Is Christian McCaffrey Still a First-Round Pick? | The Best Running Backs to Target in Each Round of Your Fantasy Football Draft (Ep. 1551) - FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast. I'm
Ryan Warmley, joined today by Jake Seely and by Pat
fitz Morris. Guys, before we dive into the show, fit's
the one thing you told me before we started recording
today is no tournament talk because it's a soul spot.
I don't care. Derek Queen hit a buzzer beater to
send Maryland to the Sweet sixteen, just their second Sweet

(00:22):
Sixteen in two decades. I am hyped. I'm rockin' Maryland shirt.
Of course, I've always got the Maryland stuff behind me.
I will be polite. How are you holding up after
this weekend.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I'm doing well. Yeah, tough game for Wisconsin.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
They played a bad first half and then their furious
comeback at the end of the game fell just short.
But I was actually happy for Maryland worrem and I
don't personally think that Derek Queen traveled, and even if
he did, I know they missed a flagrant follow on
one of the Colorado State guys they should have called.
So do not let the haters ruin your joy.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, I will not. I simply refuse. By the way,
it wasn't just one of Colorado States players. It was
their best player, and he probably could have been Arguably
he could have been ejected for that. There was talking
of it maybe being even warranting a flagrant too, didn't
even get reviewed. I will not mention because I'm a
classy that I picked BYU in our Fantasy Pro Survivor
pool toned. Truthfully, it was because Wisconsin had played four

(01:21):
games in four days the week before and BYUS a
mountain team and they were playing in Denver. That was
my entire analysis for making that pick, and I.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Thought too hard.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, yeah, it worked out well. Jake, how is your
I'm not sure what kind of betting you did or
bracket pools, but how's your March madness treating you? If,
if at all.

Speaker 4 (01:37):
Better than I expected? Honestly, Like if you're doing the
ESPN when I'm I still have a potential to have
like sixteen seventy or something like that, which I oh, yeah,
I still have my final four. I still have my
I think seven and of my Elite eight. But like
my first round the very first day, I went nine
and seven. I Jeff Fisher the first day. That's how
bad it was. But it didn't matter because I had
a lot of the teams like going through is I

(01:58):
actually I was with you, picked BYU. I picked Montana
because that's where my wife Nicole went, so stuff like that.
But missed a lot of those. But after that everything
was pretty expected, Like I'm a UNC fan and I
was like, nah, they don't even deserve to get past
them playing games, so I didn't pick them warrantedly, so
if that's a word, But yeah, my brackets doing. The
funny thing is I probably watched a dozen games this year.

(02:18):
It's the best my bracket's been in years.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
For whatever reason, I do more betting on March Madness
than I do any other sports, and it's been thankfully
a lucrative weekend so far. Time to do it. It's
just fun, Like you know, it's like ten bucks on
every game, but like even if your brackets busted, you
can still care and have fun. It's obviously, I mean,
I'm not going on in a limb. Everybody loves betting
this event, but super fun time. By the way, fits,

(02:41):
I'm giving you a hard time. Maryland is going to
lose by thirty plus to Florida on Thursday, so I
gotta kind of get my kicks in while I can,
because it's not going to last. We are talking fantasy
football today and not March madness. Thanks everybody for indulging
us there. We're gonna talking about some running backs that
were drafting, kind of going one in every round through
the first twelve rounds. Just some early thoughts and kind

(03:01):
of guys we like where they are, Guys we think
will end up being values by the time we get
to draft season. Jake, before we hop into that, what
do you got going on at the athletic Yeah.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
So article, it's funny, has nothing to do with football.
It's the it's fantasy baseball is dying and how do
we resurrect it? That article is coming out, but that's
probably the last thing you're going to see for baseball
because as the season kicks off, Syonara all football and
I will have my draft prospects rankings before the draft
that I always release so you can kind of get

(03:30):
a snapshot preview. And I give credit to everybody, including
the people on this network that do a much better
job that I do, going like Debro going way deep.
But I know enough that I just I make the
easy comparison, like instead of being like, oh, he's great
at this, bad at this, but I give you this
is what you should expect as the fantasy player. Like
if he's going to be JK. Dobbins, I mean that
as in JK. Dobbins the fantasy player, to give you

(03:51):
that really easy kind of comparison. And if you want
stuff like debro has, that's a stuff I even read.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
All football going forward for Sealy, all football for us
going forward. On this episode, we're gonna start right at
the very top with round one. By the way, quickerminder
for everybody. All of our twenty twenty five consensus rankings
and tiers can be found at fantasypros dot com slash rankings.
Obviously still early on, but it's fun to check out
and kind of see what some of the early thoughts
are from the experts across the industry. Let's start with

(04:19):
round one. Like I said, we're going to alternate, so
Jake will take the odd numbered rounds, Fits will take
the even numbered rounds. Who you've gotten around one?

Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, So this is the tough one because I'm like, well,
it's obvious Barkley gives.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
So I went a little bit different.

Speaker 4 (04:33):
Now I have him overall thirteenth so technically he's not
within my first round. But similar to last year where
people are like, oh, I don't know if I want
Saquon Barkley, and the people at the end of the
first round benefit a big time by taking him or
even Derrick Henry. I think there's a case to be
made that I have three wivers to four wide receivers
directly in front of this running back in the first
round if we're going by overall, but if you want

(04:55):
to pull him up to the tenth, eleventh, twelve pick
because you might not get him by people being smart enough.
When we get to August, it's still Christian McCaffrey. Like
I bring up the Barkley thing to say, it's like
people are like, ah, he's getting hurt. What he is
going to do? Too many touchdowns are going to be lost.
The thing about McCaffrey is like, there's been some changes
on this forty nine ers team. As we know, there's

(05:15):
still hope on the offensive line. Williams's back, so we
don't have to worry too much about that. But the
biggest the conversation we have is if he plays sixteen, nineven,
seventeen games, he's going to be in the conversation for
the number one running back, not five, seven, fifteen. He
will be in the conversation for the number one because
it's McCaffrey. So it's only because of health. If you

(05:36):
don't want to take that risk, I get it. But
if I'm at the back end of the first round
and I get a running back that could finish number
one overall in Fantasy period, even ahead of the wide receivers,
I'm going to roll the dice on Christian McCaffrey. And
that's why I put him in Round one, even though
right now his consensus is Round three fits.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
I want to get your opinion on this. You know,
obviously a big name, somebody who's been the number one
player in Fantasy before. It feels like McCaffrey's. This is
strictly about your risk tolerance. But is there a case
to be made against him if he is healthy? Like
if I guaranteed you we're getting sixteen games out of
McCaffrey this year, is he like no brainer in that

(06:12):
top three or would you still maybe consider going a
different direction around.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
One If we knew we were getting sixteen games out
of him, he probably would finish top three, Like strong
chance of that. You guys both used phrases that I
think are pretty important here. With Jake it was rolled
the dice. With you, it was risk tolerance worm, And
that's kind of it, And why Christian McCaffrey is not
for me, at least not that early worm. I think

(06:37):
you've made heard me make this point on other podcasts
about the overarching strategy of like knowing your competition in
fantasy leagues. Like you know, we play in a lot
of leagues with other analysts and other people who get
to do this full time and go to sleep dreaming
about Pro football reference player pages, and just like all

(06:59):
the work we put in like.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Studying this stuff.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
Other people it's a hobby that they like to spend
a couple hours on every August before they do their drafts.
For those people who are going in against people who
spend a lot more time on it than they do,
I think Christian McCaffrey is a good pick because you
should take risks if you're going in against people who
are maybe a little bit better armed with information than

(07:23):
you are. But if you have a chance of out
picking a lot of your competition in rounds, you know,
two through sixteen, eighteen, then I don't think you should
embrace the risk with Christian McCaffrey because you're gonna outduel
people in those other rounds, and I think you should
be looking for the solid double down the line or
the solid single to center rather than swinging for the fences,

(07:46):
you know what I mean. I think strength loves certainty
and weakness loves risk. And I think if you feel
pretty good about your fantasy football acumen, and I think
Jake should because I've drafted against him and I know
that Jake is sharp than a snake knife, I don't
think Christian McCaffrey is the way you should go in
round one.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Just as kind of like a wrap up thought on
McCaffrey Jake, what is your confidence level that he will
be healthy? Is there anything just given what the injury
was last year? I mean, obviously he's had some injury
stuff in the past, although the two previous years before
twenty twenty four he played sixteen games and seventeen games respectively,
so it's not like he had it recently. In that profile,
do you feel like what we saw last year makes

(08:27):
him an extra strong, you know, extra risky compared to usual,
or are you willing to kind of write it off
as just it was kind of the year from hell,
and you're going in at least somewhat expecting a healthy season.

Speaker 4 (08:38):
It's more the latter because of the injury type. If
we were talking about JK. Dobbins knee for the third time,
if we're talking about Nick Chubbs knee for the fourth time,
like this.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
Those are the kind of things.

Speaker 4 (08:49):
It's soft tissues that start to become recurring. Then I'm like, ah,
you know, now I'm concerned. McCaffrey's had an injury before,
like we know that, but these are all different injuries
now at this point. Last year is kind of nomalist
for running backs in general. Is something that we went
into the beginning of the season saying like, Okay, maybe
he starts off slow, maybe this is the first couple weeks,
and then as we know, Week one hit and we're like, oh,

(09:09):
I guess we're about him for half the year.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
And I think that's part of the reason you.

Speaker 4 (09:13):
See him low too, is because people just got bit
by him last year. But because of the type of injury,
at least as to today, I feel put it this way,
I feel more confident than his teammate Brandon Ayuk that
he's gonna be ready to roll week one.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
I think that's that's a telling way to put it.
Let's go around two fits. Who you got in this round?

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Bucky Irving. So, Bucky Irving finished with.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
Twenty two rushing yards, three hundred and ninety two receiving
yards on forty seven catches, eight touchdowns. Really good numbers,
and the numbers could have been even better, frankly, because
Bucky was only playing about a third of the Buccaneers
offensive snaps over the first month of the season and
also dealt with a toe injury in the middle of
the season that kurtailed his usage in some games. So

(09:55):
there were only seven games where Bucky Irving played more
than half of the buck offensive snaps, including their one
playoff game. In those seven games, Bucky had six touchdowns
and averaged one hundred and twenty seven point three yards
from scrimmage. And by the way, Bucky had a snapchair
above fifty percent in each of the buccaneers last four games,

(10:16):
most important games of their season, because they were in
the playoff hunt or actually in the playoffs, and it
was just the Buccaneers eventually figuring out that he needed
to play way more snaps than Rashad White. Bucky was
second in yards after contact per attempt with three point
nine to three among all running backs with fifty or
more carries, fourth in yards per route run among running

(10:37):
backs with at least twenty catches, behind guys like Kamara
and Jamiir Gibbs. Seventh in PFF rushing grade. He averaged
five point four yards per carry. And you know what,
it all looked even better than the numbers suggest. Like
the way this dude strings moves together and eludes tacklers
like Bucky Irving is the real deal.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
And I would be.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Pretty happy if I could start with the top one
receiver in the first round and then come back with
Bucky in the second.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
Jake Bucky is sixteenth overall in the early consensus rankings.
Is that too high, too low? Or is just right?

Speaker 4 (11:10):
Actually at running back, I have him a little bit
higher overall, actually have a slight bit lower, just to
give you an idea of where I'm leaning a little
bit more into wide receiver this year. So what it
comes down to is it's funny. There's something that Pat
said as he pulled out something we said that he said,
and there strings moves together. It's funny that I was
really people. Remember I was really high on Bucky Irving
last year, and I thought he was a significant threat

(11:31):
immediately for a shot White, mostly because of the receiving game.
My concern and the reason I'm bringing this up is
because it's actually foreshadowing a pick later I'm going to
talk about with the concern for him is that I
thought he could get two move happy coming out of college,
and the fact that, like, because he's so elusive and
because he sees that opportunities, he can sometimes dance around
too much and then get tackled. He correct he had

(11:52):
an additional level of patience. I don't know if that
was because he started behind White or the Buccaneer staff,
kudos to them, but you definitely saw it. And this
is the ceiling that we really saw. So I think
Bucky Irving, as long as they don't shock us, Like,
there's just a world where I feel like they could
pull forty nine ers and be like, oh, round three,
Blank is still on the board, Let's get another running back.
Because they're so unenamored with Rashad White that, like, I

(12:14):
would just hate to see him kept in a time share.
And that's my only concern because coming out of college
has said I could see Antonio Gibson, and you remember
Antonio Gibson that one and a half year where he
was giving the massive workload with Washington, you know, was
in the top fifteen conversation. And that's my concern is, like,
can Kenny b Gibson always because of the team. So
if the team trusts him at two hundred and fifty

(12:34):
plus touches one hundred percent locked in, I just had
slight hesitation that trust. What the Buccaneers are going to.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
Do fits I want to quickly ask you most people
will be picking between a running back or a wide
receiver in round two. Would you rather have Bucky Irving
or Brock Bauers in round two? Because they're two spots
apart in the early rankings.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Bowers we did that show about first round picks, and
I think Powers should be in the first round, So
I gotta go Bowers there.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
I kind of thought you might, Jake, what do you
think about that with Bowers or Bucky?

Speaker 4 (13:03):
Great callback, because I was on that show saying there's
no way on Earth I would take them in the
first round. But since I've done another show on here,
Pat and you aren't there for that one. And I
said I was saying round three at the time, but
because of the trade in the quarterback situation, I would
be comfortable in the second round. So around this range,
it would honestly depend what I did in the first round,
but I could see making Bowers to pick in the

(13:24):
second round. Now I'm okay with the second still not
going to get me to go first.

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Speaker 1 (15:05):
All right, Jake, let's go to a fun one here
in round three.

Speaker 4 (15:07):
Yeah, fron one, and that I bring him up because
I would actually take him in round two, honestly, and
as the rookie Ashton genty and obviously assuming that he
doesn't surprisingly get stuck in a time share depending on
who drafts him, but because of the draft capital likely
being in the first round, it would be surprising if
he did. And I'll just bring out comparison. I think
he's better, mind, you better Kenneth Walker. But if you

(15:28):
put Kenneth Walker and stop the split with Sharbonna and
Kenneth Walker stayed healthy, everybody would have Kenneth Walker as
a top ten running back. And that's why I think
Gent has the potential to even return round one value
depending on the team he lands on, similar to Barkley's
rookie year, Zeke's rookie year. I mean, we could go
down the list. There's a bunch even let's go back
b John Robinson, despite being a mistake by many. Even

(15:51):
somebody who wasn't taking him as a top five running
back was still hey, I'll take him as an RB
one as a rookie. He still finished as an RB one.
He just didn't finish as two three four like some
people want to be. So he's in the conversation to
be an RB one, likely on this team, likely giving
his skill set and the workload being most important. Again,
this is another player that comes into two hundred and
fifty likely touches and again better Kenneth Walker. In my opinion,

(16:13):
I bring up Kenneth Walker to say, stylistically, like a
lot of people think Gent's the most elusive running back
in the world, He's not. He's actually more of a
tackle breaker than anything, which is okay, Like he doesn't
have to be Bucky Irving and that's not who he is.
So Kenneth, you tell me Kenth Walker ends up on
the Cowboys or whoever people are you know wish casting
Gent two for two hundred and eighty touches and he's

(16:34):
not involved with somebody else top ten running back?

Speaker 1 (16:37):
What is the dream landing spot at this point? I mean, obviously,
like We're not getting scared off by Miles Sanders and Javonte,
but they've added somebody, Like, is it still Dallas? It is?

Speaker 4 (16:47):
But I mean, I just at this point, after what
we watched happened last year, after what's been rumored, and
like as soon as they made the second signing, there
was already rumors that say, this actually precludes them from
taking somebody in the first round because Jerry Jones is
going to look something else. So there's a few landing spots.
I think you put him on the Browns, even with
their quarterback mess, and he steps in front of well,
somebody else.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Who's going to be on my list.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
But the situation is there's a lot of teams that
even bad offense is going to be fine because of
the likely workload. You know, three hundred is probably in
play on most of these teams. In the first round.
I would have said the Chargers, but you know, then
then he went and signed Harris, so that kind of
changed that one. So there's still some teams in there.
But I think if we wish cast him totally, it
would be the Cowboys.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, Raiders. I feel like is one that's gained some
steam lately is as an early pick. There fits what's
the what's the range and outcomes for where you'll be
ranking genty depending on his landing spot, Like, if he
goes to his dream landing spot, he will be ranked
as high as what for you, And if he goes
to what we would consider to be a very poor
landing spot, he'll be ranked as well for you. How

(17:49):
whye is that gap?

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Right now?

Speaker 3 (17:51):
I've got genty preseason RB six and I probably won't
come off that too much. If he goes to any
of the most likely landing spots, which I guess would
probably be Raiders, Bears, Cowboys, I think he's somewhere between
six and twelve. I mean the scary one would be
the Jets. Like I've heard some people suggest that they
could take him and then maybe try to find a

(18:13):
trade for Breis Hall. But if it was like Haul
and genty, that would that would be awful for fantasy.
Everyone would be justifiably mad about that. But yeah, I mean,
I think he's gonna be special. And it's it's what
Jake said about his tackle breaking. Like this guy, his
contact balance is remarkable and maybe the best of any

(18:33):
prospect we've seen in the last I don't know twenty
twenty five plus years, Like Saquon was probably a better
prospect and Bijon was probably close to Genti's a prospect.
But like those guys had their special Sauce was in
other categories. Genty's contact balance is just like you cannot

(18:54):
knock this guy over without a couple of your buddies
around to help out. Like it's so hard to get
this guy on the ground, it's ridiculous. And teams knew
that he was the offense for Boise State. This guy
did not see any light boxes in college, and it
didn't matter. You couldn't stop him.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
I promise you he's not getting to round three in
any drafts. I'm I will just tell you that right now.
There would be a stunning upset if he does. All right, Fitz,
let's go to round four.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
I'll go with Chewba Hubbard, who I think the ECR
on him is like RB sixteen forty first. Overall, it
seems as if people are still a bit reluctant to
buy into Chuba Hubbard as a higher end fantasy option
at running back, but he was RB twelve in fantasy
points per game last year half point PPR, scoring eleven

(19:43):
touchdowns in fifteen games, average ninety one yards from scrimmage.
I think we have reason to be bullish on Dave
Kanalas as a play caller for the Panthers. We saw
improvement from Bryce Young last year, and we need Young
to do reasonably well if we want Cuba to be
clo to RB one range or at least high end
RB two again. So I'm not really worried about the

(20:05):
Panthers signing of Rico Dowdele That was a one year
deal worth less than three million dollars. Carolina gave Chewba
Hubbard a contract extension last November. We're thirty three million
over four years with fifteen million guaranteed. So those respective
contracts make it pretty clear that the Panthers view Doubtle
as a backup to Chewba Hubbard. And I don't think

(20:26):
we're going to see Jonathan Brooks until late in the season,
if at all, after a second ACL tear in the
same knee in a span of what twelve months, So
I think Chewba Hubbard is pretty safe as the Panthers
lead running back end he showed last year that's a
pretty valuable role.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
Jake, what do you think about Hubbard this year?

Speaker 4 (20:46):
Yeah, I actually have him just inside the fourth round
actually at forty two overall, he's one spot behind Breese
Hall for me. So I'm I'm with Pat on this.
And this is something talked about on a previous show
as well as that I said, this is something wrong
about it. Like I was out on CHEWBA Hubbard last
year and it wasn't just Jonathan Brooks. It was that,
you know, Okay, Jonathan Brooks, if he's ninety percent, is

(21:08):
going to take over for CHEWBA Hubbard. Just because I
was not then enamored with CHEWBA Hubbard, I was clearly
wrong on what he could do. I thought he was
a replacement level running back. And that was my fear
of Brooks that even if it happened in December and
Brooks was just Brooks for the last month, it was
gonna be goodbye Hubbard. But the big imp important thing
that Pat says here is to his staff, Dowdell Profiles

(21:30):
probably a slightly lesser did a good job with the Cowboys,
but as on the other show that we talked about,
I wasn't the one. So credit to what was said
on that show is that the team the Cowboys, the
incumbent being Dowdell kind of said, eh, fine, walk like
three million bucks, like, we don't even watch you back
for that, We're gonna take a risk of Javonte Williams.
So that's kind of telling of what Dowdell is not

(21:52):
going to be much of.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
A threat to Hubbard.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
So I'm clearly with Pat on this one.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Let's stick with you, Jake. As we go to around five,
you got here.

Speaker 4 (22:00):
Oh round five Alvin Kamara and I laughed because I
did it last year and I'm going to do it
again because even as the disappointment of Kamara season, he
was still a solid RB two which was still top
fifteen and points per game with a mess of offense
at the end of the year and was still fine.
And now we have Derek Carr back is not leaving
this team as they screwed around with his money to

(22:21):
try and manipulate the cap, as the Saints will ever do.
They will never stop. We'll be seventy years old and
they'll still be trying to finagle the cap for future years.
But this offense, even my point being is even without
Derek Carr, we can be fine with him as an
RB two, and that's the thing. He's not an RB
one anymore, and that's also okay. But in round five,
if I can get an RB two that I know

(22:42):
is going to go out there every single week and
put RB two numbers up with the potential of RB
one numbers. They did the smart thing in getting ready
Jamal Williams because they have a kind of a replicant
and in my opinion of Kendre Miller, again, this is
maybe a team this draft is super deep. Maybe they
do something that shocks us and maybe somebody falls to
the third D. That's a perfect compliment like the old
mark Ingram days, and this kind of gets more scary.

(23:05):
But as of today, if you're going to give me
a top twenty twenty two at worst running back in
round five, I'm going to hammer that pick all day long,
likely because it'll be my second running back because I'll
already have three wide receivers or maybe even two in
brock Hoers at this point.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
There you go, Pat, Yeah, Kamara, like he's RB eighteen.
Like specifically, when just looking at the position, does that's
not about right, t Jake?

Speaker 4 (23:25):
It sounds actually I think I haven't spot or two higher,
but that's about right for me.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
Fits.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
What do you think about Kamara in round five?

Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, I've got him MA RB fifteen, so I would
love getting him here. He's I guess.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
For a while, I was kind of worried about Kamara
because he was maybe losing efficiency as a runner, but
I think that was because the Saints were using him
differently for a while. He had been used so effectively
under Sean Payton as sort of part time runner, full
time pass catcher, and he kept giving us those massive

(23:59):
what was the catch totally kept putting.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
Up year after year? Was it eighty three?

Speaker 4 (24:03):
Eighty?

Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (24:04):
So yeah, and like he's still one of the best
pass catching running backs we've ever seen, and still a
pretty good runner too. And yes, he's gonna have a
tag team partner, whether it's Kendra Miller doubtful or probably
someone they draft, But like, no one's going to displace
Kamara as the pass catching back because he's so good
at it, and he's going to have a role in

(24:25):
the running game too, stable usage, and he's really shown
no signs of slowing down. I think he'd be a
great pick in the fifth.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yeah, those first four years eighty one catches, eighty one catches,
eighty one catches, eighty three catches in year four. You
know what I actually like? Obviously, I know that a
bulk of his production comes through the air. I don't
think I realized that he has never had a thousand
yards on the ground in a season. I mean, again,
I knew there was a split there for sure, but
I don't think I've really crossed my mind that he's

(24:53):
never hit that total.

Speaker 4 (24:54):
Wasn't last year the closest he got to and that
was in fourteen games.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yep, that's exactly right.

Speaker 4 (25:01):
So it's a past point about his usage.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, that's different. Yeah, that's interesting. What what do we
think just quickly fits like, what do you think the
Saints offense is going to look like this year? In general?

Speaker 4 (25:10):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Man, that's a good question.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
I don't I don't know, Like, hopefully they I know
they had some injury issues on the offensive line last year.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
Hopefully that gets sorted out. That's a good question.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
I don't expect it to be a top half of
the league offense, but I think it's going to be
capable enough where I'm not downgrading Saints individual players because
I have overall fears of the offense, Like Carr can
make an offense work.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
You know, he's a he's not a superstar.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
He's not going to put up you know, lustrous passing
numbers five thousand yards, forty touchdowns, But he can make
an offense go. So I'm not like docking Saints guys
because they're in a bad off.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Quick reminder that you can join our Fantasy Pros discord
community chat with other fans that get access to exclusive
amas that wind up on our podcast feed. Here's our
current schedule. Myself and fits at five eastern on the
first Tuesday of each month, and then fits in bogs
at five eastern on the last three tuesdays in April.
That's the fifteenth, twenty second, and twenty ninth. Obviously, gonna

(26:11):
have a lot of draft talk on those shows. Come
get your questions answered and be on the show at
Fantasypros dot com slash chat. All right, fits round six.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
All right, it's Isaiah Pachecko for me, and I think
some people might have an issue with him in that
round because people are going to remember that Pachecko wasn't
able to fully reclaim his job from Kareem Hunts upon
his return from a leg injury that cost him nine games.
But I think calling it a leg injury is really
downplaying the severity of it. Pachecko broke his leg, he

(26:46):
came back from a fractured fibula in two and a
half months. There's no way Isaiah Pichecko was anything close
to one hundred percent capacity after he came back. So
this is a guy who was being drafted in the
mid to late second round in fantasy drafts last year.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
Now you can get him in the sixth.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
I think we're going to see a much better version
of Isaiah Pichecko this year, one that more closely resembles
the Pachecko of twenty twenty three. Obviously, he's in a
pretty good offense with the Chiefs. Now, of course, all
bets are off if the Chiefs take a running back
sometime before Day three of the NFL Draft, but I
would be pretty surprised if that happens. I think offensive
line and defensive line are greater areas of need for

(27:27):
Kansas City, so I do think it's going to be
Pichecko sort of in tandem with Well. I think Hunt
is still on the roster and they signed Elijah Mitchell,
but I still think Pachecko's going to.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
Be the lead guy here.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
Checko's a really interesting name for this season in my opinion.
I mean I was all in on him. Last year
we had Andy Barns came on the show in August
and like completely talked me into Pachecko being like a
top five back, and I then started ranking similarly myself.
I was drafting wherever I could. I was so thank
you for that. Andy. It was a lot of season
in his leagues. But I loved Pacheco last year. This

(28:02):
year it's it was such a sour finish, like even
when he came back, but again, like he broke his
leg that's not an easy thing to come back from
in the same season. Now gets the whole offseason. I
have always liked the player at the very least. Jake,
what do you make of Pachecko as a sixth round pick.

Speaker 4 (28:17):
It's always a lot of fun when we actually disagree
on something, So I'm actually gonna find for the first
time disagree on this one. I have Pachecko on the
eighth round. I'm kind of out on him just because
it's not the injury is and I know he came
back from it, and that's part of the thing that
clouds everything. But that cream Hunt looked better than him
at times, and cream Hunt, let's be honest, it's pretty washed.

(28:38):
I think the thing that Pachecko and maybe this just
goes back to similar to Hubbard, maybe this is one
that I'm just wrong about. Like I just don't feel
like Pacheco is great as a running back. I think
he's just a guy. I think he's just a guy
who gets what's given to him. And I think on
two thirds of the other offenses in the league, he's
not Pacheco that we care about. And again, this is

(28:58):
somebody that I was, you know, demon him was sign
my top twenty five running backs in twenty twenty two.
So again, just be somebody I'm wrong about. Just never
enamored with the player, and so it just comes down
to the risk. And maybe part of that is hedging.
And what Pat brought up too, is that they do
draft somebody and this just turns out to be a
committee and then we're frustrated anyway, But there's other names

(29:19):
in front of him, including even Tracy and Pollard, that
I would take before I start thinking about Pacheco. And
even some wide receivers. That's why I have him in
the eighth So this is one that doesn't for the
first time on the show, we're like, actually pretty opposite
on this one.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
I'm a full two rounds.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
Behind on Pacheco fits. Do you want to try and
change his mind?

Speaker 2 (29:35):
No, not really.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
And you know, we were talking about Bucky Irving earlier
as a guy who strings moves together, and you know,
if you like that kind of running back, Isaiah Pichecko
is probably not going to be your type. I've said
it before, Isaiah Pachecko is a guy who runs like
he is trying to break through a door basically. So
there's not a lot of nuance to his game and
maybe that rap sets up the injury risk for him
a little bit, admittedly, But you know, if he does

(29:59):
get to that role as the lead guy in Kansas
City's offense, though, I think it's hard to deny that
he's got you know, double digit touchdown upside potentially in
thousand yard guy.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
But yeah, there is risk for sure. I'm just a
little more willing to embrace the risk in the sixth round.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
Maybe we'll agree more on the round seven player JQ
do you have here.

Speaker 4 (30:18):
Yeah, because this shouldn't be around seven. This shouldn't even
be around six, assuming as of today that the Steelers
don't surprise us. And again we keep talking about this draft,
but as of today, Jim and Warren's finally free. We
clamored for two years that he looks better objectively and
whether you want to say subjectively, by your vision, if
you want the metrics, it backed it up. If you
wanted to watch it, it backed it up. Warren looked better,

(30:39):
Warren performed better. Naje Harris is gone, this backfield is
now his is the lead. And the reason I say
this is one where I don't see it as much
just just because it doesn't feel necessarily like a Steeler's
move to go out there and bring in a significant threat,
a complimentary piece, absolutely, a lesser Nase Harris, just more
of a pounder to get the you know, short yards

(30:59):
or something like that, because it's not Queerrel Patterson. I
think there's a compliment to be made with Warren, but
I think we're finally going to get the two hundred
and fifty lead touches for Jalen Warren. And in that case,
I will take Jalen Warren over Aaron Jones, who I
think has more of a threat on his side of things.
Hint hint to one of Pat's picks. And I do
think that Warren is pushing top twenty at running back,

(31:19):
which means Round seven is not going to last long.
So if you're drafting now, hammer the living heck out
of Jalen Warren and enjoy it while you can, because
unless they pull a surprise pickup an Omarian Hampton in
the draft, people are going to be loving Jalen Warren's
value right now.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
It's funny you just alluded to this. We're talking about Hampton,
but like every time we have talked about running backs
this whole offseason, it's come with a caveat of this
class is amazing. So whoever we're talking about, like b Warren,
it could change depending on where these guys go because
it's so deep and so strong. And yeah, the Steelers
could be a part of that conversation too, but I
think we can just approach it as of right now

(31:55):
as the best we can do. Yeah, and yeah, I
think Warren, like Round seven even does look kind of
low given how excited people are. Fits do you agree
on this one or a more disagreement here.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
I do agree with Jake.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
I kind of did think that the Steelers were going
to take an amary In Hampton or Quinn Shawn Judkins.
But the thing that has me wondering about that and
wondering if Jake might not be right about all of
a sudden Warren getting more than two hundred touches, would
be they signed Kenneth Gainwell, and like that seems like
a slightly redundant skill set with Gainwell and Warren. Like

(32:29):
I think Warren is sort of a better version of
Gainwell as like this satellite back plus who can you know,
work out as the passing down back, but can also
sort of be a lead guy in a pinch. And
maybe by signing Gainwell, that's the Steeler signaling to us
that they see Warren as their lead running back.

Speaker 2 (32:49):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
I think they're probably going to draft someone from this
running back class, but at this point, maybe it's someone
on day three, someone who's not really going to be
a threat to Warren, who's shown that he can be
really good in that role. So yeah, I'm pretty cautiously
optimistic about Warren too now. And I Honestly, I'm still
not sure I'd rather have Naj Harris, even though I

(33:11):
know a lot of people love his landing spot with
the Chargers.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
I think I might still rather have Warren.

Speaker 4 (33:16):
I'll have them almost back to back. It's funny you
say that Harris just in front of them.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
Yeah, I think it's I think Harris the opportunity is
just so sublime.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
That it is. But d like the Chargers are going
to draft someone too.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, yeah, examining it as of right now, Like I said,
very very you know much could like.

Speaker 4 (33:33):
Well, they could definitely go different, Like you could see
like an to your point, like a Day three like
an Ali Gordon headed to back up Warren where conversing
like maybe a toot and pass catcher ends up with
so like that kind of scenario, which where we would
be happy about both.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
Well, and that's that's the thing too, Like and again
we talked about the slot on the Dynasty show. Fits
like even those guys who are going to go in
day three, just because there are so many of them
can take jobs depending on the landing spot they get
to like that that's a you shouldn't look it as
a running back needs to go day one or two
to be impactful because the class is so good now,
it's gonna be harder the later you go. And it

(34:07):
depends on the landing spot for any of these guys. Really,
But I wouldn't be scared away just because the running
back goes in like the fifth round this year. That's
not a warning sign the way it might be another year.
So I don't think.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
And conversely, like, don't assume your guy is safe just
because your team his team didn't take a running back
till the sixth round, because like, yeah, you know, Taj
Brooks might not go until the sixth round. But here's
a dude who had like back to back fifteen hundred
yards of Texas Tech and could steal the job of
an incumbent somewhere.

Speaker 4 (34:35):
Oh, bring up the one you brought up earlier, fourth round,
almost in the fifth round, Bucky Irving from last year.
That's a perfect example.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
Welcome now to this week's Chasing Challenges, brought to you
by Microsoft. Just like the athlete, to push boundaries and
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(35:04):
In this segment, we spotlight athletes or teams that are
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the expertise to say bring it on. This week, we're
discussing the challenge faced by Christian McCaffrey coming back from
a lost to twenty twenty four season. CMC was one

(35:25):
of the top picks in drafts last year, was the
consensus top pick for a lot of draft season, but
he ended up playing in just four games, failing to
score a touchdown or top two hundred and fifty combined
yards on the season. How can he overcome this challenge
coming back from injury as a running back nearing thirty.
If he stays healthy, he should be right back at
the top of the running back scoring leaderboard in twenty

(35:45):
twenty five, possibly leading you to a fantasy championship in
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(36:06):
trusted partner, you can navigate your journey with confidence, finding
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Slash challengers to learn more. All right, fits round eight?
Where are we look at running back?

Speaker 2 (36:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (36:22):
Round eight was kind of tricky because there aren't a
lot of running backs in that range, and two of
them are on the same team. Travis Etn and Tank
Bigsby of the Jaguars both fall into the eighth round range. Now,
normally I would want the guy who's going to be
the pass catcher, and that would be Etn.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
Not in this case.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
I mean, Bigsby was the far superior runner last season.
He averaged four point six yards per carry, Etn averaged
three point seven. Biggsby averaged three point seven four yards
after contact per kerry. Etn was more than a full
yard behind at two point four to eight. Biggsb forced
forty six missed tackles last year, Etn mit forced seventeen

(37:00):
miss tackles and only at eighteen fewer rushing attempts than
Tank Bigsby averaged zero point seventy four rushing yards over
expected per carry, which ranked ninth in the league. Etn
was actually underwater in that category, negative zero point two
eight rushing yards over expected per carry. So Big b
was better than ETN in pretty much every rushing metric

(37:22):
last season, and it wasn't close. Now we've got Liam
Cohen coming in as the Jaguars head coach and play caller.
And when Cohen was the Buccaneers play color last season,
his backfield was a meritocracy like Rashad White was getting
a majority of carries early in the season, but then
it became clear that Bucky Irving was much better than White,
and down the stretch it was Irving getting a clear

(37:43):
majority of snaps and touches. So I think Tank Bigsby
is the Jacksonville running back to draft this year, but
as ECR one spot behind Travis Etn at the RB
position right now, three spots overall, I'd much rather have
Tank Jake.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
What do you make Not just I tank Biggs in
the eighth round, but really the backfield as a whole,
kind of the split between him and Etn, and of
course the new coach and play caller of it all
that fits just saluted.

Speaker 4 (38:07):
To well, yeah, I was gonna say that actually includes
Udinsky as well, who comes from the Vikings, which go
back to the Vikings and look at their running back situations.
A little bit of a split, but they do lean
more on one in the time that he's been there,
so they've tried different ones previous years to failing degrees
of reference there, but they try to kind of find
that sixty to sixty five percent lead option. So I'm

(38:30):
worth worth rolling the dice here with Pat on Tank Bigsby.
Even though like Bigsby might not be my favorite running back,
I still think Etn is better last season. I don't
know if it was in his head. I don't know
if he wasn't one hundred percent, I don't know what happened.
Like I know, I know Etn is a better running back.
I think everybody admit that than he was last year.
But the door swung open, and as Pat said, Bigsby

(38:51):
looked better last year. This is kind of going to
the warrant situation. Is he looked better. And if you're
talking about somebody who could probably handle more of a
clear lead and keep eat and that change of pace,
that actually makes more sense between the two of them.
My real concern, but this is okay because it's only
round eight. My real concern is it's Coeny Udinsky. This
might shocker of all shockers. The Jaguars have other needs.

(39:13):
But what if they do this option. What if they
pull in a rookie running back in the second round
and saying, hey, we're gonna find somebody we like. We
don't actually like either of our options. One of them
needs to be a timeshare piece. I'm just saying, like, unlikely,
and in round eight, even if you told me that
right now, I'm still gonna gamble with pat On Bigsby
in the eighth round.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
But I just think.

Speaker 4 (39:32):
There's a slight possibility because this is a new regime
and we see this a lot of times where they
come in and it's not just one or two running backs.
They just cast them both aside and go on with
who they like fits.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
Let's say you're picking the back half of round eight
and Bigsby's already off the board. Are you interested in
Etna around here too, and you just happen like Bigsby
better or are you avoiding him?

Speaker 3 (39:52):
Yeah, I mean, like Etn's pass catching ability is going
to create some value unless we get the doomsday scenario
Jake was talking about with a day two running back
to the Jaguars, in which case, you know, just burn
this video of this podcast. And but yeah, I mean,
like ETN was good, it's weird. The midpoint of the

(40:15):
twenty twenty three season is where ETN started to go downhill.
Because over the first half of the twenty twenty three
regular season, I had him on some teams and he
was averaging like twenty PPR points per game, and then
there was just this all of a sudden shift where
he was averaging like twelve PPR points per game. He
had been an engine and all of a sudden, like

(40:35):
the engines gave way and the ship wasn't moving. So
I'm not sure what happened there. But really it's been
like a disappointing year and a half for ETN, So
I'm not real.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
Eager to buy in. But back half of the eighth round,
maybe maybe.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
Let's go to around nine Jeeke.

Speaker 4 (40:54):
Yeah, I'm going back to the rookie pool that that long, long,
long tease from earlier when I was talking about trying
to do too many moves, It's finally gonna pay off
if you were waiting for that Trey Henderson or Trevion
and apparently now Trey if you went to the combine.
But Henderson is somebody that's love his moves, love his vision,
loves how he just kind of sees the field almost
like you're playing college football or Madden on the game

(41:16):
and you can just see everything. But because of that,
he can get move happy. He can sometimes make too
many moves before he makes his decision. So that's why
I go all the way back to the Bucky Irving situation,
is I can actually see Henderson in a Bucky Irving
type situation, maybe round three or four. Honestly, wouldn't be
surprised if somebody rolls the dice on the round two
given his talent, knowing that they can coach his mind, right,

(41:38):
because he's somebody when you watch and then you go
back to his freshman season. If his freshman season, people
were like, oh, he's going to be a first rounder
in two years, let's not forget about that. And then
the injury is somebody who has an injury career and
then got split carries, as we all know with Judkins.
But you go watch him even post injury, it's like
once he decides to go like cannon, like goodbye gone.

(41:59):
Like you know how there's some running backs when you
see them make their cuts, some decision, it's like, oh,
that was a really smooth cut, like his is just
he does it and then it's boom gone, shot of
a cannon. So I love Henderson and I love his
vision because of that. If the coach ability is that's
the only part is that he's too move happy. I
think he can get away from that and around nine
this is egregious. Even in a time share, I'm probably

(42:21):
taking him around the Bigsby range, maybe even a little
bit earlier, depending on the right team.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
So I did a startup campus to Canton draft a
few years ago, coming off of Henderson's freshman season at
Ohio State, and he was the third pick in that format.
It was like bijon I think it was JSN and
then and then Henderson went so like there was so
much juice around him at that time, and it's really
hard for me to forget that like I still look

(42:48):
at him and I'm like, man, that is a that
is a talented that that's a running back that I
just want to watch and that I want on my team.
I am like super in lockstep on this. I think
as of right now, I go back and forth and this,
so don't hold me to this long term. As of
right now, I would say my top three running backs
in the class, Like I think one and two are
fairly easy in terms of gend and Hampton. Number three,

(43:09):
I think you can make the case. And some people
moved baby say Caleb Johnson, some people baby say Quinn Schewn.
I'm saying Trey Von Henderson like he is my RB
three right now.

Speaker 4 (43:18):
It's funny you say that because last year I had
Brian Thomas as one point five at wide receivers because
I wanted to put him with Harrison on Doonsday and Neighbors.
But I was like, you can nitpick just a little bit.

Speaker 2 (43:29):
So I bring that up to say is like this year.

Speaker 4 (43:32):
I have obviously Hampton and gent and I'm gonna have
a one point five, Like I think Henderson deserves this,
Like you're almost there, and this next group are all
super talented, but if just all the scenarios being the
exact same scenario, I would still take him knowing that,
over every single one of them.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
And that's how I kind of get that half of
a tier and fits. I think it was a great
point that Jake makes in that even if he's in
a timeshare, he is so explosive, like he doesn't need
all the touches to be a valuable as he asked.
It's almost like a poor man's version of early on
career Jamior Gibbs, where even if he's splitting carries, he
can break a long one at any time and those

(44:09):
are still worth a lot of fantasy points. So yeah,
I'm all over Henderson, especially this laid fits.

Speaker 3 (44:14):
Yeah, and it's pretty much guaranteed he's going to be
in a time share, but that's fine because they're only,
what you know, less than ten true war courses in
the league at any given point, and most of the
backfields are two or three man committees. Henderson was meant
to be part of a committee. I mean, even in
this last year at Ohio State, he didn't have more
than eleven carries in any game until the championship game

(44:35):
against Notre Dame and then he had twelve carries in
that game, so like he was sharing that backfield with
Quinn Shawn Judkins, it didn't matter. I don't really have
anything to add to Jake's thumbnail scouting report because he
summed it up pretty well. This guy is just electric
when he has the ball in his hands, and he
can catch passes, so there's dual threat capability there and
worm he's my RB three in this class too.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
I wonder what the consensus one that being. Feels like
he's probably the favorite to be RB three right now.
Maybe I'm wrong about that. It's kind of anecdotal from
reading other people's rankings. They're definitely other guys getting mentioned,
but I feel like he's the most common one I
see it. I wonder how much of a consensus that
would be by the time we get to Lady April
in May. All right, fits, let's go to round ten.
We'll go a little quicker here on the last three names.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
All right, it's Jordan Mason of the Vikings, and the
Vikings traded for Jordan Mason earlier this month, and I
love this move from Minnesota. They run outside zone at
one of the higher rates in the league, and that's
right up Mason's alley. Kyle Shanahan's forty nine Ers run
a lot of outside zone and we saw Mason excel
in that system last season when he had to replace
Christian McCaffrey. So the Vikings don't have many picks in

(45:40):
their series draft, just four. They have their first, a
compensatory third, a fifth, and a sixth, and to get Mason,
they gave one of their fifths this year for a
sixth this year, and they also gave the forty nine
Ers a sixth in twenty twenty six. So with only
four picks, I don't think the Vikings are going to
draft a running back, so Mason pretty much locked in

(46:02):
as the backup to Aaron Jones, who's thirty years old
and hasn't always been super durable. I think Mason is
going to be more of a one be to Jones's
one A rather than a strict backup, so Mason might
have some standalone value, and if Jones were to miss
any time, Mason would be a guy you would unquestionably
want to start in fantasy while Jones was out, So
I think he's a terrific third running back for your

(46:24):
fantasy team this year. I mean, the dude's average five
point three yards per carry in more than two hundred
career carries.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
Like he's a good player. Man.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
Yeah, somebody who you think will bring more value than
a handcuff, But that in this scenario where he does
step into the role because of injury, like a handcuff,
immediately becomes just like a very very high level fantasy
starter given the situation. I think that's a really fair assessment. Jake,
what do you think about Mason?

Speaker 4 (46:52):
I'm with him on Mason mostly just because of nothing else.
This was great for we did winners. That was the
show I was on, and Isaac Grendo was a winner
because Mason's gone. But they're both winners in this move,
and they are both within the exact same tier of
a high end running back might get a sprinkle of touches,
but mostly if the lead goes down. We're talking about
potential bell coal work for both of them, and in

(47:13):
two offenses that we would be super happy even if
you're just a random replacement running back. And these are
two talented running backs. So I actually really like this pick.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
And of course we're in the range of the draft
right round ten, round eleven round twelve where you're not
getting surefire starters, so you want to kind of find
that upside and guys who can still contribute maybe, but
even if they're not contributing, the upside is super high
in the scenario where their situation changes. Let's go around eleven.

Speaker 4 (47:40):
Jake, Yeah, it's funny you say surefire. Thank you for
the segue, because as of today, he's a surefire starter today.
I think the conversely to what Pat was just saying,
the Browns do have a lot of picks, and the
Browns could make a timeshare situation. But even so, the
reason I like Jerome Ford here is because how many
times have we seen this before with Hey, the NFL

(48:02):
draft process isn't perfect, scouting's not perfect. Running backs themselves
are not perfect. Like we could even say a lot
of people are in on Devin Neil, which I like,
or an RJ. Harvey and somebody like, oh, the Brown's
draft and everybody's like, aha, they're taking the job. Goodbye,
Jerome Ford. And we've seen before like talented running backs
come in and they don't take the job, something doesn't work,
maybe they end up being a bust. So to get

(48:24):
me a starting running back here who has performed and
has performed on the terrible Browns offense. I think that, hey,
you know what, do I want him as my RB two?

Speaker 1 (48:34):
Absolutely not.

Speaker 4 (48:36):
He's not even your RB three, and this range likely
This is basically, hey, I'm going to put him in
a potential trade down the road or a flex situation,
or maybe my running back gets hurt and I have
a mediocre RB two, but I have a starter. So no,
I'm not like, oh God, I gotta go get Jerome Ford.
But at that's part of the draft. He's a starter
as of today, and a lot of it is just, oh,
what are the Brown's gonna do?

Speaker 2 (48:56):
Well?

Speaker 4 (48:56):
What if the Browns don't do anything till day three?
And then we're like, man, we should have been on
d Ford fits.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
What do you make a Ford in round eleven?

Speaker 2 (49:03):
My take is pretty much the same as Jakes.

Speaker 3 (49:05):
We expect the Browns to do something at running back,
but even if they do something at running back, like
Ford is going to get work and he's kind of
been good whenever they've called upon him. Like the sneaky
stat on Jerome Ford is that he's got eighty one
catches over the last two seasons like he just kind
of does it in a quiet way. But he has

(49:26):
been a really good role player for the Browns. I
would expect him to continue to be and probably not
a guy who's going to have standalone value if the
Browns do go out and get themselves in Omarion Hampton
or when Shawn Judkins or Caleb Johnson someone who can
be a lead back, but a guy you would again
be starting every week if something happened to the lead

(49:48):
back and Ford was next man up.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
Let's wrap up with round twelve. Fits it's a guy
that you have liked dating back to last year.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
Yeah, we're getting a little thinner here in round twelve.

Speaker 3 (49:59):
But Ray Davis, who's got a RB forty six, one
hundred and thirty fifth overall ECR, I just think he's good.
He had six touchdowns in only one hundred and thirty
touches last year. Three of them were touchdown catches. Davis
was actually really efficient as a receiver. I mean small
sample size, yeh seventeen catches, the average nine point nine

(50:21):
yards per target, which is like crazy good for a receiver.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
Let alone for a running back.

Speaker 3 (50:26):
And when James Cook missed a game against the Jets
last October, Davis balled out ninety seven rushing yards fifty
five receiving yards. Yes, it would probably take a James
Cook injury for Davis to be startable in fantasy. But
I do think Davis is already one of the better
backups in the league. He plays in a high powered offense,
and I think he's a pretty nice target for the

(50:46):
latter part of the draft when you're building your depth.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
What do you think about this one, Jake? I mean,
likely more of a pure kind of handcuff player than
some of these other backups we talked about already, But
do you agree with the upside being really apparent if
he got the opportunity.

Speaker 4 (51:01):
I do, And my comparison for him again fantasy purposes
with Jamal Williams, which isn't a bad thing, Like I'm
talking about good Jamal Williams. The one that we remembered
was in RB two with pushing RB one, who was
pretty much a backup for most of his career. But
the reason I'm with that, and you say the backup
and what everything Pat said, is because I have a
really giant Tier five right now. Now It starts at
thirty seven for running backs and goes to forty nine,

(51:23):
but it starts with sharbon Ay and ends with Braylan Allen.
They're Isaac Grendo's in there, Tyler El's years in there. JK.
Dobbins not knowing what his team is just because of him,
but Blake Koram, Jalen Right, and Ray Davis. Ray Davis
is in that group because they're all names that I mean,
this is Jordan Mason's in this group. This is names
that if something happens, they are going to be a
top twenty running back, and I think they deserve to

(51:44):
all be in that range. To the point being of
why take scharbon Ay at thirty seven and round seven
when you could take Ray Davis here, Because you're not
starting scharbon Ay anyway unless something happens to Walker. You're
not starting Davis unless something happens with the James Cook.
But you are going to get some more value if
both things were to happen.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
Quick recap of all the running backs we talked about today,
going from round one to round twelve. Christian McCaffrey, Bucky Irving,
Ashon Gent, Chuba Hubbard, Alvin Kamara, Isaiah Picecko, Jalen Warren,
Tank Bigsby, Travion Anderson, Jordan Mason, Jerome Ford, and Ray Davis.
We will wrap up there. Thank you everybody for tuning
in to this week's episode. For Jake and Fits, I'm

(52:24):
Ryan Warmley. We'll see again next time. 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. Follow us on x, Instagram
and TikTok at Fantasy Pros, and subscribe to our YouTube
channel at YouTube dot com slash Fantasy Pros

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Is Christian McCaffrey Still a First-Round Pick? | The Best Running Backs to Target in Each Round of Your Fantasy Football Draft (Ep. 1551)

Episode Transcript

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Is Christian McCaffrey Still a First-Round Pick? | The Best Running Backs to Target in Each Round of Your Fantasy Football Draft (Ep. 1551)