Fantasy Football Sleepers | Running Backs To Draft or Fade (Ep. 1657) - FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, friends, and welcome into Fantasy Pros, the Fantasy
Football Podcast. I'm Chris Welson. Today we are talking sleepers.
Are there sleepers in August? You dang right they are.
But we're not just talking any sleepers, talking running back sleepers.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Whether you're a hero or a zero to.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
The running back range, these are gonna help your team out.
And joining me today is Pat Fitzmorris and Jake Seeley,
two of my best friends in here, Jake rocking the
hat and Pat rocking the takes. Pat, what's upbody, dude?

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Well watch how about you?

Speaker 4 (00:31):
I got four drafts cooking simultaneously, including Jake's Flex Bestball League.
So yeah, it feels like we are deep into August.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
It feels good while we're doing the show. Are you
gonna be drafting while we're in a show.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Yeah, hopefully not.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
I've got I should be okay in one league where
we've got a one hour clock and there were like
six picks to go before me. So you know, as
long as we hustle through, I've got you guys on
the clock.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Got to hurry that.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Now we're all gonna be We're all gonna be watching you.
We're gonna be watching you see if your eyes start
to wander and you start draft while we're doing they also.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Pre drafted a spot too, so unless he gets sniped,
I think he's good.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Dick.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
This is great talking about these running back sleepers here
because we're coming off of your flex leagues. I just
did my one quarterback last week. I think you guys
are in the best ball here, and that is a
definite strategy. I saw in the end the one quarterback
league where there was that slight run of running backs
and then there's kind of a big weight And I
would actually say the interesting thing about doing this show

(01:25):
as well is over the last couple of days, at
least while we're recording this, quite a few running backs
that were sleepers are not so sleepy anymore. They're starting
to jump up, and we're going to talk about a
few of those guys. Whether it's been people are screaming
about the usage that these guys are getting in preseason.
Maybe a guy in front of another is going to
be traded. There's some rumors out there, there's floating, so

(01:47):
there's a lot of craziness in it. But we're going
to be talking about fantasy football sleepers through and through
value sleepers, deep sleepers, and we're even going to get
into the discussion of the players that are disguised as sleepers,
so fake sleepers if you've never had that. So we've
got all of that in store for you on this
episode today. If you guys want to follow along with
some of the conversation, you guys can always check out

(02:10):
how we're referencing some of these players when we do
ECR or ADP. So ECR is the Expert Consensus Ranks,
which you can find over at fantasypros dot com slash rankings,
or you can check out the Aggregate ADP Fantasypros dot com,
h slash NFL slash ADP if you want to take
a look. You can pick your formats and then you
can see, like, all right, this is what you know ESPN,

(02:30):
Yahoo and a couple other sites. This is what the
aggregate ADP does. We'll be using those and you will
be using it with us. So let's jump in and
let's just get right into the names. We're talking value sleepers.
We've got a couple names that we're going to be
hitting here, So Jake, why don't you start us off.
We're kind of looking at like round six through nine,

(02:53):
where you know, we're not identifying sleepers as like first
four think you first four or five rounds or anything
like that. We're not into the deep sleeper range here.
So this is that mid tier identified sleeper. Who is
number one for you?

Speaker 2 (03:08):
I say number one.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
I'm not that excited about it, but I've been getting
number one on them.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah, well, I was gonna say I admittedly been getting
more excited because the situation behind this running back has
been somebody who we have a lot of excitement for
who's been injured, and then the other person finally got
their chance, that being Miles Sanders, and did Miles Sanders
things which said, hey, you know what, clearly you're not
the answer, which means, as of right now, Javonte Williams

(03:32):
is like, I know we're excited for Jenden Blue, but
I do believe that Jayden Blue was always going to
be a timeshare piece at best anyway, which could be
Jinglen Warren value that, don't get me wrong, But if
there was gonna be a lead in this backfield, let's
remember Javonte Williams before he got hurt, and if we
could even get ninety percent of that who included passing
game work and passing game ability. I think Javonta Williams
is the winner here because unfortunately the Blue injury, he

(03:55):
hasn't been able to get on the field this past week.
And that doesn't mean that Jayden Blue is not going
to be involved, but I think that just opens the
door even more so. Similar to the situation with Tyrone
Tracy and Is Scattboz Scataboo hasn't been able to get
on the field to kind of make his impact and
take some touches away from Tracy, So I think this
is very similar. As long as Jevonte Williams is healthy,
they've kept him out, which tells us he's the one.
I think that we should get in on this because

(04:16):
if Jefvavonte Williams is even a fringe RB two or
RB three where he's going in this range, it's not
the most exciting. Like I said, he's not number one
in my excitement poll, but he's number one, and like, hey,
this is a value if you do what your approach
that you didn't kind of say is like the hero
RB was. A lot of teams were doing that in
flex is one big and then I'm waiting four or
five rounds to get another running back and that could

(04:37):
be your answer at number two, but you're getting them
as a number three.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
So one question to ask you is if, man, if
there was a Brian Robinson that wasn't on the Commanders,
So that would have been a situation where we hear
these rumors where Brian Robbinson could be traded. My instant
first thought was like, oh my gosh, the Cowboys have
been tied to running backs all off season. But clearly
those teams are not not a good match and not

(05:01):
a good pairing here, so you kind of take that off.
But like, if it weren't and I'm playing this weird
scenario because maybe there's another running back or two that
could be floating out there, would that have changed your
mind at all? If there was a running back of
the ilk of a Brian Robinson that could have been
available for the Cowboys, would you be worried about that
at all? That that rumor that they were looking to
try to acquire somebody could affect you know, this usage

(05:24):
that you're kind of playing out for him to be
a sleeper.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Of course, because that would tell us that they don't.
The Cowboys don't have faith that Javontay Williams is anything
like he used to be. I mean, we're now talking
we're going to the third for all densive purposes this
year from this injury for Javontae Williams, if we kind
of gave him a pass, like all right, last year
should have been the rebound, but the timeline kind of
put it more ab at the back end. Not that
he looked good at the end of last year, but

(05:48):
we're now at the point where if it's not going
to happen, it's not going to happen. Like this is
kind of like the dead Tell. You could go back
to Deonta Foreman who kind of had that late revitalization
in his career, but this what that was like a
three year scenario. So you could say that's the case.
But as you're asking the question, if the Cowboys were
still looking, if they were still interested, health cuts happen
and they add somebody to the roster, that'd be like, hey,

(06:09):
Jaenom Blue still banged up. Miles Sanders looks like trash
film off is not a factor, which I don't think
has been a factor to this point. But all that
being said is just adding another piece would be like, eh,
like go to the Texans, Damian Pierce got cut because
what he marks and Joe Mixon surprisingly ready for week
one and they bring in Damian Pierce, Then yeah, that
would give me a little bit pause because that would
kind of be a telling maybe they don't believe he's okay.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah, And I guess a better way for me to
have phrased it probably was like, let's say the Jaguars
openly were like, hey, Travis et and we were going
to sell him, and then we also got like the
Chargers saying, you know what, we're gonna move on from
Naji Harris. If you knew that there were one or
two viable running backs in the market, would even the
speculation give you a little bit of pause on a
guy like Javonte knowing.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
That maybe a few spots and I want to go crazy,
but maybe a few spots.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
What do you think about Javonte Williams. Here is a
sleeper ADP. He comes in at already six and a
half PPR and our aggregate which has got like Yahoo's
sleeper rts sports in here, he's going right above JK. Dobbins.
He's actually going below Cam Skataboo, which kind of opens
your eyes. Ranks, he's one spot higher, he's thirty five,
he's in tier five, but he's above like ramondre Stevenson,

(07:17):
Tank Bigsby has gotten a run here. So that's a
general range on our ranks and ADP. But what do
you think of him as an actual sleeper.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
I think that's about right where he should be. I
think I've got him at like RB thirty four or something,
and I think we with the price we're paying right now,
that almost bakes in the risk that there's some sort
of trade possibility ETN or someone else from another team
landing in Dallas. But man, I would love to see
Javonte Williams go back to the guy he was pre injury,

(07:47):
the guy who made everyone mad at Melvin Gordon for
being in his way in Denver and everyone wanting and
Melvin Gordon was a pretty good back in his own right,
but like everyone just wanted Melvin.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
To get out of the way.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
So it could be the Javante will show in Denver,
Like he just had this great combination of power and explosiveness,
and he cuts some passes too, So if he could
be that like, he is a clear runway to get
a lot of work for Dallas in you know what
could be a fairly high scoring team like we with
back back and with the firepower they have a wide

(08:19):
receiver like the Cowboys should put up some points and
you know, getting the top running back from this team
this late in the draft. If he is indeed the
top running back in anything like his old self, you
could turn a big profit.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
There are you sold that he is? That last little
sentence you almost sound like you were just You're like, yeah,
this is a good pick by Jake, but maybe you're
not completely sold on it.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
You're like, if he is, I just don't know.

Speaker 4 (08:43):
I mean, we have not exactly got overwhelming affirmation that
the old Javante is back, but we've also haven't heard
anything to the effect of, yeah, this guy looks totally cooked.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
So I don't know.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
That's one of those situations where no news isn't good news.
It'll always almost be like, could we get some good
news to be good news?

Speaker 3 (09:02):
Right? No news is no news in this case?

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yeah, all right, Well, speaking of cook there's different ingredients
that put together a sleeper. Sometimes that can be like
a player that's gonna pop in week four or five,
we draft him kind of high, we have to sit
on him. Another one of those, ironically, can be kind
of a I don't know, a krusty, uninterested player that
does like Javonte, that could play Week one and then
all of a sudden they just work themselves into the

(09:26):
entire year when everybody was thinking they would fail. That
kind of seemed a little bit like your guy Pat,
where things were kind of lining up, where everyone was like, yeah,
he's fine, but usage is going to come down. That
other guy is going to keep floating and he's going
to be the player. But one of those ingredients to
your player is a guy that is going to be
out there it looks like week one kind of unaffected

(09:47):
by anybody else, and maybe this is going to make
where he's going even a bigger value. So who is
that player?

Speaker 3 (09:52):
It's Tony Pollard.

Speaker 4 (09:53):
And yes, please don't yell at me in the YouTube
comments about picking Tony Pollard as a sleeper when he's
clearly not a sleep he's more of a value pick
and we were told to go outside the top five
rounds in ADP, Pollard has an early sixth rownd ADP
and that ADP is probably going to be in the
fifth round by this weekend, with the realization that tij

(10:14):
Spears probably isn't going to be back anytime real soon
for the regular season. And look, I have to admit
that I was not all that into Tony Pollard earlier
in the offseason, mainly because I do think ty J.
Spears is a good player and Titans head coach Brian
Callahan had said repeatedly during the offseason that he wanted
to carve out a bigger role for Spears. Well, now,

(10:37):
Spears is a high ankle sprain, and high ankle sprains
kind of have a way of thwarting the best laid plans.
It's typically a four to six week injury, and then
players sometimes aren't themselves immediately upon their return, So Pollard
should get a lot of work early in the season.
Titans don't really have another running back who could be
a one for one replacement for Spears. Like Spears is

(10:58):
a good pass catcher, the Titans of Julius Chestnutt, who
he's had five catches in three NFL seasons, and they
have rookie Kalel Mullings, a former linebacker who probably profiles
as a short yardage specialist. I know Pollard hasn't been
as efficient the last two years as he was as
a change of pace back earlier in his career behind

(11:20):
Ezekie Elliott with the Cowboys, but Pollard is a solid
runner and pass catcher. Titans faced one of the easiest
schedules in the league this year, and last year they
had a lot of injuries on the offensive line. But
this unit is healthy now and the Titans signed Kevin
Zeitler and Dan Moore in free agency, they could have
one of the better offensive lines in the league. Cam
Ward should help improve the overall quality of the offense.

(11:43):
And oh, by the way, if you make it to
the championship game in your league, Tony Pollard is a
Week seventeen matchup against the New Orleans Saints, who had
one of the worst run defenses in the league last year.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
So when you prefaced, it is the idea, and I
know what you're getting at, and good that we reiterate.
I said it at the top, but like we're talking
about like between like round six and nine, But you
really seem like you focused on the value side versus
like the sleeper. Is it that you think he can
beat his current spot, which is twenty five ADP that's

(12:15):
a consensus twenty four rank or do you think it
is that he can hold because I feel like when
you said value, you look at him as like he's
a dude that's going to like really hold that value
where you're drafting him right now?

Speaker 4 (12:25):
No, I mean right now, I think he's better, Like
he should go ahead of where his ADP is. He's
kind of a target for me right now, Like I've
got him. I've got him forty eighth overall and half
point PPR.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
Do you think overall who has the better opportunity to
really beat their current value? Javonte Williams down at thirty
six but becoming like an RB two or Tony Pollard
who is like a fringy RB two three to being like,
let's call him like a like a mid range RB two.

Speaker 4 (12:55):
I mean Javonte probably just because he's so so much
further down in the rankings. And yeah, I mean like
I don't know how many points the Titans are going
to put up, so Tony Pollard, I don't know if
he is a realistic shot at double digit touchdowns, and
maybe Javante doesn't either, But I do expect the Dallas
offense to maybe be a little better than the Titans offense.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
Well, if Yeah Spears can stay on the field, that's
going to just be more opportunity for Pollard. What do
you think about Tony Pollard in this range, especially in
that kind of like sleeper versus maybe value value sleeper.
You can hone in on Jake. What do you think
about Pollard?

Speaker 2 (13:29):
It's a wet fark came to mind. Like I'm thinking,
like I'm looking for a snack and I go in
the refrigerator and there's that pudding cup that's been sitting
there for three months in the back and I'm like, fine, no,
rice cake. I won't go with that bad. I'm just like, fine,
I'll eat the little snack pack and I'll be happy
for five seconds. Mostly because I was completely out on

(13:50):
Tony Pollard before the injury happened, Mostly because he had
the entire workload last year until very late in the season,
but he even still had the vast majority of it
at the end of the season, but his backfield all
to himself, and he's still RB twenty five in points
per game. Like that's the thing. It's like Pollard is fine.
It's not that I disagree much with like what Fits
is saying, like where he is, he's a fine value,

(14:10):
he's a fine RB two. It's just that's all he's
gonna be. Like when you said, do you say hold
or the upside one hundred percent was hold hold the
door until you're disappointed and you're sad that you have
to let him go. The one thing I will say,
the schedule is nice except for week one. Fortunately he
has the entire workload to save his week one. But
that's what I'm going with here. If there was no
injury to Spears, I was complete. I had I had

(14:32):
Pollard outside of my top twenty five, actually have I
still do. I am at twenty six. I add him
down around thirty, like I was rolling the dice, and
I think it's gonna come down to roster construction. So
I'm not gonna say, like Fits is wrong one hundred
percent to say he's a fine RB two. If you
want somebody that you just know what, you're gonna get cool.
But like when I'm drafting this range, usually Pollard would
end up being my third running back, which might sound

(14:54):
enticing to some people, But am my third running back.
I'm usually waiting another round or to take it to
Javonte making an ETN or bigsby taking like those kind
of guys where there's a path to getting inside the
top eighteen or so, where I just don't see that
for Pollard. So it depends on what you need. Like
if I have a lot of risky wide receivers, then
I'd say, you know what, fine, I'll take Tony Pollard.

(15:14):
So I really think it comes down to even though
we disagree to a degree and we're not that far
off from each other, it comes down to team makeup
for me.

Speaker 4 (15:21):
I like the.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Construction idea too of if you got Pollard as a
third RB maybe compared to if you had taken like
an RJ. Harvey that was your RB two tving on. Yeah,
Like if you think maybe those guys are going to
just be a little bit weaker in the first couple
of weeks, you really have Pollard for that protection early on.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
That's a good way to look at it too.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah, there's like a construction side that really works.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
You can even get Pollared with Davante and be like,
I can wait, I don't have to try and plug
Javonte into my lineup. I can hold Pollard for a
while to see what happens that kind of situation, like a.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
Like a hero RB, like you take your one big
guy and then you wait, awhile, and then Pollard is
number two and Javante's number three, if you even wanted
to do that. So there's some other use cases where
he makes a lot of sense. All right, we got
two more names that are coming up in our value sleepers.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
But first get.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
In the game. Best Ball is live at DraftKings. Fifteen
million is on the line with real stakes and real excitement.
Best Ball is the biggest fantasy contest at DraftKings. We're
talking of fifteen million dollar guaranteed prize pool with two
millionaires being crowned for first and second place. Play season
long fantasy football the DraftKings way. With best Ball, there's

(16:26):
no waiver wires and no roster management. You get bigger
rosters so injuries won't in your season. Just draft your
team and your set. If a shot at winning a
share of fifteen million dollars isn't enough to get you excited, first,
I don't know what is, but we're going to try.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
So check this out.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
DraftKings is offering everyone a draft one get one special.
Your twenty dollars entry fee scores you a bonus ticket,
So download the DraftKings app and use code Fantasy pros.
That's code Fantasy pros for all customers who enter the
NFL Best Ball fifteen Million Millionaire Contest to get a
bonus ticket and get a shot at being crowned one
of two millionaires only at.

Speaker 5 (17:04):
DraftKings Gambling Problem call one eight hundred gambler In New
York call eight seven seven eight hop and wire text
hope and wy at four six seven three six nine
In Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling call eight
eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or
visit CCPG dot org eight in and over in most
eligible states, but age varies by jurisdiction. Eligibility restrictions apply.
One per customer enter the Best Ball fifteen million Headliner

(17:26):
Contest by nine four to twenty five to get one
bonus entry. Twenty dollars entry fee required. Reward expires in
thirty days. See terms at DraftKings dot com. Slash NFL
dash Best dash Ball all.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Right value Sleepers part do We've both got a couple
players in here, I've actually mentioned one of these guys,
so Jake I had mentioned this guy potentially being traded.
There's no actually real discussion. It was just kind of
a throwout here. There was so much discourse in the
Twitter Fantasy football verse about his counterpart and how amazing

(17:58):
his counterpart is. So I'm setting us up here to
talk to little jaguarres running back here. So which of
those running backs are you on for a sleeper or
value sleeper as your second guy?

Speaker 3 (18:11):
Both?

Speaker 2 (18:12):
But I will say, because we're looking for the answer
who can lead the backfield. Initially in week one of
the preseason, it was all Travis Etn and then when
he left the field with the first team, there was
a little sprinklerver for Bigsby, but he didn't get a touch,
and then he got work with the second team. Well,
the second week came around and it was the fifty
to fifty split people who were talking about earlier on

(18:33):
and Bigsby was even on the field for passing down work. Now,
the reason why I say Etn over Bigsby is not
so much the fact that, like, yes, I acknowledge, Biggsby
looked better than Etn running the ball last year, Like
there's objectively or subjective league pick which alene who you
want to go, and he looked better and was better.
Going back to two years ago, we know how great
that first half was for Etn. But if it's assuming

(18:55):
a fifty to fifty split even let's just say this
the worst case scenario of what we want for fantas.
We want somebody to have the sixty percent or better.
We want somebody to be the clear lead. But in
that situation, I know Bigsby was out there in Week two,
but I think we all expect and still believe Eten
would be the pass catching option. So similar to Naje
Harris and Jalen Warren of the Steelers last year, I'd

(19:16):
rather have the pass catching option. I'd rather have the
one with more upside. I'd rather have somebody in the
offense that potentially does have to throw more under Liam
Cohen and has more explosiveness. And that's why I would
take Etan over Biggsby. That being said, they are both
so cheap. This entire backfield is so cheap because of
the under uncertainty that you can draft all of them,
take flyers on all of them, including hint hand one

(19:36):
that we'll talk about later. Because of FITS is that
you can spend on all of them, And no, I
don't really want to draft three running backs from the
same team, but you could take two flyers, and at
the cost of two flyers, potentially one winning out is
going to help your team because they're all cheap right now.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yeah, and fits, That's kind of the thing that jumps
out to me is like if Eten was like twenty four,
you know, if he was like the Pollard value or
something like that, and then Bigsby were like thirtieth, and
then Tootin was like thirty eight, you'd look at this
and you'd be like, like, it's all just too much,
and everyone'd probably go to the cheaper end. But I mean,
Eten kicks us off and he is ADP and ECR

(20:14):
ranked thirty two, So he's almost just a straight up
like running back four as far as value, he's the
back end of whether you want to call it RB
three or flex however you want to use it. It's
a cheap cost. But what do you think about et
and Jake Elluded We're going to talk about ano Jaguars
running back here in a little bit. But the cost
is just really low into the thirties. Do you think
there's some value sleeper in ETM this year.

Speaker 4 (20:36):
I mean there could be. I think there's a really
wide range of potential outcomes with ETN, But the cost
on all these guys is so cheap, Like it it
pays to invest in these murky back fields because you
could turn a big profit on a modestly priced back.
And it was not that long ago early twenty twenty three,
as Jake said that ETN was basically giving us numbers

(20:58):
befitting a first round fantasy pick, like he was really
good in early twenty twenty three. Contrast that to last year,
when ETN objectively stunk. I mean, he averaged three point
seven yards per carry last year, he forced seventeen miss
tackles in the running game all season, he averaged minus
zero point two eight rushing yards over expected per carry.

(21:22):
He averaged one yard per route run. As a pass catcher.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
It was just bad.

Speaker 4 (21:27):
And now he's in the final year of his contract.
But maybe he could flourish in a Liam Cohen offense.
Like Cohen uses a lot of wide zone and that's
probably a good scheme for Etn's skill set. But like,
what if the Jaguars just kind of decided to move
on and turn things over to bas shoal Tooton playing
the lightning role in a Thunder and Lightning tag team

(21:48):
with Tank Bigsby. So I don't know, you know, Etn's
got this RB three average draft position. I can imagine
him being in every week Fantasy Starter. I could imagine
him being a guy who people are are waiving, like
three weeks into the season.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
Okay, so let me ask you this. Then, what's the
scenario where you take him? What does it look like?
I have one in my mind. If you want me
to set you up here, like I was thinking, you
go and you take let's take a h Chan or Jacobs.
Just give me one of those hero guys, and then
you're waiting. You're waiting, and then all of a sudden

(22:26):
you had to lock down. Your RB two is Caleb Johnson,
and you know you've kind of you know there might
be some potential upside. You're right there. To me, that's
kind of the scenario where I start to go, like
I think I was saying it with the last guy,
where it's like, all right, I got this, like maybe
unquestioned early player rookie that a guy like Eten would
make a lot of sense as a veteran who's going
to get some volume at least early on. To me,

(22:47):
that's a scenario where I'm probably targeting et and a
tiny bit more where if I'm left with my options
of being like and wherever you are of Brian Robinson, Tyrone,
Tracy Jalen Warren and him, and I've got Caleb you know,
is my number two, or even an Aaron Jones is
my number two. I feel like that would prompt me
to want to take an Eten. Is that would you
co sign on that? FITZI as the scenario, Do you

(23:09):
have a different scenario where et would make sense?

Speaker 3 (23:11):
Well?

Speaker 4 (23:11):
Well sure, right now I've got et And ranked I
think eighty eighth overall in half point PPR, and I've
kind of got him as this He's in this buffer
zone between the wide receivers I like and the wide
receivers I'm just like depth guys so like ahead of him,
I've got Jordan Addison, Ricky Piarsal, Juwan Jennings, Jacoby Myers

(23:32):
below him, I've got guys like Michael Pittman, Junior Deebo,
Samuel As I'm not quite as into So if I
go with the real wide receiver heavy build early in
the draft, and maybe I've only got one running back
to this point, and I'm looking for, you know, guys
who have a chance to emerge as every week running

(23:53):
back twos for me, Like I could put Etn in
that category as long as I'm already sort of happy
with what I have at wide receiver.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
Jake, any other different scenario that you would build for
Why Travis Etn makes sense to your team? Or do
you like what we put together?

Speaker 2 (24:08):
Like I probably wouldn't go to Caleb Johnson only because
a week two in the precinc you just that's just
a name that was in my mind that went similar
to what we were talking about before. Like I would
want the cheaper option with Gelan Warren because I don't
know what's going on with Caleb Johnson. That's a complete sidebar.
That's a conversation for another day.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah, I just wrong.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
What the hell was that use in week two? Why
did you draft him? If he's not gonna be Nase Harris?
Why are we doing this with Kenneth Gainwell, So that
being said, I do I would to your question though,
like Caleb Johnson would go back to the previous conversation
because of what we just saw in week two. I
want Caleb Johnson with Tony Pollard and the fact that
like I don't need Caleb Johnson in a week one
because that's worrisome. Now I think Travis Etn is the

(24:48):
similar thing is that I want two running backs and
I want somebody like Tony Pollard Travis Etn. I would
do that as much as I don't want Tony Pollard
because I want to backup plan or I should say
I want to play in place ahead of him in
case he's not the answer. Because if he's not the answer,
I agree with FI move on from him to do
not do the thing where he drafts Travis e ATM.

(25:08):
It doesn't happen in two weeks. You didn't need to
drop him, but you held on into pops off in
week three. He goes back to the bench a week
four and then it's the whole You spend the rest
of the season not knowing when to play him. Mean
you miss all the good games anyway.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
Yeah, never starting him in the right point here, all right,
the second pat, this is your second value sleeper.

Speaker 4 (25:24):
Hit us with him, Zach Charboney, and I just I
want to invest in the Seattle backfield this year. Like
I'm very interested in drafting Kenneth Walker, and if I
don't get Walker, I want to get sharbon Ay. And
I'll even consider drafting both Walker and Sharbonay, even though
I'm generally not a big handcuffer in drafts. A couple
of reasons why I'm so jazzed about the Seattle backfield

(25:46):
this year. First of all, the combination of a Kubiak
paired with Rick Dennison has historically produced some awesome running
games Like Clink. Kubiak's dad, Gary Kubiak, was the long
time offensive coordinator the Denver Broncos under Mike Shanahan, and
Gary Kubiak also happened to be John Elway's backup quarterback
in Denver. Rick Dennison is a former Broncos linebacker who

(26:09):
was either an offensive assistant or the offensive line coach
for Denver back when Gary Kubiak was the OC and
the Broncos running game was magic.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
Back in those days. They had Terrell.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
Davis, they had Clinton Portis, and they also got these
big one off seasons from guys like Rubin Drones, Mike
Anderson Tatum Bell like Clint Kubiak's first stint as an
offensive coordinator was with the Vikings in twenty twenty one.
Dalvin Cook at almost twelve hundred rushing yards in thirteen
games that year, and now Clint Kubiak is running the

(26:40):
Seattle offense with Rick Dennison as one of his assistants,
and the Seahawks have pretty much signaled that they want
to get their running game going by spending a first
round pick on interior lineman Gray's Abel, who looked absolutely
phenomenal in the preseason this past weekend, by the way,
like he was mashing people. And they also spent a

(27:01):
fifth round pick on a two hundred and seventy four
pound full back from Alabama, Robbie Ootz. As for sharbon
ay Like, he's been really good whenever he's gotten the chance.
He averaged three point three five yards after contact per
carry last year, and when Kenneth Walker was hurt, Sharbone
had two touchdowns against the Dolphins and two more touchdowns

(27:21):
against the Cardinals. He's also been really good as a
pass catcher seventy five catches over his first two seasons,
and let's face it, we know Kenneth Walker's had kind
of a hard time staying healthy the last couple of years,
so I think sharbon Ay might have some standalone value
even if Walker is healthy, and he could be a
monster if Walker were to miss more time.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
It's interesting a lot of the narrative is around ken
Walker and this team, and you hear everybody talking about
their love for ken Walker. He's also one of those
weird ones where his ADP and ECR don't really match up.
People rank him higher, but they don't draft him at
the same spot. He is an easer thirty four and
half PPR, so that's inside the top thirty six, but
his ADP is thirty eight, so that's for RB spots.

(28:03):
And when I say that I'm not doing overall, I'm
just talking positionally. That's four positional spots lower where he's
being drafted. So really interesting dynamic. Is Sharbonay a guy
that you're targeting Sealy or is it all about ken
Walker or neither.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
So it's funny. This has kind of been a roller
coaster for me. By the way, I was trying to
see it sent over lap No sham Moreno, I didn't.
I was going back and looking at some of the
names of the broncost of the year. That was fun
that the rabbit Holey just went down, But anyway, it's
gone up and down and up again. So initially I
was because I looked at last year before we even
go down this path, which I agree with everything that
fits as said about this offensive system, but looking at

(28:39):
last year, I'm looking at how good Sharmonay did in
the absence of Walker, Like there was concerns we hadn't
seen it yet. We've seen Sharbona and Burst, but it
kind of be similar to the Warren situation where it's like,
do they really want him? One to be the guy
if Walker's out? And then two can he be the guy?
A lot of these running backs we'll see throughout the NFL.
They're great in time shares, but when asked to be
the guy they be I'm less efficient. So that was

(29:01):
a big question that I thought was answered. So I
was like, Hey, why wouldn't you use Sharbona more this year?
Why won't you peel off of ken Walker a little
bit and maybe even look like the Steelers. I know
I keep reference to them, but they're a good callback
for this. And then talk to Michael Sean Dugger of
the Athletic who covers the Seahawks, and he said, everything
from reports, everything with this team has been saying they
want Kenneth Walker to be the bell cow. And I'm like, wow,

(29:23):
well that means we need to move back to Kenneth
Walker a little bit. But now I'm back in and
with fits on this because Kenith Walker needs to get
on the damn field for it to be a bell cow.
You give me a bell cow all you want, but
if you're in the shed getting milk because you can't
get on the field, like I don't even want you
out there. So I'm back in on Scharmona mostly because
I think he needs to be in the conversation with
like a Tala Algier, the Isaac Correndoz where these are.

(29:45):
There's a lot of handcuffs that we want, but there
are some top tier ones. Charbon A should be one
of the first, Like you say, David Montgomery first, charbon
A is probably either second or third at worst. So
that's why I'm definitely still drafting Sharbonay all right.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
Value sleeper in the books. Again, these are these guys
that are kind of like floating just before we get
to the top thirty six. So now let's jump to
deeper sleepers. These are rbs that are outside of the
top thirty six and half PPR. We're looking at ranks,
we're looking at ADP sharp but actually we've kind of
qualified there. A couple players' names have just popped up
over the last couple days and been more enticing, and frankly,

(30:21):
that is where we're going to start with this very
first one, Jacas. We are going to be hitting, not
any quick hitters or anything like that, but we're going
to be moving a little bit more in the deep sleepers.
Brian Robinson apparently is on the trading block, and that
makes a few names quite interesting. But you're picking the
one that maybe more people should be talking about, and
aren't Austin Eckler as your first deep sleeper. So let's
hear it.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
Yeah, before you like teed that up, I was actually
going to say I was throwing Nolan McClean curveball at
you with that spin rate, by the way, and look
at that for it basically say look at that. I
was gonna throw that at you and say, hey, you
know what, maybe we save this name for Pats last
and then talk about both of them. Maybe we pull
Pats up and switch it that way.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
Throw the cur that's cool, that we'll will do his name.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
Well, yeah, come to him in a second, because I
don't necessarily disagree. We'll get to his in a second.
The real answer here is like I think that Austin
Eckler is just being overlooked, period end a statement. This year,
Austin Eckler was still productive last year when healthy, and
I know there's a question of whether or not has
been healthy, but he is as of right now, he
has been this entire off season. His role is not changing,

(31:24):
and his role even last year was an RB three
and a half in full point PPR. And there's a
big question that you said, the Brian Robinson trade talk
that got started yesterday from Jordan Schultz, and whether or
not that even happens is fine because whether it's Brian Robinson,
who Pat's going to talk about, whatever it is, Austin
Eckler still Austin Eckler. And That's what I'm excited about.

(31:44):
Here is also on top of it, you look up
and down this depth chart We've talked on previous shows
of why I'm a little bit more positive in Deebo
Samuel than a lot of people, mostly because of the
Jabronis that Jaden Daniels had to throw to last year.
It was two hundred targets going to all these other
names that weren't Terry McLaurin and Zaz and those are
just the wide receivers. They've been trying to make things happen,
and part of that was Austin Eckler not being on

(32:05):
the field for some of that. I still think Austin
Eckler for a full season could be walking into seventy
plus targets and so with a few carries that he's
gonna get, he'll be in RB three. And that's why
it's not that like, oh my god, you have to
smash Austin Eckler in every single one of your leagues.
It's just nobody seems to be talking about him this year.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
Yeah, it's an interesting one. And Pat the big popular
name that jumped up because we'll talk about these guys
as kind of a grouping here. We moved one of
your lower names up here, and it's Joy Krosky Merritt,
who is the big boost. I mean, he is gonna
fly up boards right now. I mean, we're talking people
at take.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
Him in the third rounge. Yeah, well they might with that.

Speaker 1 (32:41):
We've been seeing some of these drafts go first traveon
and then one two will be merit. But you know,
if Robinson goes, I think a lot of people are
vaulting him into that spot. And he's a guy that
was you know, forty to fifty EIGHTP who is flying up.
As a matter of fact, if I can even try
to find it real quick, Merritt with seventy eight among
ECR ranks on RB so obviously like we have not

(33:06):
seen him get caught up. ADP is sixty four, so
things are starting to move, but that's way way down there.
You're making a bet on Merritt getting a lot to
run this season and being a value sleeper or deep sleeper.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (33:19):
First of all, let me say I totally agree with
Jake on Eckler. There are actually two targets for me
in this Washington backfield. Like Eckler's been one of the
guys I've drafted most often to this point in early drafts,
he's going way later than he should. Score double digit
PPR points in eight of his twelve games last year,
and when Brian Robinson Junior missed a couple of midseason
games with the hammy injury. Eckler had one hundred and

(33:41):
thirty four yards from scrimmage in three touchdowns in those
two games. So yeah, he's going way too low and
he's not the guy who's threatened by Jacory Krossky Barrett.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
Like, Eckler's role is going to be the same.

Speaker 4 (33:50):
He's gonna plan passing downs, he's gonna play in the
two minute offense, and he's gonna occasionally be like the
change of pace play a series here. The guy behind
whoever is like the main early down starter Krosskey Merrit
is absolutely a target for me. And right now, Brian
Robinson is the guy with the you know, the skull

(34:11):
and crossbones sticker, like the you know I've got on
the bleach that I keep under my sink. The drum
beat with Jack Cory Krossky Merrit has just gotten too
loud to ignore. Like, all right, so this guy goes
by the nickname Bill by the way, Jack Cory Krosskey Merrit.
I'm not quite sure why yet, but I'm sure we're
going to be reading about that soon.

Speaker 3 (34:29):
He has just been a sensation.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
Because he's money.

Speaker 4 (34:33):
He's the big beautiful bill in Washington right now. Yeah,
he's been a sensation in Washington's training camp. And this
guy was a late seventh thrown pick, was not even
invited to the combine. Krosskey Merritt only played one full
college season in FBS. He almost had twelve hundred rushing
yards and seventeen touchdown runs for New Mexico. Then he

(34:54):
went to Arizona that had eligibility issues and only played
one game.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
But then he had a crazy protain.

Speaker 4 (35:00):
He ran a four point four to five in the
UH forty and high jumped forty one and a half inches.
So this dude is an athlete and man. He has
been the talk of training camp and one of the
team's beat writers, Ben Standing of The Athletic has suggested
that Brian Robinson might not even make the team because
of what a revelation Crosskey Merrit has been so far.

(35:21):
And his ADP is like RB sixty four. It's been
moving up, but you can still get him late and
it's going to be real easy to move off him
and just wave him if you know he doesn't pan out.
But this guy just might end up being a starting
running back for an up and coming offense that's going
to put points on the board this season, and you
can get him like well into the double digit rounds

(35:43):
of drafts right now.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
Okay, so let's touch on that for a second, because
first there's a part of me that wanted to push
back and just be like, there's also a scenario where
there's too many cooks in the kitchen and they could
all eat into each other, and we're not going to
in a week to week basis be able to so like,
you know, if one guy gets the you know, the
hot run, then they're the one that you know, Eckler
this week and Merit this week. Rodriguez is out there, debo,

(36:08):
you shouldn't dismiss I mean, Deebo could takes like short
yarded stuff. But to your point, the costs are too low.
This is kind of back to the everything is cost
is too.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Low, except this, it's going to.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
Change this coming weekend. So what if what if Eckler
is going inside the top thirty and what if Merritt
is going as a top thirty six back as well?
What if they're both going in that general range. You said, like, oh,
it's really easy to cut right now, visually what we're seeing,
it is easy to cut. But if people start taking
him inside the top forty and Ekler inside the top thirty,
is it really going to be easy to cut? And

(36:41):
do you think we should consider a situation where maybe
there's more of a rotation that eats into everybody's value
If these guys cost more, pat start with you.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
I don't think Eckler is moving up just because he
has been really stable, like with his ADP and ECR
all off season. I don't think people see like a
the possibility of a bigger role, and I kind of
agree it's not going to be a bigger role, so
I'm not worried about that. If Krossky Merits ADP moves
up that high, it's probably because the team has in

(37:12):
fact traded or waived Brian Robinson, in which case I'm
okay with the higher cost. I mean, still, yeah, you
want to give me at RB thirty eight after they've.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
Told Brian Robinson Junior to hit the bricks.

Speaker 4 (37:26):
Sure, I'll take Krosskey Merit at RB thirty eight in
that case. But if he's going RB thirty eight, if
like Robinson is still there and it's just someone in
your draft this weekend being the trendy guy like wanting
to jump on that in the seventh round, then I'm
probably I'm not going to be that guy, like I'll
let someone else do that. But beyond the seventh round,

(37:48):
I'm starting to get interested.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
Jake, would you be comfortable taking Bill over at cam skataboo.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
As of right now? The downside here is that if
everybody is here come week one, and I think that's
the risk, and I think that's more the reality. I mean,
we're talking about somebody. Yes, he's in the last year
of his contract, but again, why would a team trade
for a running back in today's NFL in the last
year of their contract for anything more than a sixth rounder?
And do you really give away a productive running back
like Brian Robinson for three million dollars just to get

(38:17):
a sixth rounder back. It just doesn't seem to make
a lot of sense. This kind of feels like due
diligence and the news got leaked and you know it's
news breaking, like it's eyebrow raising is going to get headlines,
is what it feels like. The upside would be like
I would draft both as an RB three Brian Robinson's
the uninspiring RB three. I would take Tony Pollard before
I took him. Uh Mccrosskey Merritt is the upside one

(38:39):
in case Brian Robinson has gone Hell, if Brian Robinson
got hurt next week in practice, this wasn't there in
week one, we'd be excited about Crosskey Merritt, who I
think there's some similarities to a previous guy on this team,
as Alfred Morris, and she like, that's that's peak though,
like you've told me, twelve hundred yards, eight plus touchdowns
and again very little in the passing game, because part
I don't think that's his entire game, but a big

(39:01):
part being that's Eckler's. I think he's even possibly a
little bit more explosive than el Alfred Morris. But all
that being said is I think the best numbers, if
you want to pull numbers from last year, is Brian
Robinson's numbers. Like, I think that's who he can step
in and be, which is a fine fringe RB two
or three. But if Brian Robinson's on the team in
week one, full blown committee, get the hell out of here,

(39:23):
because you're not gonna They're not going to not be
able to use Krosskey Marrit if they still have Brian Rominson.
So that's the worst case scenario, which goes back to
my answer, just give me Eckler instead of trying to
figure out can I use Brian Robinson or Crosskey Merrit
at all?

Speaker 1 (39:36):
I legitimately think there's a chance that drafts this coming
week and weekend Merriot's gonna fly up board. So if
you're getting a.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
Problem, probably the highest of the all three of them.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
Of all That's that's where I was going, Like, I
think he goes before everybody. So like, if you are
presented with the value, take it, But I'm not sure
the value is going to be there. We're going to
see as the hype comes up. But as you know,
two weeks from now, if like Robinson wasn't traded, we'll see.
I also wonder if maybe the blueprint for Brian Robinson
trade needs to be closer to a Jordan Mason, if

(40:06):
like what the Niners traded for Jordan Mason and team
like that, So that could be where you hit a
stall point why he doesn't end up getting traded. So
just throwing it out there. It's a great name and
while the value is there, you should take both of
these players. I think make really sense a lot of
sense for your teams. Jake Deep sleeper number two for you.
We're off of the Commanders now.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
This is another one that it's rising right now. And
I'm going to go back to about a month ago.
I wish I could live in those days again, because
not only is the name getting more respect, but Tyler
Goodson got banged up, which just takes another name into
the backfield with that being the guy behind Jonathan Taylor.
Jonathan Taylor's miss time each of the past three seasons,
and everybody's just going into this year like everything's gonna

(40:47):
be fine. We're talking about injury risk with all these
other running backs and nobody ever brings up the Jonathan
Taylor naming seeming except for me, and that's not gonna
be like haha, me, I know other people do. It
was just tongue in cheek, but the answer all all
along has been And I even got pushed back on
the so this show a few weeks ago when I
said Dave Montgomery type of production and be like, oh,
he's more explosive, like the production was my point and
the fact that he is underrated. I agree as a

(41:09):
pass catcher and that DJ Ginnins is and I think
that stepping in and being what I said at the
David Montgomery comparison was that kind of divisive one slash
cut runner and like he's gonna go and cut through
and he's not like going to dance around. He's not
going to try and bounce everything outside. Oh what does
that do in this offense? Exactly what Jonathan Taylor's asked
to do. And if DJ Ginnens has to step in

(41:31):
for a Jonathan Taylor injury, he will be a top
twenty running back because they are going to turn to
him eighteen times a game like they do any running back.
I mean, this is the offense that has made a
bunch of no names have production for one, two, three
weeks while Jonathan Taylor's missed time because more often than not,
this offense, this system, this style has turned to one
option versus trying to make four guys filling for Jonathan Taylor.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Pat sixty seven on ADP for getting sixty six ECR rank,
So he's like way down there. Probably you know a
guy at the end of an any end of any
of your drafts you can pick up. Do you think
there's in season value as a sleeper or do you
think the sleeper values specifically tied to just being the.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
Two to tailor.

Speaker 4 (42:12):
I mean, I do think he could be one of
the more valuable handcuff running backs, and you know, like
he's what he should be for a late rod pick.
But I agree with Jake, if anything happened to Taylor,
this is a guy we're probably ranking in the top
twenty for any given week at running back.

Speaker 3 (42:27):
And you know, I like what Jake.

Speaker 4 (42:30):
Said about the one cut thing because that kind of
popped when you watch Giddons play at Kansas State, Like
he changes direction without gearing down, and he has this
thing where he'll set up his change of direction with
these little feints that just have a way of freezing defenders.
So yeah, he was a fun watch at Kansas State,
just really smooth. And I've seen Colts offensive coordinator Jim

(42:54):
Bob Cooter still love that name, by the way, talk
about how well DJ Giddens has picked things up with
pass protection and that is such a good sign for
young running back who is trying to earn the trust
of his coaches. Like that tells me they they might
feel comfortable with him as the number two and you know,
so long Tyler Goodson and Khalil Herbert.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
All right, this was originally Pat's first name. This was
the first one, so we moved a cross key merit up.
This is I think another one of those guys that
is going to start rising, especially the last like forty
eight hours at least before recording. This has just really
really been a lot of chatter around this player. So
Braylan Allen is number two, number whatever, it doesn't matter here,

(43:39):
forty seven in ECR. So that's the other goofy thing
is his ECR is higher than his ADP. His ADP
was around fifty one of RB's forty seven ranked, which
you can go check out on Fantasy Bros. I think
that's going to start to flip where I think he's
going to start going higher than he is ranked here
very shortly, but Pat talked to us about Braylan Allen
as your deep sleeper.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (43:59):
I mean, jef's coach Aaron Glenn has spent the entire
offseason talking about wanting to use multiple running backs and
it's not hard to see the two hundred and thirty
five pound Brailen Allen as an early don thumper and
goal line specialist. I'm a University of Wisconsin fan, Like
I watched Braylen Allen run for twelve hundred yards and

(44:19):
twelve touchdowns as a seventeen year old freshman. This guy
runs with power, he has good vision, He's got really
quick feet for a big back.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
It's funny.

Speaker 4 (44:29):
Someone in the Fantasy pros Discord was asking me about
trading Isaac Garndo for Braylan Allen in Dynasty, and he
felt like he should be getting some extra juice as
the guy getting Braylen Allen in that deal. And I
was like, dude, they played together at Wisconsin, and you
realize Girndo could not get onto the field because Braylen
Allen was there, don't you Like? Girnda was just strict

(44:51):
backup who never played.

Speaker 3 (44:53):
Behind Brailn Allen.

Speaker 4 (44:55):
And like Braylen Allen played the entirety of his rookie season.
At age twenty, he was the youngest player in the
twenty twenty four draft. Like admittedly, he's probably not going
to offer much value as a pass catcher, but he
could potentially score quite a few touchdowns this year and
I think there's like substantial upside with Alan if either

(45:16):
Breyce Hall or Isaiah Davis were to get hurt, or
if the Jets decided they were just going to deal
Brice Hall.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
Been kind of a lot of grossness with the Jets
in general. I feel like before prisons started, preseason start
up in camps, everyone's like, oh, Fields top five, Garrett Wilson,
and now it just feels very negative. It's been like
Fields is stunk, and Brice Hall is going to have
less usage, and Wilson just kind of floating out there.
The one narrative positive has been Braidlen Allen Jake.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
So what say you?

Speaker 1 (45:41):
Are you a buyer on him being a deep sleeper
and that his usage is going to be something you're
gonna want, especially based on his cost.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
I am and this is going to be I feel
like I told you so. But if anybody knows me,
they I mean that's part of my character anyway. Yeah,
really like this. Yeah, the Brylan all thing. I will
say this, I agree with fits that my comparison coming
out of college was Derrick Murray. Derrick Henry Latavius Murray
kind of mismashed because I don't think obviously nobody's Derick Henry,

(46:09):
but kind of that Latavious Murray is similarities there. And
that was to go back to the I told you
so was when I was having hesitations at brace Hall.
It was because if we've gone back through Justin Field's
good seasons, I know there's not a lot, but also
just the majority of the time that he's been at quarterback,
there's been a mismash of running backs that have been
alongside of him, and I don't think you can tell

(46:30):
me right now on paper, and I could agree with
you none of them are Breece Hall or even Braylan Allen.
But the one telling thing is that when they get
to the green zone inside the ten, if you want
to use that term, is they turn to and have
the person beside him in the backfield as the bigger
running back, the bigger running back back with the Bears
was back there with him, and the bigger running back
being that offset of Justin Fields not taking it well,

(46:52):
they want to head to the thumper to kind of
offset what the offense is at that point. Again, also
different offenses, different everything. I'm just saying that's been the
tell so far. So I've been on Braylan Allen as
being a timeshare piece and been down on Breece Hall.
So I'm with fits. And the part about it is
is that if Braylan Allen right now, he's just still
a bench piece. But if something were to happen to

(47:13):
Breece Hall, who also was hurt last year, Brayln Allen's
going to step in and be an RB too, because
I do think Isaiah Davis would be a factor, but
Braylan Allen would be the lead in that scenario. Isaiah
Davis would be the complimary piece and the one it's
kind of going back to the Eckler part of it.
The one constant here is that Braylen Allen is going
to keep that short yardage and Bell Callie not Bell

(47:33):
Cay sorry short yards and like that beast thumper roll
at the goal line, no matter if it's Davis or
whole with him.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
I'll say, I really do if you think in construction
for just a second, like I was thinking about this
as you were going, and it's like an ideal construction
of RB's right now where you're balancing on some sleepers
has been like give me hero and then give me upside.
So again, if you want to go a Chan McCaffrey, whatever,
and then you want to go with like give me
an RJ. Harvey, give me a Hampton with that upside.

(48:01):
Then give me a third back that is like a
safety net to that rookie that I took like an ETN.
If that is the player, then my four and five
what do I want? I want to play all upside
in that secondary market of players You've talked about Braylan Allen,
if he were to be the guy Crosskey Merritt, I
think Giddins, like those guys that are these solid twos

(48:22):
but could be amazing if they're ones. I feel like
that's just like a really ideal construction. So it's like
hero rookie upside core kind of boring player, and then
two guys that you know that can have some value,
but if they are put into that spot like Braylan
all would be like a critical one for me. So
they're just thinking about construction that leads to our final

(48:42):
deep sleepers here and Jake, this is actually one of
these deep sleeper, huge upside plays as well. I'm not
sure he's this guy's one hundred percent. Like the the
handcuff that you would call it, but there is a
handcuff slash big upside kind of like Giddins. I suppose here,
But why don't you hit us with your final of
the deep sleepers?

Speaker 2 (49:02):
Yeah, the final one. I would just make this the
Jake feels braggy type of show this week is I
got laughed at a month ago, two months ago when
I was saying, if I'm looking at this backfield and
who fits the Raheem Moster role, it's Ali Gordon and
we're like, you're stupid. I'm like, okay, fine, I believe
that's who fits this role. Let's go back two years,
just twenty twenty three. People are like, Ali Gordon's going

(49:25):
to be a first rounder. Like, let's remember the ilk
that came with him, And yes, there's been concerns of
last year and performance wise, a little bit banged up
and everything, but like this was somebody who was thought
of as a first rounder, so it's not like he's
devoid of talent. And even going into this, I was
still ranking Jalen Right in front of Oli Gordon. Let's
make that clear as well, because I thought Right was

(49:47):
going to be the complimentary piece to start. But what's
been evident so far is Jalen Wright started with the
door creaked open for Ali Gordon, and like Jalen Wright's
the one pushing the door open for Gordon to step through,
like he's making it wider and wider and wider. He's like,
you know what, I'm just gonna lay down on the
ground and let you step over me like a matt
because that's basically what Jalen Wright's been doing on the

(50:08):
field is laying on the ground. He is stunk so far.
And now I'm not completely out on Jalen and Wright,
but at some point the Dolphins watching the two, if
you strip the names off the jerseys, anybody at home
would be like, that guy is better than that guy,
And the guy that you'd be pointing to is the
better one is Ali Gordon. At this point, this keeps up.
It might even be as early as week one that

(50:29):
Gordon takes that number two role, which can have the
touchdown equity if he's playing the Raheem Mostert role. And no,
I know he's not as fast as Raheem Mostert. That
was the whole pushback I got. But it's that role.
It's getting in there inside the ten, inside the twenty
and getting some of the touchdown opportunities, and then if
anything were to happen to a Chan, which apparently it
still has as of right now. They're optimistic for Week one,

(50:49):
but you throw out that one where a Chan's banged up, well,
then it doesn't matter that rights on the field or not,
because they're both gonna get usage. I think Gordon should
be basically drafted, and he's undrafted right now. He should
be draft in every league right now.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
Pat is Ali Gordon someone that's making the kind of
end of your rosters as a sleeper you gotta get.

Speaker 4 (51:06):
He is Unlike Jake, I have totally given up on Jalen, right,
I think he's back.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
And the whole thing with.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
The whole thing question mark, Yeah, the whole.

Speaker 4 (51:17):
Thing with Oli Gordon was is he the guy who
ran for seventeen hundred yards and twenty one touchdowns as
a sophomore Oklahoma State or is he the guy who
had under a thousand yards rushing his last season in
a very disappointing junior year. Well, in two preseason games,
he's looked like the seventeen hundred yard Oli Gordon, Like
he absolutely trucked one of the Lions' safeties on a

(51:40):
run this past weekend and even had a nice little
catch and run. And this is not a dude who
cut a lot of balls in college.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
So yeah, I like it.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
Reminds me a little bit of Jamal Williams. That's the
jump in.

Speaker 1 (51:52):
All right, now, that takes us to our final of
our deep sleepers, and Jake doesn't get to speak, and
you'll kind of see why. So Jake zip, this is
all Pat. We kind of alluded to this a little
bit earlier. So Pat, your final of the deep sleepers
is who.

Speaker 3 (52:06):
Yeah, it's Basial Teuton.

Speaker 4 (52:08):
And I mentioned earlier that Travis etn is going in
the last into the last year of his contract with
the Jaguars and was objectively bad.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
In twenty twenty four.

Speaker 4 (52:19):
New Jaguars GM James Gladstone picked Bacial Tutin in the
fourth round of the draft and presumably got sign off
from head coach Liam Cohen on that pick. And I
know some people are going to say, hey, come on,
it was a Day three pick. Yeah it was, but
it was at the top of Day three, early in
the fourth round. And this was such a good running
back class that there were some really good prospects who

(52:40):
slid into Day three, and Tuton is one of the
most athletic backs in this excellent running back class. He
posted a relative athletic score of nine point five to
five on a ten point scale, and he clocked a
four point three to two at the combine. Tuton is
explosive man, has good contact balance for a smaller back,
and he catches passes and basehel Touton is currently the

(53:03):
cheapest member of this extremely ambiguous Jacksonville backfield in half
point PPR league says well, Etn's ADP is RB thirty two,
Biggs b ISRB forty, Tooton is RB fifty four. I
don't mind throwing a dart in the double digit rounds
at a freaky athlete in this murky backfield.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
Now, why does Jake not get to speak? You're going
to find out here in just a second as we
finish off those sleepers. But first, let's talk about Draft Assistant.
Make sure you never miss on any of these running
backs steals in your real draft. With Draft Assistant, Draft
Assistant connects directly to your draft, provides both real time
pick suggestions and estimations on which players might get taken

(53:47):
before your next pick. Draft Assistant fully integrates your customized
cheat sheets and suggests picks based on your rankings, team build,
ADP and other factors, allowing it to highlight you must
have targets before you get sniped. Dominate your draft in
real time without the guest. Work with Draft Assistant at
fantasypros dot com, slash Assistant or on the Fantasy Pros app.

(54:08):
Can try it for free during your draft by claiming
your three day free trial of Fantasy Pros Premium at
Fantasypros dot com slash Premium. Go and do it today.
Now the final segment. These are the fades disguised as sleepers.
These are the doctor Dooms. They will reveal their mask
and we will know who the doom is and Jake

(54:31):
that sets us up. You were not allowed to speak
as the final awesome sleeper for Pat was Tutan, because
you are unveiling your doom as whom.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
As Basehall Tutant. Look, nothing that Pass said about the
testing scores and as athletic ability is wrong. What I
will also say, and this is something I've said before
about Tuton. You know who else was a metric testing phenom,
Ty Johnson? What is Ty Johnson doing right now nothing.
He's a change of pace option for the Bills. They

(55:03):
get him some snaps, and that's what I think the
risk of Tuton is. Look, I will say there there's
a world where Twoton is a productive NFL running back
as a timeshare piece. I just have concerns that all
his athletic ability, all his burst and all that type
of stuff is just hampered by the fact that I
know he can push through some tacklers, but this dude

(55:24):
gets tackled around the ankles, the knees chopped down constantly,
pass protection issues constantly, and that we've already heard that
come up. He can't get on the field, and like
he can't get on the field in the preseason by
the team that drafted him. He can't get past Bigsby
and ETN right now. And that's what I'm going to
is like, yeah, it's fun and I'm not saying don't
draft them. Let's make this one thing clear. I can

(55:45):
disagree with Fits and I can basically it feels like,
disagree with the world on Tuton because apparently, like I'm
the only one who doesn't really like him as a
draft pick. It's not that I don't want you to
take him, take them at the end of drafts. My
issue is when he's going in front of Nick Chubb,
who's the starter as of right now. And yes, we
could throw away Nick Chubb in four weeks when Joe
Mixon is healthy, that's fine, but at least you're getting

(56:05):
to start somebody to start now, or even if you
don't look like that, look at its purely a flyer.
Why is he going in front of will Shipley, the
clear option behind Saquon Barkley, DJ Giddens, who already talked
about TOAJ Brooks, the clear option behind Chris Brown? Like
why is why are we taking or Chase Brown? Chris
Brown is a different story. Why are we taking him
in front of clear backups? And like, that's my issue

(56:27):
with Tooton. The biggest part about it. It's not that
I have apparently like issues with Tuton as a whole,
it's just where he's also going is what's frustrating about it?

Speaker 1 (56:37):
All Right, Pat, who is your sleeper?

Speaker 2 (56:40):
You're gonna let him push back?

Speaker 1 (56:42):
Oh, if you're not gonna want to push back, do
you want to push I mean he just laid his
case out for you know, I didn't know if there
was any more.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
But I want somebody who you know, if I was
I'm just thinking for me. If I'm positively speaking about
somebody and then somebody else comes back and pushes back
for two minutes, I want to at least get like
one chance to come back with it.

Speaker 3 (56:58):
Yeah, I mean, I guess your retorts with.

Speaker 4 (57:01):
Tuton versus Shipley, Like Tuton doesn't necessarily need an injury
to voll to the head of a class.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
That's the thing.

Speaker 4 (57:08):
Like he could actually do it on the merits where
they just say, Okay, we're kind of done with et
and he hasn't been goodies and he has no future
with us because he's his contract is expiring, and we
know that like Tank Bigsby just doesn't catch passes. He's
like pretty much cemented into his role. So all Tuton
has to do is beat out this guy who was
bad last year and is like going into the final

(57:30):
year of his contract. So you know, and obviously the
athleticism pays off. And by the way, Jake throwing shade
at Ty Johnson, you know, we let all running backs
and air yards last year.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
Who do he do? Give me all the Ti Johnson
and Teutons of the world.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
Not that I want to draft Ti Johnson.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
Let's not make him make that show, all right, your
fade that is disguised as a sleeper pat to kick
us out of the show here.

Speaker 4 (57:55):
Yeah, So just to reiterate, Brian Robinson, he is going
to be the guy who people are drafting in their
home leagues this weekend, and people start whispering at the table,
and they're going to be like looking around, like what
what's wrong with that pick? And people are going to
be like, you ever hear of Jackry Krossky, merrit, So
you are putting yourself at risk of embarrassment on draft
day if you take Brian Robinson.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
I mean, the.

Speaker 4 (58:16):
Appeal with him is that he's been a functional workman
like early down back who scored nine and eight touchdowns
the last two seasons and theoretically could have double digit
touched on upside in this Commander's offense that's on the rise,
you know. And I think some managers are going to
see Robinson's name in the queue and think, well, he's

(58:37):
one of the few starting running backs still available and
we're almost into the middle rounds here, But man, the
Cory Krossky Merrit buzz. It's like the late afternoon Cicada
buzz in my neighborhood this time of year.

Speaker 3 (58:49):
It's just so loud. And you know, the.

Speaker 4 (58:51):
Commanders have reportedly tried to shop Robinson to other teams,
Like I would be terrified to draft Robinson right now.

Speaker 1 (58:58):
There really is no great situation for him. If he
stays Merit's gonna eat into him. If he goes, he's
most likely and probably ninety percent of scenarios an RB
two and some type of weird committee. So it's really
just not a good situation.

Speaker 3 (59:11):
And yeah, yeah, And I was just gonna say.

Speaker 4 (59:14):
The thing is, like, right now, Robinson's ADP is seventy
eight overall, and he is in the same neighborhood as
guys like Jalen Waddle, Chris Olave, Jerry Judy, Jordan Addison,
some of the last wide receivers that I feel good
about drafting. Like the opportunity cost of getting Robinson is
just like that's not exactly trivial right now.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
Lots of sleepers. We want to hear from you, guys,
your favorite from this episode, your number one favorite RB
sleeper below and drops some that you think we didn't
talk about that we should have in the comments. We
get you hooked up. The Athletics own Jake Seey, Fantasy
Pro's own Pat Fitzmorris, just little old me, just hanging
with you guys for all your RB sleepers. Make sure

(59:54):
you guys lock into the draft Assistant. We got the
draft kit. We really got everything set for you for
this draft coming we can and the ones beyond, so
you know what to do. My friends, thank you so
much for hanging out with us. That's going to do
it for Jake. For Pat, I'm Welsh. We'll talk to
you next time right here on Fantasy Pros The Football Podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
us is by leaving a positive review on Apple podcasts
at Fantasypros dot com, slash review or on Spotify.

Speaker 4 (01:00:24):
Follow us on x, Instagram and TikTok at Fantasy Pros,
and subscribe to our

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash Fantasypros

All Episodes

Fantasy Football Sleepers | Running Backs To Draft or Fade (Ep. 1657)

Episode Transcript

Hosts And Creators

Andrew Erickson

Joe Pisapia

Derek Brown

Thor Nystrom

Ryan Wormeli

Pat Fitzmaurice

Matthew Freedman

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Fantasy Football Sleepers | Running Backs To Draft or Fade (Ep. 1657)