Week 11 Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings & Tiers | Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1838) - FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, friends, and welcome into Fantasy pros. This is
the Fantasy Football Podcast Week eleven Running Back Ranks Episode.
I'm Chris Welsh, Andrew Erickson, Pat fitz Morris, all of
us in the house to walk you through what is
going through all these running back ranks here, probably hopefully
a better walk through than like Bucky Irving walking through.
We're just all crossing our fingers. We are going to

(00:22):
actually run through them. So we got the top thirty six,
hopefully answering a bunch of your starting sick questions, mister
Pat fitz Morris, here, we have some we have some
debates we're putting together here. But what are you feeling
on the RBS? Always testing the waters here? What do
you feel about our Week eleven running backs? We got
low kind of like a low variance of bye weeks.

(00:43):
We only have two bye weeks. We've got some running
backs that we had been dying all year that are
kind of thrust into starting roles. I feel like it's
better than it's been in quiet. We have optimism to
running backs this week, Pat.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
We do, but you can never feel completely awesome about
running backs in the week where Jonathan Taylor is on bye,
and when.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
You don't own him you can You're like, oh, thank
god I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, there was There's one league that I'm in and
things are clipping along at a nice seven and three
pace in that league, and the team I am playing
this week has Jonathan Taylor, and I was just appreciating
my good fortune. How lucky are you to get the
Jonathan Taylor team in the week when Jonathan Taylor is
on by That's just an amazing stroke of luck right there.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
We actually there's a discussion behind the scenes one of
our top dev guys. We have a survivor league here,
and there's four people left. It's me, it's Piece of PA,
and it's Worm, and then the fourth is our guy
along and Worm posts. He goes, let's make a pack
and all destroy along this week because he has Jonathan

(01:49):
Taylor and it's on a bye and this is maybe
the only week that we can get him. We're doing that.
And another funny thing out in the baseball world. I
was out in the Arizona Fall League. It's a prospect
based thing. I was taught tucking with a Blue Jays
prospect about fantasy football, and he was like, oh, he's like, bro,
He's like, I killed it this week. I dominated fantasy football.
I'm like, Jeff Jonathan Taylor. He's like, no, a Chan.

(02:09):
I'm like, I'm like, all right, you're gonna You're not
gonna kill it every week unless you have Jonathan Taylor.
He rules the roost. There ericson, But do you think
we have a decent shot? Me worm piece of PA
Almost doesn't matter what we have if Elon doesn't have
Jonathan Taylor, Like, I feel like, this is it. This
is our only opportunity to take him down.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
If you guys can't take him down this week, I
don't know what you're doing. We're done because Jonathan Taylor
is scoring probably forty percent of his points every single week.
Look up most fantasy rosters. All the matters is did
you draf Jonathan Taylor or not?

Speaker 4 (02:38):
Really?

Speaker 3 (02:39):
I know we spend hours and hours and hours, days, weeks,
months researching, but if you draft Jonathan Taylor, you're probably
winning your fantasy league, as simple as that.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Sometimes it's simplistic and it's just about Jonathan Taylor this year,
and you're you're one offs of a Devon ah Chan
scoring a bunch of touchdowns. Or whatever, so let's talk
about it. We don't get to talk about Jonathan Taylor
this week outside of this, but if you guys want
to talk about it, fantasypros dot com Slash rankings, if
you want to check the ECR see where things are adjusting.
You know, like I have no expectation of it, but

(03:08):
Bucky was doing walkthroughs. You know that would change the
ECR if he were to be active, So just go
and check it out fantasypros dot Com Slash Rankings. As
all the big rankers out there put theirs in and
we get some slight adjustments. But for our purposes today,
here is our top twelve. Christian McCaffrey comes in at
number one against the Cardinals this week. Davon a Chan
at two, b Jon Robinson, Josh Jacobs, Jamior Gibbs, and

(03:31):
James Cook. That is our top six. Coming in at
seven is Rico Dowdell, eight, Ashton Genty, Johntay Williams, Saquon Barkley,
Jalen Warren and Kyron Williams. So very choky as you
would expect. Of course, I wanted to get your guys'
gauge on this. Rico Dowbdell versus Ashton Genty. Genty and

(03:52):
the Raiders are going up against the Dallas Cowboys with
the you know, the subbish par defense in general, coming
off of a bad performance, but Genty was still able
to score. Or Rico o'dowdell, he's the guy now it
committed volume. And the Atlanta Falcons they stink so ericson,
let's start with you. These guys are next to each
other seven and eight. Rico gent who do you pick?

(04:13):
And is it close?

Speaker 4 (04:15):
It's not close for me. It's Rico dauddell.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
You want to attack a defense and just gave up
two hundred and fifty rushing yards to the aforementioned Jonathan Taylor.
And especially when it's a guy's talented as Rigodowdell. He's
the engine of the Panthers offense. They're trying to hide
Bryce Young and as much as my Tetro mcmillion shares
would like to see him get more targets, it's just
not going to happen when they want to run the
football on first, second, and third down with rico' dawdle.

(04:38):
So the Panthers smell blood in the water, and is
the Falcons run defense and they can take advantage of it.
So I expect a healthy dose of Rego daddele and
on the Cowboy side. I mentioned this on the Wide
Receiver Show. I just think this defense is going to
play significantly better out of their bye week. Quinn Williams
is one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL,
and now he is anchoring the interior of a healthy
Dallas Cowboys defense. Is getting multiple guys back from into reserve,

(05:00):
coming off a bye week, playing up against a banged
up Raiders offensive line, playing on the row and on
Monday Night football, that team is going to play very inspired.
Yet it's the first game that Dallas is playing since
the passing of Marshall neland again they were on their
bye week when the tragedy happened. Every other team is
then played two weeks. They're the last game playing in
Week eleven, and I think they're going to show out

(05:20):
in a big way at home, and I think that's
just unfortunate for anyone that's investing in the Raiders. So
I know, on paper, you think man Dallas. And that
was part of the reason why I like genty as
like a by low because I was looking at matchups
ahead of the schedule. They got Dallas and I just
don't feel nearly as good about it. So for me,
this is a layup for Rico Dabdle.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, it's interesting. Fits. I just wish like we're getting
to the point where it's like, please treat Rico like
Devon Ahan. Just throw it to him or mcafick. Give
them five six, seven catches a game if you're not
going to have big volume, and you might struggle with
the volume. Is this close? And what side Rico versus.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Gent Technically it's close for me that I have them
ranked one spot apart from each other. But Rico is
in one tier and then genty is in a tier.

Speaker 5 (06:06):
Below and Rico.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Rico is playing on a team that is actively trying
to hide its quarterback with its play calling. And good
on Dave Knalis for trying to hide Bryce Young because
he has every incentive to try to hide Bryce Young,
who just hasn't been good this year. So will he
be run heavy against the Falcons defense that has just
been getting slammed in the running game, Yes, I think

(06:30):
he will be. And Erickson mentioned it, like you think
about Dallas as being this favorable defensive matchup, but maybe not.
With the Marsha Neelan inspiration and the addition of Quinnon Williams,
I think this defense is going to be tougher against
the run, and the Raiders offensive line kind of a mess. No,
Colton Miller their best offensive lineman. They just lost Jackson

(06:52):
powers Johnson in a key interior lineman. So yeah, as
much as I like Genty, it's just not a not
an ideal spot for him. You're playing him no matter
what because there is dual run catch usage there.

Speaker 5 (07:07):
But I liked out All a lot more this week.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, we're talking about rb ones for sure. If you
take a look at the lists and you're like, who's
the guy that doesn't fit the narrative normally, it would
definitely be Jalen Warren coming in at eleven on this list.
He doesn't live in this world a whole bunch. But
Cincinnati Bengals the defensive matchup, and this is kind of
teased a little bit in the Wide Receiver episode. So FITZI, why.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Don't we start with you?

Speaker 1 (07:32):
You do have him met thirteen. You're a tiny bit
lower Erickson's right at ECR, but I felt like there
was optimism in conversation when we had talked about Jalen Warren. So, FITZI,
what's your take on Jalen Warren this week?

Speaker 2 (07:43):
I think there is optimism and great matchup, and Mike
Tomlin has sort of hinted at wanting to get Jalen
Warren more touches, saying something about if they just convert
more third downs, they'll be able to get him more touches.
I think Warren is a fine play for fantasy in
week eleven, but he just isn't really a true workhorse

(08:04):
because Kenneth Gainwell gets somewhere between thirty three percent and
fifty percent of the snaps every week, so dual usage
also for Warren. He runs well, catches passes, but you know,
he just does not have that backfield to himself.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Thanksm what do you think? I feel like you were
kind of spewing some of that optimism of Jalen Warren.
I think you've got him right at ECR here at eleven.
So what do you think why running back one with
a level of comfort this week or with a caveat.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
I think I just want to play running backs against
Cincinnati Bengals because their defense is just absolutely terrible. I
ever going to get a Jalen Warren ceiling game. This
is it, right, This is the game where even Aaron
Rodgers after the game talked about we didn't get Jalen
Warre enough touches. The quarterback that always wants the bon
always wants to throw touchdowns, and yes, he's probably gonna
still throw some touchdowns in this game. I think they're

(08:58):
going to find a way to get jail more at
least one touchdown. The rushing has been fantastic for him.
He's been one of the more efficient runners this year.
Rushing success rates top twenty, PFF grade is top fifteen.
He's a broken tackle machine. I mean he's jumping over
dudes right. He just looks fantastic. So I want to
buy into that. I want to buy into a talented
player having a somewhat of an outlier performance. But I

(09:18):
think that if they want to have an offensive good
performance this week, it's going to be sent around. We
got to get doing more on the ball, So I
think this could be an outlier performance of him from
a ceiling perspective.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
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out all right. RB twos This is RB thirteen through
twenty four. Go to Dereck Henry at thirteen, Traveon up
at fourteen, Chase Brown, Quinchawn Jutkins, Brice Hall, Travis Etn,

(10:21):
DeAndre Swift, Aaron Jones, Kamani Videl, Rashad White, Woody Marks,
and David Montgomery, Traveon Henderson RB fourteen, Fitzy, you got
him at fourteen, Ericson, you've got him at fifteen. Part
of me was thinking Ericson, we might try to press
it a little bit and get him into an RB
one territory. There's still some questions I guess around, like

(10:43):
the activation of the other guys there, But you know,
he got some volume, he makes huge plays. The Jets
kind of depleted their defense a little bit. You've got
him at fifteen one spot lower. Do you think there's
more wiggle room or doesn't really matter either either way,
top fifteen RB. You're starting him this week?

Speaker 4 (10:57):
Well, I think you could move them up if the
other guys don't play.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
Every running back on the Patriots has been on the
injury report, so Henderson also got banged up last week.

Speaker 4 (11:04):
We don't try. Jennings got hurt.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Romandra Stevens's missed the last two weeks with an injury.
They're all limited in the latest practice sport we got
on Tuesday from the Patriots, so they plut on Thursday.
So we're all going to find out together which running
backs are available. And if it's only Henderson and Deerannis
Johnson that are the two active running backs, well we're
gonna have to move.

Speaker 4 (11:21):
Henderson up into RB one territory.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
But for now I think that in this top fifteen
range with it looking like those guys either probably won't
play or have limited Roles. I think that this is
an appropriate ranking for Smash matchup for a player that's
starting to build momentum as we get closer to the
Fantasy postseason, FITZI.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
Do you think that we could start seeing more volume?
That's still the thing that's just like lacking. Like it's
great that he's getting more momentum and he's breaking those
big plays, but like, could we get lots of carries
like full Bell Kal type carries? You think we can
go to that space or do you think they're gonna
We're gonna continuously just keep him in this range of
like you know, fifteen eight team touches.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Like Max, I do think to some degree the genie
is out of the bottle with Traveon Henderson, Like it
would be hard to stuff that genie back into the
bottle when ramondre Stevenson comes back, Like, oh, we're gonna
go back to giving Trey like five or six carries
a game. Probably not after a game in which he
had one hundred and forty seven rushing yards, two touchdowns,

(12:21):
house calls from fifty five and sixty nine yards. So yeah,
obviously the status of Ramondre Stevenson is the big wild
card with Stevenson practicing on a limited basis, But I
don't know if that means Stevenson automatically comes back this week,
because if the Patriots with this Thursday game, let him
sit for one more game, then he gets an extra

(12:42):
ten days of recovery time. So if he plays, we
will probably have to move Henderson closer to I don't
know RB eight eighteen nineteen, something like that, but I
would love to see him just be the sol guy
going against a Jets defense that has a loud average

(13:03):
of one hundred and fifty five rushing yards in its
last three games and just traded away star defensive tackle
Quinn Williams.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Agreed Chase Brown ECR fifteen. This is an instance where
we're gonna go back to ericson here, because FITZI, you
got him at consensus, Bud ericson top six overall, you
got him at six. Chase Brown, you are all the
heck in talk to us about Chase Brown against the Steelers,

(13:32):
because like, who are you starting him above? Are you?
Are you Chase Brown over James Cook?

Speaker 3 (13:37):
Yes, I am Chase Brown because I am searching for
sealing this week with Chase Brown, and he could play
every single snap for the Bengals backfield this week, so
much appier and got hurt in the last game that
we saw the Bengals, and in that game, Chase Brown
played ninety six percent of the snaps. He saw fourteen targets,
eight passes for seventy five yards because he was playing

(13:59):
on their downs because Samaj Peerman was not involved.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
So what do we know?

Speaker 3 (14:03):
That's one of the most correlated things in terms of
fantasy running back production is just total snaps played, total touches.
And if there's no Samaj p Ryan, then Chase Brown
has a RB one overall finish in his range of
outcomes this week against the defense that he has his
only one hundred yard rushing game against this season in
the Pittsburgh Steelers. Come on, I Vaidel look like Ladanele

(14:24):
and Tomlinson against the Staelors defense on Sunday Night Football.
So yes, am I being really aggressive with Chase Brown's
ranking here? Yes, but it's because I think that his
ceiling this week is that of a top five fantasy
running back because of the potential Bellcow usage where he's
playing nearly every single snap. It's a matchup that we've
already seen him expose and he's involved in all three

(14:45):
phases of the game in terms of rushing and receiving,
and he has touched down equity because of the expulsive
running back. So I think that ECR is lagging and fits.
I mean Chase Brown. We love Chase Brown, Like, why
can't we get this guy up at least above consensus?

Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah? Are you not as hyped about Chase Brown and
theential volume in there? I will say I think in
the wide Receiver episode, Fitz was Proty Higgins. So if
I remember this correctly, that maybe you think this is
going to be done a little bit more in the
air than it is on the ground.

Speaker 5 (15:13):
Maybe that's part of it. And I do like Chase
Brown a lot.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
I am not quite drinking the kool aid to the
degree that Ericson is, who is not just drinking kool aid,
but like kool aid laced with ayahuasca.

Speaker 4 (15:27):
Party.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
He's got some party punch. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
So he's gone over one hundred scrimmage yards in three
straight games, and as Erickson mentioned, no samaj p ryin,
so Chase is probably gonna have the backfield to himself
minus whatever snaps the Bengals want to give to rookie
Taj Brooks, and when brown faced the Steelers a couple
of weeks ago, we had a season high one hundred
and eight rushing yards on only eleven carries. Bengals are

(15:51):
averaging thirty two point eight points over Joe Flacko's four starts.
I totally get that the setup looks pretty good, but
I will say the Steelers run defense has actually been
better since the early part of the season, when they
got gouged by the Jets in Week one in that
crazy high scoring game. In their last six games, the

(16:13):
Steelers have allowed under one hundred rushing yards to their
opponents in four of them, and their worst game as
a run defense during that stretch did come against the Bengals,
who had one hundred and forty two yards against them,
but otherwise like sixty five yards against the Browns, seventy
rushing yards given up to the Vikings, fifty five to
the Colts. They stuffed Jonathan Taylor the week before, making

(16:35):
Kamani Videll look pretty good last week, so charge Steelers
run defense really hasn't been that much of a pushover,
and I do think maybe the way to attack them
is more through the air than on the ground.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
All right, let's go to Aaron Jones. Aaron Jones is
ECR twenty. You guys are split, boy. I wish we
were talking about Jordan Mason. But Jordan Mason just out
cooked and it is Aaron Jones here going up against
the Chicago Bears. Fitz you've got him at twenty five,
ericson at eighteen, so one positive, one negative, Fitzy, you've

(17:09):
pushed him outside of a RB two. So hit us
with your Aaron Jones takes.

Speaker 5 (17:14):
Yeah, it means week. Do you think Jordan Mason is
completely cooked? While shot?

Speaker 2 (17:19):
I know Jones outsnapped him forty six to sixteen last week.
It was really pronounced.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
Yeah, oh yeah, No, I didn't know if you were
like figuratively asking me, I kind of do I think
like they're like not going to use him in volume.
The best case scenario is they're like a do like
you know, the ken Walker sharping anything we always use,
and he's not used in the passing game. So he
gets nine or ten carries. There's no touchdown equity anymore.
But they seem to want to use Aaron Jones in

(17:46):
the uh inside the five in the red zone. They
want to use him as a passing down guy. So
for all intents and purposes, I do kind of think
Jordan Mason is cooked. I think he's cutable.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, I mean, I get it. I do think Jones
is the more valuable back here. I just don't know
if we're going to see his pronounced a split as
we saw last week, with Jones playing seventy percent of
the Vikings offensive snaps. He hadn't been above a fifty
three percent snapchair in any other game this season. So
I do like Jones just fine in a pretty good

(18:17):
matchup against the Bears, who ranked twenty fifth in DVA
against the run and are giving up four point nine
yards per carried to running backs. I just I guess
I still consider this a split backfield. But if Jones
does dramatically outsnap and out touch Mason again this week,
I'll definitely have to reconsider my position here.

Speaker 3 (18:38):
Now.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
Actually, you're higher, you got him at eighteen. You seem
to be a little bit on that Aaron Jones side,
and maybe that Mason is just nothing. But you tell us,
what do you think about Aaron Jones.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
I just think that he's fit what the Vikings office
has been trying to do. When McCarthy's looked a little
bit better, it's because I think Aaron Jones is ripping
off the explosive runs. I mean, he's averaged over six
yards per carry since coming back from his injury in
Week eight, averages three point six yards per carry. Aaron
Jones is evolved in the passing game. He had six
targets last week, and I guess I'm buying more of
the snaps last week because the week before, Aaron Jones

(19:09):
got hurt again in Week eight, So that's kind of
why we saw more of a split because Aaron Jones
got banged up again. He was on the injury report
entering this week. We didn't even know if he was
going to play in Week ten. I love the matchup
here against Chicago Bears. I think that they can be
had against the run, and they were giving up expulsive
place to Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary last week, so
I think Aaron Jones when you look at what the

(19:30):
Bears have been bad against in terms of defending the run,
they're bad against outside the tackle runs and they're bad
against under center runs. Aaron Jones in both of those
types of running splits over five point three yards per carry.
He's been really efficient. And I knows you've seen this before.

Speaker 4 (19:43):
Aaron Jones.

Speaker 3 (19:44):
He misses half the season, comes back as fresh legs,
and it looks really, really good. So I am buying
into Aaron Jones a little bit here. And if you
just look at the three starts he's had where he's
played fully with Jji McCarthy, he's been a top twenty
fantasy running back in all three games, including one against
the Chicago Bears in Week one.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
All right, last one on this list. Wood he marks
ECR RB twenty three. You guys are in agreement. So
this isn't like, you know, you guys have to battle
each other's takes or anything like that. I think, if anything,
this is just more of a discussion piece of like
is what he Mark's kind of the guy? And is
he a trustworthy RB two moving forward? Ericson. You guys
are both at twenty two. I mean the rank is

(20:22):
a representation of it, but like, do you feel a
level of confidence in like what Woody Marx has been
doing that you're going to roll him out as an
RB two or even.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
A flex I can't think of why he wouldn't be
somewhat confident just based on the fact that he dominated
the snaps last week. He had seventy eight percent snapshare.
They really didn't use Nick Chubb that much. Now, part
of me does believe that that might be related to
gamescript because the Texans were getting blown out against the Jaguars,
so obviously you're going to have your pass catching back

(20:49):
play more than Nick Chubb, who's really only used on
early downs. And the fact that Chubb was on the
injury report this past week, so maybe he wasn't really
involved as much in terms of the game planning. That
being said, Marx checked off every other box, right, and
we also know he's the better running back at this
point between him and Nick Chubb's career. So although I
think that we do see the snap share probably get
a little bit closer between fifteen percent for Chubb and

(21:13):
basically almost close to eighty percent for Marx last week,
especially against the Titans, where you're expecting the Houston Texans
to probably play with a positive game script, they don't
necessarily need to push the offense so dramatically because they
know that the Texans defense is going to shut down
the Tennessee Titans and cam Ward.

Speaker 4 (21:30):
So that is kind of in the back of my mind.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
But everything else it's like, I guess, don't overthink it, right,
it's a good matchup. Woodie Marks has already performed in
this matchup before against the Tennessee Titans. He had a
great game against them earlier this season. He's coming off
the season high and snapshare, he looked efficient so and
he catches passes. So for some reason, the Titans come out,
they get a pick six, they get a fumble six
for a touchdown, they're winning the game and we're freaking out.

(21:53):
Then Woodie Marx can still be involved. So I think
that he's a strong RB two play this week.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Fitz that was interested when Erickson said about like the
game script maybe playing like could that be part of
the role. So your take on Woody.

Speaker 5 (22:04):
Marx, Yeah, Ericson framed it really well.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
Obviously we do have to look at the game script,
and that was undoubtedly one of the reasons the workload
split was so pronounced with the Texans in catchup mode
against the Jaguars, and as we know, they eventually did
catch up. So still I think the usage spike for
Woody Marx last week might possibly be a little stickier

(22:28):
than the usage spike for Aaron Jones last week, just
because Marx is a rookie and it sort of stands
to reason that if the Texans like what they see
from him, they're going to start ramping up his usage
and start dialing back on Chubb, who's sort of a
known commodity, just this low upside veteran who's had a
major leg injury.

Speaker 5 (22:48):
So yeah, I'm.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Interested to see what the workload split is going to
look like this week, and obviously a really good matchup
for Marx against the Titans, who have given up the
second most fantasy points to running.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
I want to ask you guys this real quick. We
were going to kind of avoid it, but as we've
been doing the show, I've been kind of peeking around
at it. Rashada White is at twenty two. Bucky Irving
was seen at practice, and I believe also in some
practice he put out a post, you know, of like him,
Let's go. I think they spoke about him and the

(23:22):
expectation of him getting in some forms of practice like Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Hypothetical if he were to be activated, what would you
do FITZI with him? Would you think that maybe they
ease him in and you know, maybe he's still ranks low.
Do you think they give him a full war. It's
very speculative, and I just want to throw this on

(23:43):
the end of this little conversation so you don't have
to go crazy into it. But with this, there's a
possibility where would you kind of put him and would
you have an expectation he's a full go or it's
a big share because of the injury.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
I would say he's not going to walk right back
into an eighty percent snow share, but I would feel
good enough about him to start him pretty much unconditionally.
And I would want no part of Rashad White, who
just who isn't good. I mean, like, I had a
bad week in the rankings last week. My only good
position was running back And part of why I did
well was I faded Rashad White just because I don't

(24:18):
think he's good.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah, and Erickson again we were talking. We're like, oh,
maybe we don't talk about it, but like the just
there seems to be a lot of smoke that's floating
around there. I think there's gonna be a lot of questions.
So just again general take, are you gonna have a
hesitation if he were to be activated, and it probably
would be like last minute if they did h in
even starting him, or would you just blindly put him out?

Speaker 3 (24:39):
I would start him as a top twenty running back
play for upside facing the Buffalo Bills. We've seen them
get gashed against running backs this year, and you're gonna
feel much worse if you watch Bucky Irving go off
on your bench. Then if you start him and he
has a bad game or is limited, I just play
to win, right, And if Bucky Irving is playing in
a significantly decent amount of touches against a bad Buffalo

(25:02):
Bills run defense, then I'm gonna want to start him.
So yeah, And I would also drastically move for Shad
White down the ranking.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
And by the way, the Buccaneers offensive line is like
fully healthy now and that is a top five offensive line.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
That's a good note, all right, before we get to
the RB threes. Here, it's your chance to dominate your
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(25:37):
get started. RB threes, RB twenty five through thirty six.
We've got Ken Walker and sharbonaat twenty five to twenty six, Tyrone, Tracy,
RJ Harvey, Jacory Krosky, Merritt, Kareem Hunt, Kamanah Guy, Taj Spears,
Tony Pollo to Mari de Marcato, Jordan Mason, and Tyler Algier,
R J. Harvey. I'm actually gonna jump around a little bit.

(25:58):
This was one I was talking to Fitzy about off air.
I don't know if ECR or maybe it's a combination.
If ECR is ranking him at twenty eight as a
hedge to JJK. Dobbins just waiting to find out the
official news. I don't know if this is more about
the Chiefs. Fitzy, you have him at twenty eight. But

(26:18):
when we get to Ericson, I feel like Ericson has
just kind of maybe taken the commitment to saying like
this is no Dobbins and this is what he is
versus the Chiefs. But you tell me, Eric Fitzy. Let's
start with you. You have him at ECR at twenty eight.

Speaker 5 (26:32):
Twenty six, actually twenty six, am I blind?

Speaker 1 (26:36):
Oh, I think we have twenty eight on here, but
you moved him, gotcha?

Speaker 5 (26:38):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (26:39):
Sorry, yeah, just a little bit higher than ECR. And
that is factoring in the expectation that Dobbins isn't going
to play. And the only reason I don't have RJ.
Harvey ranked higher with Dobbins out is because I suspect
that Sean Payton is going to continue to rotate running
backs as he likes to do, so we might see

(26:59):
a fair amount of Tyler Badet and Julia McLoughlin too.

Speaker 5 (27:04):
And the matchup is an ideal.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
I know the Chiefs have not been the impregnable running
game matchup that they have been in recent years, but
they're still pretty tough matchup there. They're giving up the
sixth fewest Fantasy points to running backs.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
So ericson, you've got him at twenty. I think that,
like I was saying to me, this reads of like
Dobbins is out. This is where he's gonna sit. But
you tell me you're the more aggressive ranker. Is that
what this is telling us?

Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yes, expect Dobbins to miss. I do expect Harvey to
get a little bump at least in terms of bass
work because JK. Dobbins has kind of been the guy
that's been dominating all the early down carries and the
red zone work in terms of red zone carries, and
I don't think Harvey's role as a receiver is gonna
change right. If anything, He's just gonna play more snaps.
So that's why I have him a little bit higher
at the RB twenty. Again, matchup's not great, but he

(27:50):
has the pass catching floor which has been there the
entire time.

Speaker 4 (27:53):
JK.

Speaker 3 (27:53):
Dobbins has also been in the lineup. But now when
the Denver Broncos getting close to scoring, I feel pretty
confident it's gonna be RJ. Harvey that's going to be
getting not just goal line carries, but goal line targets
out of the backfield like he has been all year long.
So again, if this was a good matchup, Harvey would
definitely be ranked even higher. I think by ECR overall
would be like a top fifteen guy. We would just

(28:14):
be like, oh yeah, like RJ. Harvey fully loaded, because
I think fits is making up a good point that
we're gonna see plenty of Tyler today, plenty of Julie McLoughlin. Yes,
he still is on the roster. He's going to be
active and that's going to be annoying. But I think
Harvey has shown while working alongside I mean, he was
playable alongside Dobbins, and Dobbins has been the workhorse for

(28:34):
the Denver Broncos. Harvey only has one game this year
with double digit touches, and if you had to make
a bet he's going to get at least ten touches
in this game, I would say yes.

Speaker 4 (28:42):
So that's why I have Harvey just a little bit higher.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
It would be cool if we got the big RJ.
Harvey roll off the week after getting the big Traveon
Henderson roll out.

Speaker 4 (28:50):
Yes, it would be cool.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
But that just just stinks. It took double digit weeks.

Speaker 4 (28:54):
But yes, well that's what rookie run. This is what
rooki running backs. We just get.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
We're just impatient, We're just like we get, we get frustrated,
and these guys break out the second half at all
every single time.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
But we just can't have it.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
We can't wait two weeks for rookie running backs to
break out in the second half of the season.

Speaker 5 (29:09):
Caleb Johnson in week twelve.

Speaker 4 (29:11):
I think Cale Johnson's twenty twenty six.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
I think twenty twenty eight did. I firmly disagree, by
the way, because I think the rookie running back thing
where it was justifiable to take your victory lap and
draft them where they're going is once this happens in
week five or six. That was like the old like
Todd Gurley, where it was like four weeks and then bam,
they go for it to go through week ten. I
don't think it's I don't think you can argue. I

(29:36):
mean maybe we can. Drafting Treyvon Henderson and RJ. Harvey
where they went knowing they weren't going to be super
productive until week ten. That's a failure. That's a failure.
But them being amazing right now shows the work of
who they were. We just didn't get the volume. It's
not necessarily their fault in that, like drafting Trevan Henderson

(29:57):
is a third round pick and him not breaking out
until week ten, you could have not drafted him, traded
for him off the scrap heap. It wasn't worth taking
him and taking the l's on that. So that's like
where I kind of disagree, but maybe that's something we
have to consider for the future. Maybe the rookie running
back gap has changed, the chains have moved. It used
to be week four, week five, maybe week six, If

(30:18):
it's week ten, I don't know. We need to not
be drafting them remotely as close as we were, but
we get them, so we get to all celebrate and
be super happy about it. Tyrone Tracy, Tyrone Tracy, this
is actually moving one spot up ECR twenty seven fits.
You've got him at thirty erics and you've got him
at twenty six ericson. You were on Tracy last week?

(30:39):
Are we hoping and betting that we're going to get
back into it this week? They've got the Green Bay
Packers though, ericson, So talk to us about Tyrone Tracy.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
Yeah, it was really weird watching the Tyrone Tracy usage
last week because I felt justified buying back into him
that I thought, no, he's going to take over as
the lead guy and see the majority of snaps, which
was correct. But Singletary the one getting the red zone carries.
Singletary is the one that ripped off the big catch
and run which I would expect Tyrone Tracy to do
as a former wide receiver. So although he did go

(31:07):
over his rushing and receiving yards prop despite having zero
receiving yards, I didn't feel nearly as good about being
high on Tyrone Tracy, even though he did have a
decent rushing effort. The matchup is obviously not ideal against
the Green Bay Packers, but we talked about Jameis Winston
on the Receiver Show where he is the tie that
lifts all boats and that includes running backs, that just
includes more scoring opportunities because of the way that he plays.

(31:29):
So I think that's good for Tyrone Tracy. I expect
him to still be the lead. And the firing of
Brian Dable I think is another feather in the cap
of Tyrone Tracy. Daball has been Singletary's gude, like those
guys have had a connection dating back to Buffalo. That
may not be the same case with Mike Kafka coming in,
and when you look at some of the coach quotes,

(31:50):
Mike Kafka has been one that's been a little higher
I think on Tyrone Tracy than Brian Dable has been.
Tracy has been in the Brian Dabel doghouse more often
than not. So I think that we could actually get
a scenario where it is even more Tyrone Tracy and
less Devin Singletary as the Giants try to evaluate their
young players, Like what's the point of rolling Devin Singletary
out there? Like there's no point, Like Tyron Tracy's a

(32:11):
young second year running back and hopefully a guy you
can pare with Cam Scatta, but when he comes back
from his injury next year. So I would expect that
this is actually positive for Tyrone Tracy. Now, the matchup
is going to kind of keep him out of top
twenty four territory, but I think as a flex play
in a game that could be kind of fun for
a pass catcher's explosive. I think Tracy does warrant at
least some consideration in some starting lineups this week.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
Kitty, what do you think you've got them lower than ECR?
Devin Singletary floats around. It's a really good point about
like the coaching change that's kind of the mystery to this,
because I think before that it was like, well, guess
what Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary are going to be annoying,
and the snaps are going to be annoying, But there
is this theory that things could change this week. I
think you're taking you might be taking more of a
little like pessimistic approach, like let's see it before we

(32:55):
start ranking. But I'm putting words in your mouth. What
do you think about Tyrone Tracy?

Speaker 3 (32:59):
No.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
I think Ericson made some good points. The point about
the loyalty Brian Dable is shown to Devin Singletary especially stands.
So maybe we get a little less of Devin Singletary
this week. He's gonna be involved, but maybe it's more
like the sort of split we saw last week, and
we don't see Devin Singletary getting work inside the red zone. So,

(33:23):
based on the excellent points Ericson is made, I'm probably
gonna have to move Tyrone Tracy up right now. I've
got him right behind the two Seattle running Backs. I
think I'm gonna move him ahead. Yeah, I know exactly.
I think the Seattle running Backs, I'm gonna move Tracy
ahead of Walker and Sharba.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
The biggest win we can have on this show is
convincing the other person. On any of the shows, we're
just like let's go. So that's that's a W for Ericson.
If you guys are looking for more WS and we
didn't answer your question and you need that W, come
and check us out on YouTube Thursdays at three pm Eastern.
We got the Start and Sit live stream. You can
bring just tons of questions and we are just mass

(34:01):
answering all of them. So YouTube dot com slash Fantasy Pros. Subscribe,
click on the notification on the bell so you can
be notified and check out the live stream that is
going to do it for the RB ranks, for Andrew
Ericson and Pat fitzmore So, I'm Chris Welsh. Good luck
in week eleven and we'll talk to you next time
right here on Fantasy Pros.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football podcast.
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
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All Episodes

Week 11 Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings & Tiers | Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1838)

Episode Transcript

Hosts And Creators

Andrew Erickson

Joe Pisapia

Derek Brown

Thor Nystrom

Ryan Wormeli

Pat Fitzmaurice

Matthew Freedman

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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;}Week 11 Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings & Tiers | Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1838)