Must-Have Running Backs | Fantasy Football Draft Picks To Target (Ep. 1653)

Join Joe Pisapia, Andrew Erickson, and Scott Bogman as they highlight four absolute must-have running backs who are going to help you win your fantasy football leagues in 2025!

Timestamps: (May be off due to ads)

Intro - 0:00:00

Signed AJ Brown Helmet Giveaway - 0:00:33

Bhayshul Tuten - 0:01:20

TreVeyon Henderson - 0:03:30

FantasyPros Draft Simulator - 0:05:44

Kaleb Johnson - 0:06:22

Isaiah Pacheco - 0:09:15

Outro - 0:10:49

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in everybody to Fantasy Pros. This is the Fantasy
Football Podcast. It is me Joey p Joe Pisapia, and
today we're gonna take a look at some must have
running backs and to help us find those specific names
that we just can't leave drafts without. Scott Bogman and
Andrew Erickson here. Scott, of course, we're the hosts of
our Dynasty Football podcast, and Andrew Erickson also on the
Betting Pros. If you haven't, go subscribe to Betting Pros

(00:22):
and subscribe to this channel right here, Fantasy Pros. We're
trying to get to three hundred thousand this year and
we can do it with your help. Plus, if you subscribe,
drop your comments below. Who's your favorite running back this year?
That you gotta have? Guess what you might win? The
AJ Brown Salute to Serve as helmet go birds. That's right.
Look at this thing. It's glorious. It's absolutely beautiful. AJ
Brown autographed it himself and it's from Pristine Auction dot com.

(00:45):
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that AJ Brin helmet, and of course you have to
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can let you know if you are the big winner
of the aj Brown at Salute to Service helmet. All right,
let's talk about some rbs here that you need to

(01:05):
have in your draft. We're also going to talk about
some guys that are climbing up the boards, down the boards,
and maybe some guys you want to reach for as well.
So Andrew Erxson, let's start with you here. Give me
an RB that you just need in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
For me, I really want to get exposure to this
rookie running back class. A lot of these guys are
more expensive, though, so the cheapest rookie running back that
I can find that I feel like I can always
leave my draft with is base Shall Tuton, rookie running
back for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Now he was hand.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Picked by the new coaching staff, the new regime by
the Jaguars Liam Cohen always gets his guy at the
top of round four. And I fell in love with
Tutin when I first turned on the tape from him
in college. And then he blew up at the scouting combine,
I got to interview him, so he likes a special
place in my heart for base shall Tuton because we
may eye contacted, like we actually had a connection when
I was asking him questions about making the jump to

(01:57):
the NFL.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
So I'm absolutely.

Speaker 4 (01:59):
Erickson looked like Charlie and Mack looking across the restaurant
at each other.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
So a question for Andrew what song was playing when
you guys locked eyes at the combine? Just curious?

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Oh, man, I don't know what song is playing? There
was no song. Probably something.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Linger, Yeah, something by the Cranberry Yeah, matters zombie all right, So.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
You're a full for beach all two and tell me
what his upside is for this season?

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Full for All two and I think that he could
be this year's Bucky Irving. I really think that that's
in his range of outcomes. Now, it's easy to copy
and paste that because you're making the connections. While Bucky
Irving was drafted by the team that played for Liam
Cohen last year. But you look at the depth chart
for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Travis etn has not had the
best seasons as of late. Tank Bigsby popped a little
bit last year, but still he's an incomplete product, doesn't

(02:48):
really use, he's not lose, used a lot in the
receiving game. And two in just at the college level,
was just absolutely dominant thirty percent dominator rating, thirty seven
percent dominat ring last season alone.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
That was despite batting through an ankle.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
In finished twenty twenty four top ten in the FBS
yard after contact per attempt, and he tied, actually tied
Bucky Irving, so Bucky Eardi from twenty twenty three entering
the NFL in terms of miss tackles forced per attempt.
That was according to Sports Info Solutions. So I just
think that he checks off all the boxes. Yes, I
get he's right now RB three on the depth chart,
but I think that he's going to continue to rise

(03:21):
up if et enter tank peaks be kind of disappoint
and he's going outside the top one hundred. So there's
no reason why you don't leave your draft with Beeshell
two and on your bench.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
All right, Bogman, we just did a draft and you
did not leave that one with the guy that you're
going to talk about. Travon Henderson from the Ohio State
University and the playmaker the Patriots so desperately need.

Speaker 4 (03:41):
Yeah, I mean, listen, this is why you come to
this show. Because rankings are great, right, but they don't
put everything into context. And I want to leave with
Traveon Henderson. If I have a back that I've drafted
before him that I.

Speaker 5 (03:55):
Feel completely confident about.

Speaker 4 (03:57):
If I take an early Bijon kwan A Chan, you know,
just one of these upper echelon running backs, give me
the upside of Traveon Henderson as my two back, and
I will pick out of the next group of running
backs a floor guy because you have all kinds of options.
As Ericson mentioned, with all of the rookies coming in,

(04:18):
there's all kinds of upside risk you can take down there.
There's all kinds of floor down there because they're being
pushed by the rookies moving up.

Speaker 5 (04:26):
So to me, if you have.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
A solid RB Traveon Henderson, I think he's already better
than Stevenson. He's explosive. He proved that on his kick
return right, and he worked better in a two back
system last year at Ohio State. At his highest yards
per carry in college. Just look like a very strong back.
Caught twenty six of thirty passes. It's a demon as
a pass blocker. So his floor is as a receiving back.

(04:52):
As a low end receiving back. That is his absolute
floor with an enormous upside in this. Dude profiles like
Devin h Chan, who just doesn't need to touch the
ball thirty times to be effective. He needs fifteen to
twenty two touches somewhere in that neighborhood. He's going to
break one or two of them and hopefully gets in
the end zone and he's going to catch passes in
your PPR league. So I just don't see a lot

(05:13):
of downside to Henderson.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Look, it's funny because I was big into a Chan
his rookie season. They got hurt right before and I
started to shy away from him, and I wish I
had not, because I do agree. I think that's a
really good comparison of what Trivon Henderson's I think floor is.
And look, Davon han On, he played eleven games his
rookie season, right he was RB twenty four with eleven
games starts a fantasy point. So Trevon Henderson plays seventeen games.

Speaker 4 (05:37):
Henderson is twenty right now. The CR twenty. Yeah's always
going right at that bottom end of RB two.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
All right, and again if you're trying to, you know,
figure out different builds where you're trying to make somebod's
running backs work on your Rosters draft simulator right now,
that's the way to run quick, easy, realistic mock drafts.
So make sure if you haven't already seen your leagues
for free at fantasypros dot com, create an account. It's
very simple. Again, it's free, and go use fantasypros dot
com slash mock or just download the Fantasy Pros app today.

(06:05):
The Fantasy Pros app is there for you for all
of your mock draft needs. Think your leagues, use all
the tools, don't be a tool, and rock out with
your mockout today. All right, let's get to some ADP
climbers that you want to reach for Andrew Ericson, let's
go back to you. And this one hits home here
for Scott Bagman because it's one of his Pittsburgh Steelers.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
Yeah, I'm gonna go with Caleb Johnson.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
Now, I don't know if he's necessarily ADP riser after
I think that he was okay in the first preseason game.
But I think that things can improve for him as
the preseason rolls on, because I think that Kayla Johnson,
when he's at his height, he's going to be a
freight train that cannot be stopped in the Steelers offense.
Because you guys made the comparison with Travan Henderson skill
set to DeMont Ah Chan, but I look at a
Chan in the comparison to Kala Johnson as the scheme fit.

(06:47):
Right when Ahan got drafted in this Mike McDaniel offense,
we all thought the same thing, man, this is the
perfect running back for this offense. And that's exactly how
I feel about Kaylea Johnson in this art the Smith offense.
When I was doing the prospective with Kala Johnson, the
first guy I heard him too was Derrick Henry, and
who was so successful in Derrick Henry's Arthur Smith's run offense.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
So I think that with the vacated.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Touches from Najie Harris over three hundred opportunities, we know
that Jalen Warren's not the hammer in this backfield. We
know he's not going to be carrying the ball twenty
times when the Steelers are trying to ground and pound,
play strong defense with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. I think
Cale Johnson's going to be the guy that they turned
to six foot one, two undred twenty four pounds, absolutely
dominant last year at the college level. I think that

(07:28):
he's going to be a hammer for the Steelers offense.
And again he goes round six to seven where you
don't feel like you're overreaching on him. You can add
him as your RB three when I think he has
RB one upside in the second half of the season.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah, I love where he's going in drafts. I wish
I could a got him in the last mock we
just did. But Bog's we talked about a rookie running
back lending in the perfect spot. That's how I felt
about it, That's how Andrew felt about it. But you're
you know, mister black and Gold, did you feel that
same way?

Speaker 5 (07:52):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's a very very good fit.

Speaker 4 (07:54):
I think the beginning of the season might be a
little annoying, right, so I want him as an RB three.
For whatever reason, Kenneth Gainwell started over him in the
first preseason game. I think that's eye rolling, right, Like
you know, you know, that's not going to be the
way it is, so let's just go with what But
he's just a little bit behind, and he also doesn't
offer a lot of pass catching up side. But there's

(08:16):
probably close to three hundred touches who cares. Like, sure,
you're not gonna get that, you know, passing volume or whatever.
But you might get a lot of touchdowns from him.
So Steelers offense might be wretched, so maybe not too
many touchdowns. But if Aaron Rodgers gets a move and
he is going to be the goal line back, without question,
you're not pushing Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
I tell you what.

Speaker 4 (08:40):
You might just hand it, turn around to hand the
ball to Darnell Washington at some point here, I think
would be a smart play, but I think Caleb's going
to be pushing that.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
By my favorite offseason real is definitely the one where
they have slow motion Aaron Rodgers working out and they're
playing the Siallis commercial over it. It's just the funniest thing,
and he's just like throwing the football.

Speaker 5 (09:02):
Real dismissing two bathtubs.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
Going through Yeah, he's going through the cones and stuff.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
Copper fit.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
All right, let's get one more fit for our rosters
at running back Boggs, who's the copper fit for you
at RB, that'sh an adp climber you need to reach for.

Speaker 4 (09:24):
Let's go with Isaiah Pacheco. And I think just the
healthier that Pachecko looks in this offseason, the higher he's
going to climb on my board specifically, And you know
they Adambrashard Smith Purshard Smith is a decent back at SMU,
but I don't know he's not gonna push Pachecko this year.
Kareem Hunt looked washed at the end of last year,
and so did Pachecko. And I know people may be saying, look,

(09:47):
I saw Pachecko at the end of last season, and
he's dusted. It was coming off of fractured fibula from
week two, right, And if you need proof that he
was not the same guy, look at his yards per carry.
They went from four point nine to four point six
to three point seven. You know how many tackles miss
tackles force he had last season four He made nobody miss.

(10:08):
He had no wiggle, he had no bursts. So he
came back and he played on this wrecked fibula for
a little bit because it was well enough for him
to play, But Deepak Chona told us when this injury happened,
you know that he was not going to look the
same when he came back until he could properly rest
this for a full off season. He's had that full
off season. He's put on weight. They didn't add another back.

(10:31):
This team didn't go out and had Chubb or any
of the backs Dobbins laying around. So I think that
this tells me Pachecko is going to be their guy again.
You're not going to depend on a late round rookie,
and Kareem Hunt did look washed last year without an injury,
so to me, I think it's Pachecko by a wide margin,
and there's still one of the most potent offenses in
the NFL.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
There you have it, everybody. Those are some must have
rbs from Scott bogmin from Andrew Erickson, But what are yours?
Drop your comments below, subscribe to the channel. Let us
know who your favorite RB that you got to have
this season, whoever that name is. It might win you
an AJ Brown autographed helmet. That'll do it for us.
But the story of the game goes on for Bogman
and Erickson I'm Joey P. We'll see you next time, Kiz.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
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