash rankings. You can, of course, navigate to PPR rankings, standard. We're doing half PPR today, running backs only, of course.

And then also another reminder, we've been talking about it all month. If you want a chance to win a signed Nico Collins Texans jersey for free, courtesy of our friends at pristineauction.com, all you have to do is subscribe to the Fantasy Pro's YouTube channel right now. Drop a comment below on any video, and that is it. We will be announcing a winner right here on the channel. So make sure to turn on those notifications so you can know when new videos are up and to claim your prize.

Guys, we'll start at the very top, like we always do with these episodes. There's kind of a top three in terms of how the tiers break down. So that's what we're going to focus on right off the bat. And it's the names that nobody will be surprised to hear. Sequan, Barclay, Bejan Robes and Jumeer Gibbs. Now, you guys might quibble with the order. I think your mileage may vary on which one of those guys should be RB1. I think for the casual fan and fantasy manager, it'll be Seekwon just because he's coming

off this historic season. I think Sequan will be the first. In every draft, in Jemar Chase isn't the first overall pick. I think Sequin will be the first overall pick, like 99% of the kind of standard drafts that you're in. That doesn't mean we necessarily agree with that. D-Bro, do you have Sequin number one or is one of these other two guys? Nope. Sequin is not my R-B-1 this year.

He's not even inside of my top three, to be honest. And this is not just tossing hot takes from the top. But guys, I'm old enough to remember when we talked about this last year with Christian McCaffrey and we worried about volume sneaking up and quietly, dude, Sequin Barclay's tackle breaking metrics took a dip last year. Yes, he was fourth best and explosive run rate, but this dude was amongst 46 qualifying backs was 28th and miss tackle rate and 35th in yards at the contact per attempt. The Philadelphia Eagles offensive line, and I'm not saying this isn't going to be top five again next, or this year. Dude, they were

generating almost four yards before contact for this guy before he even got contacted. So like, that's just an insane clip. So I'm going to lean on the side of like, look, Seekwan's another year older, volume is is piling up. Bijon Robinson is my RB1 this season. I am very unsurprised that you would have Bijan first. And I actually think by the time I get to August, I might feel the same way. I might even feel the same way now. Like I am very, very in on Bijan. I am much more surprised to hear that you don't have Sequin in your top three. I view this as somewhat of a consensus grouping of top three. Erickson, do you see it the same way or do you also have one of these guys not in your top three? Mark is not in my top three either.

So I have Bejan. Let's go. Let's go. Gives. Although I could see a situation where, because I'm still not exactly sure where I want to finalize Genties ranking. Yeah. Because he's a rookie running back.

But I think that he's in that mix. Again, I try to think about these things a year ahead of time. Where are we drafting Ash and Gentie next year? Like, who's more likely to be the number one overall pick next year? Jenty. Staple and Barkley again or Gentie? And if Genties, if Genties the answer, then why are we drafting Barclay ahead of him this year? Right?

He's got to have at least somewhat of a big. a strong year, if not a strong finish. So for me, I right now have Gentius 3. And then the other guy like I'm thinking about is, is McCaffrey too, right? McCaffrey again, he's one that's, again, comes with the injury and I still have him behind Barclay, but is anyone going to be surprised if McCaffrey

were to be the number one scoring running back? And if he plays his full allotment of games, if he stays healthy, we know that he can be really productive, if not the number one scoring at his position. So the upside is that. We're going to talk about upside, upside, and then you see McCaffrey fall on some of these drafts into round two. where McCaffrey has a ton of upside, and he's not coming off, like Debrough alluded to.

And Sequin Barkley touched the ball almost 500 timesashes. This is why we were trying to voice our concerns about McCaffrey. And it's just not McCaffrey. Every running back that leads the NFL and touches the next year, fade. Just following that process works out every single year. And I get that Barkley, maybe you think he's a special running back, but at the same time, still an older running back who has dealt with a lot of injuries throughout his NFL career. And again, the thing that could have worked in his favor, they could have banned the tush push.

They didn't. It's here to stay. So maybe those touchdowns that maybe could have gone to Barkley, maybe saved him from potentially regressing and either rushing efficiency or something else. It feels like, though, Erickson, the touchdown equity is still higher for him than like a Gentie, though, right? Just given the offense he's in? Or do you disagree with that? Is it? I mean, well, the touchdowns, you could say the raw touchdowns because of the offensive ecosystem.

Yeah, that's a good way. Genties touchdown equity in that offense is, I think it's unequivary. Yeah, I didn't mean percentage percentage wise. I meant total. Yeah. So that's maybe the case against Sequin for you guys. Between Bejan and Gibbs, though, D-Bro, like, I wonder if Gibbs is almost getting a little bit of like, not that he's forgotten, but I feel like the most common name I've heard if it's not Sequin for number one is Bejan. But Gibbs obviously was a beast to finish last year.

He's a beast every time he touches the ball. What for you separates Bejon and Gibbs and has Bejohn number one and Gibbs behind him? uh david montgomery it's as simple as that with david mcgomery if he's healthy if he's on the field he is going to cut into jemir gibbs upside like Gibbs cannot unless he ends up with like some ridiculous stupid outlier season of like 24 touchdowns like he gets into like the low 20s or something like something crazy happens if david Montgomery stays healthy the entire season it will cap gives is upside. No, I have Gibbs as my RB2 right now. So, again,

I don't have him as my RB1 overall, but I think he should be firmly planted in the top three, and with Sequin falling out of that top three, somebody has to leap up and take the mantle. So that's why I've got Gibbs as high as I do, but I don't think he has a path to RB1 overall if David

Montgomery stays healthy. But Bejan, guys, I mean, it's easy. We've seen him already be the RB1 last year. Like, after the Atlanta Falcons stopped messing around with Tyler Algier and they leaned on the best player in their offense in Bejan Robinson. Week 6 through 18, Bejohn Robinson was the RB1 and fantasy points per game. So me expecting him to do that again in 2025 is not crazy. And to Erickson's point, if you were to say

every single year, the last year's RB1 and fantasy points per game, I'm going to auto fade them because it is a war of attrition and you do not see RB's repeat. as the number one RB in fantasy. It doesn't happen. You have to go all the way back to like freaking Priest Holmes and such to see a running back repeat that year after year. So you're automatically better

as far as your rankings if you are not expecting last year's RB1 fantasy points per game to repeat the following season. Feels like Bijon is going to be the number three pick in a lot of drafts and he's going to be like a league winner at that spot. Like I really, I really kind of feel that. I mean, it's funny because I sometimes am guilty of this. Framing in Dynasty conversations, the conversation around Bejan is like all, not a disappointment,

but almost like the hype was so immense that like he's really, really good, but couldn't quite live up to the hype. Having said that, like he's top 10 finishes both years of his career, even with the lack of touchdowns in year one. Last year he had almost 1,500 rushing yards, throw on another 400 receiving yards, 60 catches, 15 total touchdowns. Like, what could you possibly complain about? He's been amazing. And I think anybody watching it would say there's even room for more growth from there. So I think Bijan is going to win leagues this year, especially if you're getting him like third or fourth pick in your drafts. So we all love Bejohn.

Tier two is bigger. And this is again kind of in the consensus rankings tier with rankings from experts around the industry. And it runs from RB4 to RB10. Ashton Genty, Derek Henry, Devon A. Chan, Christian McCaffrey, Josh Jacobs, Jonathan Taylor. Bucky Irving. I read those again. It's Gentie, Henry, A. Chan, McCaffrey, Jacobs, Taylor, and Bucky Irving. So Gentie is the guy for both of you, right? Erickson that is currently kicking Sequin out of the top three. Yes, that's all I have in there right now because look, I'm going to the historical trends, right? You want to fade the guy that leads the NFL and touches the next year.

We've seen a lot of rookie running backs drafted with similar draft capital to Ashen Gentie, and they end up firing in year one. It's not a slow burn. They hit the ground running, and given where the Raiders took Gentie, given the backfield competition or their lack of, I mean, it's really easy to paint the picture of him delivering.

I mean, they have a competent quarterback in Gino Smith. Maybe it'd be a different discussion, if it was Aiden O'Connell or somebody, a different, a more unproven quarterback, but they have offensive weapons. I get the offensive line as a bit of a concern. I think it's a little bit underrated.

I don't think it's the worst offensive line in the NFL. And again, it's new coaching staff, too, coming in. So what does that mean? Can they improve the run blocking up front? And we know what does Genti do best? Brakes tackles, right? So when he, they get him out in space, if he's making plays, then it doesn't necessarily matter what the run blocking is doing if Jentie's getting the ball 300 times and, you know, is able to stay healthy with that type of workload. So I think that the upside is immense with Ashton Jenti. And it's funny, actually, where you can get him. So we have him

ranked inside the top six, top seven on fast draft. He's a guy you can get in the second round of those draft best ball drafts. And it's like, if you like drafted up, you don't want to reach on Ash and Jenny, you feel like you're reaching if you take him in the top five, then just go on fast draft and draft him there. And he's a great price. So Derek Henry is RB5. Debrough, you and actually Erickson also both have him as RB7. He was RB3 a year ago. It really had like a historic rushing season. It was just overshadowed by Sequin. I'm not sure what's changed. If anything, I think the offensive line is going to be better now that there was a lot of question marks going into Baltimore's offensive line a year ago.

We've now seen most of this group together already. There will be a new left guard, but it's going to largely have a lot more continuity than they did a year ago. Lamar is still amazing. He's going to help open up rushing lanes here. Like Derek Henry has talked openly this offseason about how Baltimore did more for him than he did for them, or at least in his opinion. He felt that way in terms of his great rushing season.

And he is a freak of nature who age, the rules of aging seemingly doesn't apply to. I feel like five is maybe fair. It's really hard for me to wrap my head around having him outside the top five because he was amazing last year. And if he's healthy this year, he's scoring another 12 touchdowns. He's getting 1,500 rushing yards in a healthy season. I just don't see in this offense anywhere around it. And it's not like they went out and drafted one of these hot shot young rookies

coming in. Like he has all the runway to himself, Dibro. Yeah, man. I mean, what it comes down to with for Derek Henry, it just kind of, like I have CMC is my R. It comes down to the past catching. And I love Derek Henry. Like, again, he is inside my top seven running backs on the daily. Like, I bounce him between RB6 and RB7 with Bucky Irving, only because of the past catching. Like, I don't think there's any falloff coming from Derek Henry.

My question only is, like, what does this season look like if Baltimore's passing attack is any better with, and the touchdowns go? Because, I mean, dude, he ran for almost 2,000 yards last year. So is he going to run for any more than that? He had 18 total touchdowns. Is he going to really score more than that? And that only pumped him up to the RB4 and fantasy points per game. So like, I think he's going to have an amazing season. Like, but like if he drops to 16, 17, 700 rushing yards and the touchdowns go to 15 or 16, like that's where I kind of split the difference between the past catching upside of somebody like McCaffrey, which, dude, I got him as my RB5. I think the bounce back is coming. And this is not shade against Derek Henry. Again, like,

I think Derek Henry is a locked-in RB1 straight up until he decides to hang up the cleats. I just think that he setting aside the possibility for injury, which applies to everybody, setting aside injury-related floor, I think he has the highest floor of any running back. Like, if ever running back in the league stayed healthy, I would be most confident in him finishing like inside the top five over everybody. And I want to tosses to Erickson too because he also hasn't ranked 7. But I will just also quickly say, Henry, I don't see. any scenario where those short touchdowns turn into passing touchdowns.

It's just not the way the Ravens operate. Like when they are inside the like seven yard line, Henry's getting two carries every drive and he's going to score more often than not, I think. Like they're in close. They're never going to run Lamar in close and they're not that big on passing in close. They are going to smash it in with Henry the way they did with Gus Edwards before him, the way they did with Henry last year. So I'm really, again, injury aside, I'm so confident that he's going to get close

to 15 touchdowns this year. Erickson, you also have him seventh. Yeah, I think I agree with Debrough, where it's kind of you're splitting hairs based on some of the guys around him just project a little bit better in the passing game. So, Chris McCaffrey, I have A-chan ahead of Derek Henry because when Tua was healthy last year, who was the number one scoring running back? It was Devon A-chan. He was the highest scoring running back in fantasy points per game. So that matters for me because we talked about how great Derek Henry was last year and he was RB3. So still not RB1.

So I think I agree with you where you're talking about, okay, he's probably not going to finish just the number one overall running back. But is he the has the highest probability of finishing inside the top five? Yes. So I think that's kind of where you're making your decision based on, right? I just want to lock in top five production. I don't really care about chasing someone that could be the number one running back overall, you know, trying to dabble, especially in your format. I've seen a full PPR. It's hard for him to get there and separate himself from the pack with just right.

Again, he's going to be, he's going to make it tough because he scores so many touchdowns. and rushes for so many yards. But it's just, it's just tougher for him just because he doesn't catch as many passes from the other guys up at the top. And to add another element to,

the Ravens were the healthiest offense last year. Like, that was a fact. So we're already seeing, they already had one of their safeties go down with a potential season ending injury. So that was on the defensive side of the ball. But if a couple guys get banged up here and there,

what if Lamar misses a couple games? Like, we've seen that before. We've missed a couple games here and there. Cooper Rush is not going to have the same impact on the defense as. Sure, sure, And, like, I would trust Lamar to say healthy more than Tua at this point.

Tua was fine in 2023. He didn't miss any games. And Lamar did. So that's what I mean. Like, it's just based on what happened last, like, this matters so much because injury regression is a real thing. The Ravens are the healthiest team last year. Like, they're going to miss the whole game from their stars.

So they're, you know, overdue. That's not good. You're actually building the case against yourself, worm. That's not good. I think it's like full PPR. Yeah. Like, I'd rather have these guys. But in half, I don't think the difference is enough.

I would much rather take the floor of Henry over H& or McCaffrey, frankly. But in full PPR, I feel differently. The only other thing I'd like to add about Baltimore, too, is, and I'm not, again, I'm not saying that he takes over a huge part of this offense. But we're talking about, I mean, we're splitting hairs between RB3-4 versus RB5, 6-7. The other part of this is, Keaton Mitchell is healthy coming into this year. And I'm not saying that he plays a huge. huge monster role. But if he chips away at even some of the touchdown production, like he, he gets three or four touchdowns this year that don't go to Henry. He gets a few carries that

don't go to Henry. He gets some of the passing work that doesn't go to Henry. This is how Henry is not RB4, but he's RV6 or 7. He's still freaking awesome. But again, this is how all these parts or pieces add up to, okay, maybe he doesn't repeat, which, I mean, dude, if Lamar wasn't in the MVP conversation last year, as good as he was last year. Derek Henry should have been in the conversation right next to Sequin. Like, their numbers are not that different last year. Yeah. Erickson, do you feel like there's maybe a tier break even within this tier?

Because we obviously have already talked a bit about Genti, Henry, A. Chan, McCaffrey. The back three names in this tier, Josh Jacobs, Jonathan Taylor, Buckie Irving. I know Debrough mentioned that he has Irving kind of up in that group, but, Erickson, for you, do you see a bit of a tier break here? Or do you think Jacobs, Taylor, and Irving should be in conversation with these other names? I think that you could make a mini tier break here. I think, I mean, this is how I have them ranked.

So the guys we just talked about, I have all of them ranked above the guys that are at the bottom of this tier. So I think if you can make a case, I think with Bucky Irving, for example, I mean, he's a second year running back that's smashed in his rookie year. These guys are usually just good bets to make on entering year too. So I'm not going to push against anyone that thinks, oh, Bucking Irving should be in the conversation with the McAfreys,

with the Derek Henry's because of what he can do and what he showed at the end of last year. So I think it's fine, having ranked behind those guys. just because I think he has a little bit more to still, you know, show that he can do and overcome, you know, if Tampa Bay is going to use multiple running backs, Rashad White is still there. For me, the guy that I think is really polarizing is Jonathan Taylor, because I think from a talent perspective, I don't think anyone's going to, you know, debate how great Jonathan Taylor is, but he's had trouble staying healthy over the last couple seasons and similar to Derek Henry,

where he has issues overcoming how is his past game usage. But the thing with him is the infrastructure in Indianapolis, half of their offensive line is now in Minnesota. So that's a big problem. We don't know what the quarterback play is going to be like, but we know that these quarterbacks aren't going to dump down the ball to the running back because both guys can use their legs and run around. So Jonathan Taylor, again, guy rushed for, I believe, over 1,400 rushing yards last year,

and yet he wasn't a difference maker until he got healthy at the end of the season. So I feel like him, it's, you're kind of paying up for his floor at this price, and I can't knock where he's ranked. But at the same time, I'm not excited to pay it because I'm like, man, there's so many other ways I could see this going south for John of the Taylor. And then what's the upside? You got Jonathan Taylor RB 10 right where you drafted him. It's like, I don't love, I don't like going in just like, hey, it's not going to get better

than this. And it goes back to even that year where he was RB1. A lot of the other running backs weren't good that year. And he scored a boatload of touchdowns. Is that going to be the case in 2025 when we have this loaded rookie running back guys coming in? We have good veteran running backs. And we don't love the touchdown upside of this Colts offense potentially.

Bucky Irving is the guy for you here, D. bro. I mean, dude, I don't understand why we hate Bucky Irving. We talk about, you know, investing in second year players, whether it's wide receiver or running back. Bucking Irving, once he got the job away from Rashad White, this dude was RB6 and fantasy points per game yet. There's a few guys that we're going to get to as we kind of move down the ranks where it's like, I mean, we not project that Bucky Irving like can take a step forward. The Buccaneers, like look, we talk about, and Erickson has brought this up on other shows. Okay. Baker Mayfield takes a step. back in the passing touchdown department.

If the Buccaneers' offense is still really freaking good, do this? It touchdown's got to go somewhere, dude. What if they go to Bucky Irving? What if he's this year's guy that he's the James Cook of this year? He ends up with 16, 18 touchdowns in this offense. Mike Evans can't stay healthy. Chris Godwin is not fully healthy for most of the year. We're looking at an offense that has KDOT and Jailin McMillan.

They're running the ball through Bucky Irving, and he's blown it up in the passing game, dude. It's like, Rashad White was really good, but if Irving gets more of this, backfield this year, or he reproduces the numbers that he had last year or the touchdowns go elsewhere. I mean, B. Irving's the guy that I want to be above consensus. I have him at RB6. And again, like right above Derek Henry, but he's the guy that were, could he have the runout this year, where he scores just a ton of freaking touchdowns and he crushes expectation. Let's go to the next tier here. It goes from RB 11 to RB 17. This is Kyron Williams, Chase Brown,

Bruce Hall, James Cook, Joe Mixing, Kenneth Walker, Alvin Kamara. Again, that's Kai. Chiron, Chase Brown, Brees Hall, James Cook, Joe Mixon, Kenneth Walker, and Camara. I want to ask you, Erickson, about Breece Hall because this was the guy last year for you, like, you know, a running back who could finish his RB1 and be the number one pick a year from now. And you're very excited about, and I'm not blaming you for your process that led you to that point. But obviously, it didn't end up panning out that way. Do you see him as a bounceback candidate, given how high you were on him a year ago? Or do you think this is an appropriate range, if not maybe even a little too high?

I think it's the appropriate range for Brees Hall. I think that there's so much to like about, and there's still things I really like about Brees Hall because I think that he's a super young, explosive running back that can catch passes. Just betting on that archetype of player is usually a good bet to make, but that you have to layer in the circumstances that he's in.

He's in a contract year with a brand new coaching staff that has no allegiance to him as the clear-cut RV-1. Now, I think it's no debate who the most talented running back is in that backfield, but I don't know what Aaron Glenn is going to necessarily do. The minute he gets there, he's talking about, right, we want to use all three running backs. It's like, okay, I guess Isaiah Davis is a thing now. After he showed out a little bit at the end of last year, Raylon Allen, you know, very efficient on like third and one last year. And the thing with

Bruce Hall that always frustrates me is he's a guy that constantly tries to hit the home run and that pisses his coaches off sometimes where they're like, dude, just get the third and one. Just get the first down. You don't need to get an ADR touchdown. And Bruce Hall, again, when you play in the Jets and you're one of their best players, you feel this obligation. Like, I have to score on every play or else we're never going to score any points. So that's my concern with Hall and the fact that, yes, with Justin Fields, you're excited about, okay, he's going to open up these wide lanes because of the mobile quarterback. But in a case where, like, compared to Derek Henry, it's great for Derek Henry because, well, he's not going to catch passes anyway. So we don't really, we don't really care.

But Reese Hall, one of his best traits is as a pass catcher. And now if you're taking those out, he was third in targets per game last year with Aaron Rogers. There's no way he's going to be anywhere near that this year with Fields. So there's a couple of knocks on him that I do have concerns about. and that's why he's ranked, I think, below, not where he nearly has high as he was last year, where he was talked about basically in tier one. So I like to bet on the players when it comes down to it,

but I think that this situation, yes, even in a run-heavy offense, could he get a lot of carries? Yeah. But how, like, how many points is that actually going to translate into fantasy? Where we're talking about Jonathan Taylor, he's not going to catch a lot of past. Derek Henry, he may not catch a lot of money passes.

So when you're banking, okay, he's got to get rushing touchdowns and rushing yards playing for the Jets to be an RB1. I'm like, ugh, like, I don't love that. So I'm probably just going to be in line with consensus with him. I don't think he'll be a flat out fade for me, but it's tough for me to be like overly confident just based on some of the optics of the situation with Breeze Hall. Debrough, who's the guy for you here that's too low? Why do we hate Kenneth Walker? Can somebody explain this to me?

Like what? Kenneth Walker goes out last year and he's the RB12 and fantasy points per game. He crushes inefficiency metrics. like this guy was third and first downs per route run, sixth in targets per route run, sixth in receiving yards per game. Proves he's a true three down running back because I was, I'm old enough to, again, I'm old. So I remember when people say Kenneth Walker couldn't catch passes. He proves last year he's not only an RB1, but he is a true three down running back. This is his backfield when he is healthy.

They go out, make improvements to offensive line. They're going to run the ball more this year. and yet Kenneth Walker isn't even ranked where he finished last year. Why? I don't understand that, guys. I really don't. Isn't it funny three years ago, you guys had a cage match, Breeshall versus Kenneth Walker. Here we are three years later.

Erickson's talking about Brees Hall and D.ro is talking about Kenneth Walker. Time is a flat circle. The more things change, the more they stay the same. So for you, Dbro, because I like Walker a lot too. Is this a scenario where you think he should be, like, at the top of this tier replacing Kyron Williams, or do you think he's more like in a different tier? And not only shouldn't be at the bottom of this tier, but should be a tier ahead. I have been tier two.

He's my RB8 of the season. So all I'm projecting is that he takes a small step. For everybody that thinks that's crazy, he was the RB12 last year in fantasy points per game. I'm just projecting that he takes a small step forward, man. Like, he stays healthy. This offense is any big. better. He gets more rushing volume. He breaks explosive runs because the offensive line is better this year because good Lord, it can't be any worse than it was last year, really. So he is way too low in

ranks, man. Like this all leads to, I'm going to be drafting a ton of Kenneth Walker and I am, I'm totally out. Like, I'm not full fade. I'm not drafting Kyron Williams this year. It's funny, I was very heavily fading Kyron a year ago and it didn't play out well for me. So I see you, a lot of the cases to do it again this year, but I also got burned by fading him a year ago. So I'm like, emotionally, can I go down that path again? What's the case for fading him, Debro? Because I think I do agree with you. I mean, right now, Erickson already brought this up. If your best case scenario is you're just hoping that the player does what they did last year and their rankings and stuff, then what are we doing here? You're not betting on upside. You're just saying, please don't lose value. Please get all the carries.

you're not catching passes because that narrative just needs to just go away. All of the, Kyron Williams is a good pass. We have not seen Kyra Williams catch passes in the NFL over the last two years when he's been a freaking RB1. It does not happen. Matthew Stafford does not check down. And Kyron Williams, I mean, the reason I'm fading him is I think there is a legitimate,

serious threat to him in this backfield. No, it is not Blake Corum. It is Jarquez Hunter. I was not worried about Blake Quorum last year. I wasn't in on Blake Corum as a point. prospect, man. He had tons of red flags. As a player, if you looked at his 2022 tape to 24, yes, there were injuries, but his tackle breaking metrics dropped in every single season. He was in college outside of the freaking counting stats. And so this year, the Rams go back to the

well. They add an explosive player in JarQuest Hunter to this backfield. And I hate to tell everybody that loves Kairn Williams. I don't hate the player. I hate the ADP. I hate the rank on him. I have him as a RB2. I think there is a possibility he still leads this backfield and overall touches, but Jarquez Hunter is going to make noise. He is the guy in this backfield that is different than Blake Corum than Kyron Williams. You cannot expect either one of those guys to break an explosive run. That is the name of the game for Jarquez Hunter.

And I mean, Kyron, dude, like, it's just, it's too much leaning on. He has to repeat this Rashad White stranglehold on all of the volume for a player that was first in Snap Shears, second in Opportunity Share, and freaking first in red zone touches. So pick your poison here. The Rams pass more in the red zone. Jarko's Hunter eats into his volume. He's still not getting past game work. So what's the out for Kyron Williams, man?

He's just basically Jonathan Taylor on a different team. Nah, no thank you. Erickson quickly pick one more name that you want to talk about here. It can be a follow up on Kyron or Walker. It can be a name we haven't mentioned. One more quick thought on this tier. well i don't want to i don't think the the grave can be dug any deeper on kind of i'm sure what do you i got an extra shovel for you ericson come on no i think i think you did enough i think i think

the because i i i'm also lower on kindlin for the reason i feel like it's groundhog day she's like now the year another year i'm going to fade guy williams see what works out like we don't know but i do think the extra backfield competition and i still like i still like quorum um but the fact that now you have two running backs like it's corum and dracus he has to be better than both those guys. And if you look at his advanced rushing metrics last year, you know who they look exactly like, Naji Harris. And people do not read about Naji Harris in any way, shape, or form as a rusher. So that's just my point on Kairn. The guy I want to talk about who I also have in a tier above is Chase Brown. Because we're talking about sealing,

we're talking about potential role. I don't expect Chase Brown to get the same type of workload he got in the second half of last year. Obviously, the Bengals had a bunch of injuries. But the fact that the Bengals trusted him enough to this guy can be our 80% snaps here running back. He's still going to play 65% plus of the snaps. You have Smalley P. Ryan sprinkling or some of the other running backs. And he also plays on the Bengals, arguably the best offense in the NFL. We're talking about who could score 15 plus touchdowns. It's not T. Higgins, who also gets hurt all the time. Oh, Chase Brown could be the guy that scoring a bunch of touchdowns, both as a receiver out of the backfield, getting reps at the goal line. So, you know, I just love Chase Brown.

Like, that's the guy I am circling as the person that I want to get because I think that he has, again, if things break his way, I mean, he was the RB1 in terms of usage last year. So if he scores more touchdowns, is efficient. We know he's explosive. He's a three-down back. So, yeah, Chase Brown for me is someone I want to highlight. It's someone that I'm going to be drafting a lot of. It is officially the best time of year for Hoops fans, playoff drama, buzzer beaters,

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This is a much bigger tier goes from RB 18 to RB 28. Chuba Hubbard, James Connor, David Montgomery, Omerian Hampton, Aaron Jones, R.J. Harvey, Trayvion Henderson, Tony Pollard, D'Andre Swift, Quinn Sean Judkins, Isaiah. Pacheco. Again, that's Hubbard, Connor, Montgomery, Hampton, Jones, Harvey, Henderson, Pollard, Swift, Judkins, Pacheco. Debrough, you spent a lot of time with these rookies during the lead-up to the draft process. Obviously, you are a very big fan of some of these guys, particularly R.J. Harvey. Of these rookies, again, and that's Hampton at 21, Harvey at 23, Henderson at 24, and Judkins at 27, who are you targeting amongst those four rookies? We know it's R.J. Harvey, I just have to ask you a question. I have to say you.

I'm leading off with RJ Harvey. I mean, dude, I've got R.J. Harvey is locked in top 15 back this year. And everybody that wants to even bring up Audrake Estimae or Julio McLaughlin into the conversation. Dude, like, did you not see last year? They couldn't even carve out definitive roles next to Giovante, the ghost of Giovante Williams. You think they're doing that with the running back to the Denver Broncos drafted in the second round of the NFL draft. And Sean Payton has continually praised in the process and say what you want. man, but like, kids got talent, kick and play.

Peyton's going to target the running backs. I'm sorry. Like, anybody touting Audric Estime and Jaliel McLaughin as a true threat to RJ Harvey's workload. It just comes down to you're just trying to confirm that you had RJ Harvey too low in your pre-draft ranks. That's all it is. But outside of R.J. Harvey, Trayvion is going to be definitely one of my big targets

this year. I am, I've moved further and further closer to Erickson. Um, in not that I'm fading Amoryon Hampton, but I have moved him down my rankings. Like I've got him moved down to RB 25 because I do think that there's probably a very realistic possibility that Najee Harris is not going to go away for many, many weeks. And he is going to play into this backfield. So I've moved more of my rankings in that direction. But Trayvion Henderson, man, it's, I mean, pick, pick whichever narrative you want to go with.

Pick whichever lane that you feel like is going to explain his role in this offense, the like past game upside with McDaniels. Okay, check. Ramadre Stevenson has not been efficient. He's had fumbling problems. Okay, check. They don't have a lot of past game options. I mean, we're hearing Stefan Diggs might not be ready to go week one.

Okay, well, who you feel good in that passing game? Is it Guy Williams? Well, it's not Jalen Polk. It's not Javon Baker. Hunter Henry is your wide receiver one of this offense? Oh, okay. Trevion's getting a crap ton of checkdowns. Got it.

Okay, good. Let's go. So I think it's Trevion. if it's not R.J. Harvey in this tier. And I'm going to also make one shout, although we're going to get to him there a little bit. Somebody explained me why Caleb Johnson is not in this tier. Because I, that, dude, ranking Isaiah Pacheco,

Quinn John Judkins, D'Andre Swift, even freaking Tony Pollard and Aaron Jones above Caleb Johnson is, it's close to insanity to me. Caleb Johnson, for the record, is the number one name atop the next tier. So he is the guy, he's RB 29. We only went through RB28. but yes, he is in a separate tier from these other guys in thinking about the rookies.

Erickson, looking at the rookies, how do you break it down in terms of who you want to be targeting? I feel like Hampton is somebody that is going to be a frustrating player to play early. But if and when he takes over the backfield around Halloween, I don't know when that will be. It might not even be this year if they just really trust Najee Harris. but if it happens, there's incredible upside here. So I feel like he's somebody that I will want to be targeting as long as I have crafted a roster such that I don't need him to be a star in September because I don't think he will be.

But I think he could be in the fantasy playoffs. Yeah, but that makes it a tough selling at the draft him in round four. Yeah, that's a starter. That's the concern that you have where you're going to start Ormary in Hampton week one. Already ranked as a top 24 back. Is he good? Is he good? 24 back.

Is he going in round four? I mean, if he's a top 24 running back, he's going what? At what's the base? Like, round five? Like, even to be dibs some? I mean, yeah. So his ADP is even higher than ECR, by the way.

His 80s and teens. So you're definitely right. Yeah. So I feel similar to Deerot with Omerian Hampton where, again, I want his exposure to many of these rookie running backs because there's going to be a lot of big hits within this group. But again, you can't draft them all. And when you're considering the prices, well, you just take all the guys that weren't first round picks.

Yes, we love the fact that Armareen Hampton was the first round pick. We love the fact that he's on the charger and to run heavy offense. But you don't love the fact that Najee Harris doesn't miss games, doesn't fumble, and coaches trust him. Like, that's like the worst thing. That's like the worst thing to have if you're a rookie running back because the path is like, Ramandre, it's easy. Like he's going to fumble the job away. Like Jamie Anderson Slated. You have RJ Harvey with the guy, McLaughlin, estimate, like non-established guys.

They're paying Najj Harris more money. free agency than any other running back. Like, I get that he didn't make that much money, but relative to every other veteran running back, Nassiaires had the best contract in free agency. And he made more money than J.K. Dobbins did last year. Who was there RB1? And there's still a chance that J.K. Dobbins comes back to the Chargers. So what happens if it's a three-headed monster now with O'Meeringhampton? So that becomes a concern for me. So I'd rather just wait a little bit longer, get some of these other rookie running backs. And warm to your point, I know that when you first opened up this tier, you talked about, I really like this.

term. We're drafting a lot from this tier, but then you correct yourself by saying the rookies because usually this is like the dead zone tier where you don't want to draft a lot of running back. So I just wanted to add that layer because you have a lot of guys where projected volume, you're looking at early season success where you could see them, James Connor, Chuba Hubbard, where, okay, week one, you feel good about them, but how does it go down the stretch? We know James Connor has dealt with a ton of injuries. I love Trey Benson as a second year running back to buy because I think you could have a bigger role, especially if James Connor gets banged up.

So just some thoughts on the other running backs that are not rookies. keys in this tier because I agree you want to be targeting the young guys in this particular range not necessarily the veterans because I think that when you go down the list you're going to find okay I think I could probably make do with some of these other running backs that are really aren't that much different from the ones that are up in this tier also something I wanted to hit on real fast going back to just with amarian hampton real fast ericsson and i've talked about as we've kind of gone through the running backs and stuff what's the past game outlet for marian hampton too or any running back in this backfield so like

if Naji does stay as a thorn in the side, like say even a Morion gets to 65%. We're discussing an offense the last year. Like, dude, outside of Ladd-McConkie, who the heck you throw in the ball to? And they still didn't target the running backs. The only team that had a lower running back target share was the freaking Los Angeles Rams.

So even if you're talking about for Marian Hampton, like his absolute pure runout is as Jonathan, as a Jonathan Taylor, Kyron Williams type of clone for the Chargers, where he gets all the volume, all the touches, hardly any past game usage and all the touchdowns. You know, it's really, like, I'm really fascinated by this Chargers offense this year because I think there's a lot of assumptions about, like, Greg Roman, but they threw the ball a lot more in the second half last season. You know, the assumptions about running backs in the passing game, but like Dobbins and Gus Edwards have never really been pass catchers in the NFL.

I know Dobbins did it more in college, but like, I'm just really fascinated. I don't have a lot of strong opinions on this offense this year. Other than that, I think it'll be pretty good. I'm really curious to see the shape that it takes. The last thing I'll say on Hampton is, to me, this is a great example of a guy that you don't draft, but you try to buy low on in like week seven. I want to be trading for him for the stretch run and taking that upside swing if he has a slow start because of Najee Harris. DeBer, just last thoughts on this tier.

Any veterans that stand out is too high or too low? Just quickly? Aaron Jones. I do career high in touches. He stayed healthy. Adding Jordan Mason, who's going to play in this backfield because Ty Chandler sucks and was never a part of the backfield. I mean, freaking Cam Acres beat him out last year as the RV2. So Aaron Jones, I can't draft that RB22 right now.

I just, I can't do it. Tony Pollard, I feel like in this tier, he's the undervalued guy. I know there's been a little bit of talk coming out of the Tennessee Titans camp about Tage Spears playing more into this backfield. That's fine. I think Tony Pollard is still going to be. the clear workhorse, 60 to 65% snap guy. He's going to get the red zone touches. And look, Tennessee, can he get much worse

than being the Mason Rudolph and Will Levis show last year? If Cam Ward is like any semblance of good this year, Tony Pollard, who was an RB2 last year, could vault up the ranking. So out of the veteran guys in this tier, yeah, I think Tony Pollard is definitely a little bit undervalued. Eric, any last thoughts on this tier? I just wanted to quickly mention

so the last veteran in this tier is Isaiah Pacheco and I'm just curious to where do you think that he would be ranked if he never came back last season and all we had was him getting a monster workload to start the year, breaks his leg, doesn't come back because I think that his current ranking is so heavily influenced on how he looked so bad because he was coming off a broken leg and we saw this with Tony Pollard,

he came off the broken leg and then look terrible. So I think it's almost like an overcorrection where the first couple of weeks, I say Pacheco was looking like he was going to be a league winner. I know we were talking about Rashi Rice as a potential league winner, and then he got hurt, but Pacheco was seeing, like, there was no Kreme Hunt. Like, he wasn't part of the equation whatsoever. So that's something I'm trying to keep in mind. Now, will Pacheco ever get back to his form? I mean, it's more likely that he's back to his form now than he was at the end of last year when they were trying to make a Super Bowl run. So I'm trying to just, I'm keeping the light off for Pichko. He's still. He's still,

a young running back and more time removed from the injury. I just want to be open to the, I don't know how you guys feel about it and like me presenting that question to you. Like, I think that he probably. I think it's a great point, honestly. Like I think I think you are making,

Pacheco is somebody that I feel down on. And I think it's a very fair, it's not even like a critique by you. It's just a, it's an important question to ask, right? Like how would we be framing this if we didn't have that comeback last year, which might have been rushed because of the, you know,

So, like, I don't know where I will come down. I think Pacheco is somebody that I could see myself ranking very differently now versus the end of August. But I think it's a good question to ask, Debra. I think he'd be around the same spot. Like, and I'll say this, like, I'm, my Pacheco ranking, I have an RB31, so I'm almost, like, in lockstep with ECR here. My Pacheco ranking is not related to how he looked last year. It's the muddiness of this backfield. It's the fact that Kareem Hunt showed that he can be evolved.

volume guy. It's the fact that they did add Elijah Mitchell. It's the fact that a guy that we're going to maybe talk about, maybe not in this episode, but we've already discussed like in the NFL draft process, I think Richard Smith is going to make noise in this backfield as the new Jerich McKinnon. So I don't think we see Pacheco go back into what we saw before the injury last year. It's a possibility. But I think with all the bodies in this backfield, I think that it's more likely this is a two or three way possible committee. And I think that's what is is affecting his ranking and why I have him ranked where I do more so over ineffectiveness, injury, all that kind of stuff.

We are definitely not talking about Bhrat Smith on our top 50 running backs episode. He's RB 91. I like him actually, but that's way too low. He's currently in ECR for redraft behind such names as Alexander Madison. That is a little close. Kamani Vidal. That's ridiculous. Sincere McCormick, Sean Tucker.

My lock in every single fifth round. Richard Smith is my RB 50. Put some respect on his name, ECR. Get with it. Next tier here, another big one. So I'll run through the names quickly from RB29 to RB 41. Caleb Johnson, Brian Robinson, Jr., Tyrone Tracy Jr., Jalen Warren, Najee Harris, Ramadre Stevenson, Travis E.TN, Zach Charbonnet, Javante Williams, tank, Bigsby, Cam Skadaboo, Tage Spears, and Jordan.

Mason, again, you can follow along Fantasypros.com slash rankings to kind of be looking at those rankings, since I know that's a lot of names. We know DeBres, Caleb Johnson, not only at the top, but should be a tier ahead. There's a lot of names here that I just like, maybe they fit under the category of like boring veterans that are going to provide value at the end of the day, but I just don't want a lot of these names. I will say, and Erickson, I'm curious your opinion, I know he has not looked good since the injury. There is a lot, a lot of touches to be had in the Dallas backfield.

I wonder if Javante Williams is a screaming value at RB 37, even if it feels gross to draft him. I think I'm there. I'm there with you, Worm. I, I'm there. I'm interested in Jvante Williams. I'm there. You know, it's interesting. I was actually doing some deep diving on, on Jvante Williams specifically.

And it reminded me so much of this time last year when I was doing the same deep diving on J.K. Dobbins. Like, who did the surgery? Like, what happens? It's very Dobbins-esque. That's a great call. Just just trying to figure out what's going on with this guy. And I even came to the conclusion.

So last year, it was Sean Payton that was saying that he looked back to his old self. Not Javante Williams. This year, it's Javante Williams saying, I feel like my old self. So maybe that means absolutely nothing. I just thought it was nowhere. I just wanted to bring it up. But the opportunity is there in Dallas. He's still only 25 years old.

So he's still a relatively young running back. It can't get worse than it was last year. And remember last year, we were talking about him getting cut from the Denver Broncos. him and Sean Payton never saw eye to eye. So even if Javante had been fully healthy, was looking explosive, I don't know if it ever was going to fit. Again, Sean Payton inherited J. Williams. He didn't go out in the goal, this is my, he's not R.J. Harvey.

Like, Sean Payton went out and got R.J. Harvey. He did not. He inherited Javonte Williams. So, again, it was the best of a overall lackluster group of running backs. He still caught a bunch of passes. They trust him as a blocker. He's going to be used on passing downs, catching passes from Dack Prescott, catching dump-off passes from Dack Prescott.

And it's Miles Sandus. and Jaden Blue, who, yes, is a very exciting rookie that can make big plays, but not someone that is viewed as, oh, this guy can operate on all three downs. So, yeah, I think that if we're trying to figure out who could be this year's J.K. Dobbins, I think Jvante Williams checks off a lot of boxes. And as I dove deeper into my research for him, I actually found out the reason why he signed with Dallas was the Dallas Cowboys' new running back coach, Derek Foster, actually called Jemante Williams and was like, hey, I've been watching you since college since North Carolina.

I want you to be on the Dallas Cowboys. And that was like, John just like sign me up. Like someone that believes in me, which I don't think ever was the case with Sean Payton. Again, we saw it. Like, he was constantly in the doghouse. And you don't get rumored to be a cut candidate

as a lead running back on your team if you're not seeing eye-dye with your head coach. So yeah, Javonte, I am. Consider me in at RB 37. I will be ranking him ahead of RB 37. I guarantee it. Dibro, go ahead. You want to talk about the deep dive on Javante Williams?

I haven't tweeted this out. I haven't put this out anywhere, man. I, I went down a rabbit hole the other night about stats on Javante Williams. This, this will blow some people's minds here. Okay, so last year with Javante Williams, he hit a wall. And if you look at his week by week stats, it's insane, dude. From weeks one through eight, his tack, his mistackle rate was actually good, man. Like, so in that sample, so weeks one through eight amongst 43 qualifying running backs,

Giovante Williams had a 20% mistackle rate, which was 13th amongst 43 qualifying running backs. Now, after week eight, bro hit a cliff. He did not force a miss tackle for the rest of the season, the rest of the season. So you're talking about a guy that was coming off injury, still wasn't himself. In the first eight games of the season, a 20% mistackle rate. The rest of the season, boof, zero, goose egg, nothing. If another year passed the injury, if he looks like the guy from weeks one through eight, yeah, this is this year's J.K. Dobbins.

I'm in it. I'm in it. I mean, it's so easy to just sit here and say the Dallas Cowboys, who are an offense that we think are going to be good on some level. They have one running back inside the top 50. They only have two inside the top 70. Miles Sanders is like in the RV 70s. Like if you think Javante Williams's fancy value is dead, Miles Sanders is famous value. Dead, dead.

He's completely cooked. And then the only other guy inside the top 70 is Blue, who's not even inside the top 50, and doesn't appear to be a full-time player. I think Blue is a good player. But there is just, like, Javante would have to be the worst running back in the sport to not take advantage of this. And maybe he is that if he really doesn't break any tackles for the second half of this season, not a single one.

But he will have so much of a runway. It's insane. And there is no way that, and I say healthy. with air quotes, but that a healthy Giovante Williams is not a top 36 running back. There's no way. I don't disagree. And one of the thing

that I think that people are missing about Jane Blue, yes, you can categorize him as a passing down back based off of, okay, he was a really good receiving option. To Erickson's point, I think we are missing the boat on who is going to play actually on passing downs in the sense that Jane Blue,

like for the instance of people talk about him as a passing down back, just because of the receiving. stuff and running routes. Dude, Texas didn't never trust at him in pass protection. This guy had 44 across all of college. 44 career pass blocking snaps. And in that small sample, he allowed four pressures and two sacks. You're telling me that Schottenheimer and company are going to allow him or trust this guy

in pass protection from the word go. Heck, if not the rest of the season, Javante is going to be that guy. So our characterization of Jaden Blue is probably even wrong. in the sense that if he's doing anything out the gate, it's probably as a change of pace guy on early downs and not playing on passing downs. I think I'm looking right. So right now, he's RB 37.

The names ahead of him, Charbonnet, E.TN, Ramandre, Najee Harris, Jalen Warren, Tyrone, Tracy, Jr., Brian Robinson, Jr. He's in the handcuffee. I'm going to be ranking Javante ahead of like five or six of those names. I just bumped him up to RB 32. I was going to say, I think I might have him inside the top 30 by the end of draft season. And just I don't see a path to him not, if he plays all 17 games, I don't see a path to him not being a top 30 running back in this offense.

Yeah, screw it. I just bumped up to RB 30. Let's go. Let's not get carried away, boy. It's an RB3 price deck. I didn't say I made him RB 20. Would you rather have him or Charbonnet, who is a backup? Or Travis ETID who was terrible last year or Ramadry Stevenson, who I think his job's going to get taken by Henderson.

You can't make the argument that ETA was horrible last year when so was also horrible. I thought you rather him or Tyrone Tracy. Oh, no, I'd rather have him than Tyrone Tracy. Well, there you go. There you go. I wanted to ask, actually, because you mentioned Tracy, there's a lot of pairs in the same backfield in this tier. We have Tracy and Scadaboo are both in this tier.

We have ETIN and Bigsbee are both in this tier. There's a lot of, you know, Jalen Warren and Najee Harris former pair, not anymore in the same backfield. But a lot of players who are the 1A or the two in their backfield or they're both in this tier. How are you guys parsing through some of these pairs? D-Bro between a scataboo and a Tracy or between an ETIAN and a Bigsby? So the entire Jacksonville backfield is basically inside of my top like 40 to 45 players

because before camp we have no freaking clue. I think E-TN will be the lowest guy out of all that. Bachel Tootin will be the top guy, but he's like they're right next to each other, like him and tank. I've got Scataboo. Like there is a chasm. I've got R. I got Tyrone Tracy at RB 44.

I got Scataboo at RB 32. So for everybody in the draft process that said I hated Scataboo, like, dude, I had a lot of questions about his draft capital, where he went. I think it is incredibly telling not only that he goes to the Giants, but that he got better draft capital than freaking Tyrone Tracy did last year. And the fumbles were a problem with Tyrone Tracy. I think Scatabu can be their volume guys. So looking at all these different backfields, man, like, yeah, I want to be above

consensus on Scatibu. And again, like going back to Caleb Johnson, he shouldn't. be in this tier. He is the clear guy. like, Naji Harris got 299 touches last year. Caleb Johnson, what's the floor, guys? 250? 240?

I mean, honestly, I think the floor is probably 250, but am I wrong here? You're preaching to the choir. I love Caleb Johnson. I think that the, I mean, he's in the perfect offense for his skill set. Like, he was so landing spot dependent because if he went to a different, not like the wide zone type of scheme, he would have been terrible. And it would have been

like, oh my God, what is his team doing? Because he has a, he has to build up his speed. Again, when we first did the running back rookie episode that I was on, I was like, Caleb Johnson looks like Derek Henry. Like, that's who I compared him to because his running style is so similar to that, where he's got to build up speed and that fits so well in Arthur Smith's offense, who knows to think or two about Derek Henry. Yeah, we've referenced it before on this show.

I've referenced it before, but it's Nate Tice is the one who said, Honey, I shrunk Derek Henry. It was his cop for Caleb Johnson. And it's just so easy to see the stylistic match. Erickson, any other thoughts in some of these pairs, like Tyrone Tracy versus Scataboo, Bigsbee versus ETSN? So I also have Scatabu over Tyrone Tracy

because Tracy to me, so he really fell off at the end of last year. So it was after the by week. He was PFF's fourth, fourth worst graded running back. So we didn't see as much of the explosiveness at the end of the season. He kind of fell off.

And he has fumble issues. Again, going back to how easy is the path for this other running back to take over? The Giants current coaching staff and regime are playing for their jobs every single week. The minute that Tyrone Tracy puts the ball on the ground, you're concerned about, do we trust this guy? Devin Singletar is also lingering around.

So those types of, like, they're going to put whoever they trust the most with the ball to get it done. And if there's any doubt about Tyrone Tracy, well, they're going to find other ways to try to have a different running back on the field. So that's my concern about Tyrone Tracy. So I think that he is overvalued. I think that the better bet is just to take the cheaper running back. Again, with these ambiguous backfields, don't be overconfident that you immediately know

what's going to happen. In a lot of the cases, yes, me and Dero have Scataboo over Tyrone Tracy, but we're also telling you, Tyrone Tracy's probably going to get drafted first. But we're telling you with our rankings, just wait to take the value when it comes to you. And if you're wrong, okay, well, that's how it was drafted. So you, you, you, it's not as big of a hit on your draft capital when you're actually constructing your team. So again, I think value is still the name of the game. That's kind of why I pushed back with Giovante. It's like the reason J.K. Dobbins was great last year is because he was cheap. If he had been like a fifth round pick and yes, he would have been really good

the beginning of the year, but there was a reason why we're like, sell J.K. Dobbins. Like, that was the reason we were talking about it. So, like, Giovante, he starts out really hot, sell Javonte Williams for Omerian Hampton. Like, that's going to be a trade that we're going to try to convince people to make. So that's something to keep in mind when you're looking at when these prices fluctuated as be closer to August, how you're going to approach these players, again, because most likely we're not going to see like any absolute studs unless they're rookie running backs. So you want to flip the veterans, get some of this rookie upside. As for Jacksonville's backfield, again, I don't think anybody has.

the Da Vinci Code of exactly how this is going to shake out. I always have a soft spot for E.T.N. And Tank Biggsby is someone that I continuously fade. I think I might just do the same thing again and just fade Biggsby year three. The thing with ETIN that I can't just get out of my mind is he has Trevor Lawrence's trust. And I think that still matters from a real life perspective where if Trevor Lawrence wasn't there, I would have really no hope about ETIN. But he's been a running back that's been a top five fantasy running back before.

neither Tank Bigsby has done that. And as much as I love Shaal Tootin, he has not done that either. And he also has fumbling. I mean, ETSN, the two guys behind and both have fumbling issues. So I just don't think we can just completely write off ETA because what if he does open the, he stays on the team?

He's the day one starter in Liam and Liam Cohen offense. That can catch passes. Like, okay, maybe we're too low on ETN. And again, how many years ago was Josh Jacobs, right? Playing in a contract year, fade him, fade him, fade him. And then he smashed. why would they hey let's run ETN into the ground so I'm just trying to play through the different scenarios I think jacksaville's backfield is worth taking shots on but for me it's mostly on

ETN and to in as the two guys I'm gravitating towards but I'll admit like it's not something I'm like oh I'm super confident I think that we're going to get more news about and if he didn't gets traded then that obviously opens up thanks for big speed and two in we got to move to the next tier because we're running long but I do just want to quickly point out I like Jordan Mason a lot if he's going out the top 40 running backs um And I don't think either of you two are going to quibble with the ranking for Brian Robinson, Jr. But if he really is, I mean, they didn't draft a running back until round seven. They are, you know, entering year two with this elite young quarterback, you know, theoretically taking a step forward.

If Brian Robinson is the lead back in this offense, like, I could see a real path to like 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns this season. And, and looking like a, like, I'm not saying he should be ranked too much higher than he is. but RB30 is fair and I think there's real ceiling that you're getting with that ranking. I love that you brought up B-Rob, a real fast worm, because how we kind of frame the conversation around Isaiah Pacheco is how I feel about Brian Robertson Jr. Except he has less competition. Like if he is the goal I'm back, like in the 10 games that he played 40% of more of the snaps, this dude was near the top in like 10 zone carries and stuff like that. So the touchdown upside is massive there for Washington. Yeah, I really enjoyed.

I had him a lot last year, and it paid off well in the first season with Jane Gino's when he was on the field, when Robinson was on the field. So I'll probably be doing it again if that price stays where it is. Don't love DeAndre Swift? No. No. No. You want to talk about guys? I'll continue to fade and happily do so.

DeAndre Swift, come on down, baby, let's go. Last tier here. We'll go quickly on this one. Rashad White, Rico Dowto, Ray Davis, Trey Benson, Austin Echler, Tyler, Tyler, Tyler. Al Jare, Isaac Garendo, Bachel Tutin, and Jalen Wright. The second year running backs are kind of the ones that stand out to me here. Erickson, I know you mentioned Trey Benson as a guy. I mean, Ray Davis is a backup, but I love the idea of him if, you know, James Cook

ever ends up missing any time. He seems like a good investment. You know, Garendo, we know what's happened with CMC in the past. So I think the second year running backs to me, Erickson, stand out. Yeah, those traditionally are one of the best bets to make, especially when they don't do anything as rookies. So it's not the same thing that receiver, rookie receivers that don't hit are usually really bad investment sophomores. That's the opposite with running backs. I think that they're all going at like, it's worth it to go after it. Trey Benson, it's explosive. James Connor,

I just don't think that he's going to be able to stay healthy like he did last year. I think he's one of these veteran running backs where he's going to get hurt by, yes, very injury fortunate last year, maybe not so much this season. I think Trey Beds is going to take advantage. And he had good coach speak, you know, Jonathan Gannum was talking about. They know who he is on the roster. Like, that's always a positive that this third round rookie running back that they still remember who he is and he's not like oh yeah that guy no he's like someone that's actually uh top of mind so i like him and ray davis too because james cook's holding out right so does he hold out into off seas we've seen all these holdouts the last couple of years and it's been disastrous for the most part for a lot of these guys

missing time they get hurt and james cook last year again just blew up with the touchdowns so we'll see again it's probably going it's going to come down like he's not going to score 18 plus touchdowns again, but again, the year before, he scored like two. So I think we'll probably be around those low like eight to ten touchdowns, assuming that he's still the RV one. But Ray Davis did flash when he had his opportunities last year. I think that shouldn't go unnoticed. So yeah, give me the young guys here.

Dibro, I'll trade you a 2028 rookie fourth rounder for Trey Benson in our dynasty league. I keep trying to give him to you, worm, and you just don't want him. I mean, I keep trying to trade him to you and you don't want, you don't love Trey Benson and up. It's a tough team, man. to me I would take him trading is harder. Trying to get him to you. Who stands out to you here, D-Row?

Or if none of these names stand out to you, who outside the top 50 should be in here? So I think the second year running backs all stand out for all the reasons that Erickson kind of highlighted. I think the guys in this tier that stand out to me the most. Grendo, because we know who he is. Like if CMC is out, he's a plug-up play RB1, Bachel Tooting, if we want to go to the rookie path.

But Jalen Wright also stands out. So does Ray Davis. man the guys um i'll bring up a real fast that i think should be um in well two or three guys that i think should be inside the top 50 uh one we've already talked about for shardsmith i think he is the new jarrant mccannin in kansas city he should be inside the top 50 like he is in my ranks jarquess hunter i'm going to bring up yet again because he is going to play a role in this backfield and the guy that he's not inside the top 50 the the the green bay packers didn't do anything to add to their backfield Marshawn Lloyd can't hurt his hip, his ankle

I was 100% certain you were going to bring up Lloyd Gebo, you know that he did he did get hurt already He was he was he was he was he was rehabbing today It's really I didn't start don't start with me here I didn't see that because I posted my sleepers Marshawn Lloyd was one of my sleepers I was gonna bring him up too he's in my top 50

And somebody commented on X like Well I'm assuming this is going to change with the injury news I'm like what I didn't see that wow I didn't see it either Apparently he was rehabbing something. Oh, it says he's in the rehab group. Yeah, but that's not a good sign, man. It's, it's May.

It's August. I don't know what month it is, but it's very far from the season, and he shouldn't already be injured. It's May. It's August. I don't know what month it is. Fitz, by the way, we were doing a Dynasty Sleepers episode with me, Bogman and Fitz last week.

He shouted out Chris Brooks in the Green Bay backfield as like a very, very deep dynasty sleeper. So just to talk about the Green Bay backfield there. we'll hope for health deep row for marshawn loy yeah yeah i'm in if he's healthy i'm if he's healthy yeah totally easily uh what about you erics and anybody outside the top 50 that fits for you and then we'll get out of here so i don't hate blake coram so i think that he's still again i think one of these rams is going to pop behind car rinds and whether it's corum or hunter i'm going to drop both guys and you know only one of them means it hit so i like quorum still braylin allen

we talked about the jets get if they're going to really run heavy just brailyn allen is he a better fit, you know, as a more traditional early down grinder running back. I think the lanes opening up for him with Justin Fields might actually help him a lot more more than necessarily Breece Hall, who I think, I mean, does he need to be more explosive? I don't necessarily know that. So I think brailing out is kind of interesting. And just another guy I mentioned just because it kind of ties into like the Sequel and Barkley, if Barkley gets hurt, Will Shipley.

Again, like if everything comes to fruition with Barkley not returning from the, the touches and the workload and he misses games, well, the same. situation is still really good. And by all accounts, Will Shipley, the guy that drafted last year, is the next guy. And I'm going to be so sad if somehow A.J. Dillon finds his way into the lineup. But for right now, I'm in the Will Shipley, uh, Will Shipley, uh, Will Shipley bandwagon. So he's another sleeper I wanted to highlight. If A.J. Dillon finds his way into that rotation, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong. I'm just going to throw that out there. I just want to say outside the top 50, like, I want to just take as many of the rookies as I can. Like, I want DJ Giddons on teams. I want, I want, I want, I want, I want, I want. I want. I want. I was. I was. I I want Dylan Samson. I want Tage Brooks. I want Kyle Monong guy. I want Damien Martinez. I just want these flyers on these guys on teams once you get to this range anyway.

Jacori Kroski-Marry? Yes. Come on, man. J-C-M, dude. I thought you guys were going to bring them up when I brought up Brian Robinson. Well, we had to wait, you know? I mean, players that are not in the top 50. I mean, even like getting further down the list, like Jordan James, Woody Marks, like, I just want to take swings on this rookie class.

The non-rokey, I will say, too, Justice Hill, R. be 66. He's been inside the top 45 two years in row. Raven. Had to get a Raven in. No, I'm saying. Why don't you just bring a Pete Mitchell instead? Come on. Because I think Hill has the trust of the team more than Mitchell, especially in past protection. Like, even with Derek Henry staying healthy and getting all the touches, he was inside the top 40 running backs last year. And that was with missing a couple of games, too. Like, I just think he's going to be, he's like the boring veteran type of value in this range.

But for the most part, I want rookies here outside. The over one and a half ravens just hit Erickson's to cash it. I, I'm, I'm just giving people good advice because Justice Hill is going, he's going to outperform RB66 if he's healthy. I guarantee it. All right, we'll wrap up there because we went long. But good episode. We got through a ton of running backs there for D-Bro and Erickson.

All right. Wormley, thanks everybody for tuning in. We'll see you again next time. Go Ravens. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pro's Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts at Fantasyprose.com. slash review or on Spotify.

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