Week 7 Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1776)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, friends, and welcome into Fantasy pros. This is the
Fantasy Football Podcast. More importantly, this is the running back
ranks for Week seven. I'm Chris Welsh, that's Pat Fitzmorris
and Andrew Erickson. We are here for you to be
breaking down the top at least thirty six running backs.
We're gonna be looking at the big board in groups
of twelve, so we're calling them RB one's, RB two's,

(00:21):
RB three's. Some of the bigger questions, some of the
bigger rank differences where you guys differ, who is suffering
and boy, every single week, I gotta tell you, when
we get to those running back threes, it does feel
like people are throwing their hands up on just like names,
like there's nothing startable. The difference between the end of
wide receiver threes and the end of running back threes

(00:45):
is astronomical. There's such a big difference on startable players
in the thirties at wide receiver fits to running backs
that you want to start Ken Gainwell, you want to
start RJ. Harvey, No, you don't. You don't want to
do that.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
The running back three class is just a swamp right now, Welsh,
it is. It's and I've I am in a few
leagues where I kind of went with the zero RB
approach and I'm throwing out guys like Zach Sharbonay and
Woody Marx and like, it just doesn't feel good.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Erickson, We've seen we see a lot of tons of
trade questions all the time. You and I do the
show on Discord where it's very trade centric. Just as
a quick aside before we get to the rinks, everybody
and their mother has a glut of wide receivers and
is trying to shore up their running backs. Do you
think because of how bad the depth that running back is,
it has made these conversations just almost irrelevant where someone's like, hey, guys,

(01:44):
I've got everyone has aj Brown wants to trade him
good luck. You know, maybe you can get Tony Pollard
at this point. But do you think with how big
wide receiver has been and how bad running backs are,
you think it's even palatable right now to be able
to go and buy a running back in any lee
Because I really just don't because it's like twenty strong
than a bunch of questions and you're gonna have to

(02:05):
I think I have to overpay in your wide receiver
trades to get a running back.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Yeah, I think that's a good way to approach it,
where the scarcity at the running back position is pushing
up the value of the player even though one v
one in a vacuum. No, I'd rather much have this
receiver than this running back. But that's not the game
we're playing here, Like, you need a running back, so
you have to give me a better wide receiver that's
maybe in a completely different tier. So we'll talk about

(02:32):
this player a little bit later. But the one guy
I think is actually a bye and I talked about
it on the show with Worm, is actually the Checko
like and he's the guy that nobody wants. But it's
been trending in the right direction for him the last
couple of weeks, as I'll get into when we talk
about his rank for week seven. So but yeah, you
can get him because people don't like him.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Well, I'm excited to have that conversation because you know
I'm on the opposite end of that. No, thanks, but
hopefully it does trend in the right direction.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
All right.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
If you guys want to follow along with us, go
to fantasypros dot com slash rankings. That is We have
a snapshot, by the way, so we are looking at
this moment in time what ECR looks like. It changes
all the time as rankers update their ranks, as they
add their ranks, So just you know, don't get up
in arms if like we say a guy is seven
and they're nine, now like gooys. No, we know this
is just our snapshot. But you can follow along all

(03:17):
week fantasypros dot Com Slash Rankings. Let's get the big
board up, starting with our RB. One's number one overall
this week is Jonathan Taylor, but Jean Robinson is two,
Christian McCaffery at three, Jamier Gibbs, Josh Jacobs.

Speaker 4 (03:30):
That's your top five, Davon A.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Chan, Javonte Williams, Sae Kwon Down at eight, quinchn Jutkins at.

Speaker 4 (03:35):
Nine, ricodoubtele Well, Rico Suave.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
At ten, Kyron Williams, and Jacry Krosky Merit at twelve.
Quinjohn Judkins most disappointing game since he's been thrust into
the starting role. He is ECR RB nine. You would
think maybe he would be down a tiny bit more
the problem or the positive Miami Dolphins. So Quinchewn Judkins

(03:58):
is a complete bounce back. In my eyes, he is
RB nine on this list fits he not as much
of a maybe agreement, not that you're down on him
or anything. You're essentially ecr but ericson smash ericson smash Judkins.
You've got him at four this week. So talk to
us about why the Dolphins are so bad at stopping
the run and why Judkins is going.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
To eat We all saw what come on he Middell
did last week against this Miami Dolphins Devens thing. We
saw Rico Daudel did it against Miami Dolphins run ny.
It's just terrible. It's one of the worst in the NFL,
if not historically bad. And Quinjohn Judkins, Yes, he's coming
off a bad game, but it was a terrible spot
for him playing against a rested Steelers defense on the road.
The Browns are favorites. I don't know if they're going

(04:38):
to be favored ever again this season.

Speaker 4 (04:41):
Or ever ever in the history in PYE.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
So this is a smash spot for him from every
single angle you look at the Browns game. They're playing
a team that could fire their head coach after this game.
Could Judkins be the reason why Mike McDaniel doesn't have
a job after Sunday. It's very, very possible. So I'm
all in on Judkins. That's why I him at four. Honestly,
I tried ought about me put him up at three,
but McCaffrey just has such a high floor with the

(05:04):
receiving that I couldn't put him behind him. But obviously
J T Bijon as one two. So yeah, Judkins are
be four for me, and you can somehow buy him
after a bad week, do it.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
I'm a Jutkins smash. You want you want a little
preview on the prop Show this week? Ericson, I think
you were. I don't know if it was off air
on air, but you said, hey, Jerry, Judy time it's
quinch on Jutkins, time for the Prop Show this week.
So I'm an agreement. And by the way, hearts all
break for us. Where we all knew the Dolphins were
smash for the running back, we just unfortunately thought it
was just on Haskins and not Kamani Badal. We got

(05:36):
that answer pretty quick. But Judkins is in like a
really phenomenal spot. FITZI again, you're not negative or anything
like that. You're one spot lower than consensus. You got
him as a top ten running back this week. Maybe
you just don't think he's going to have the tippy
top production. He's a Brown. But what do you think
about Jutkins this week?

Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, there's like a tug of war for me going
on here, Welsh with Judkins. Like, on the one hand,
obviously a great matchup against the Dolphins, and maybe the
Dolphins do wave the white flag in defense with Mike McDaniel.
The Dolphins have not laid down in any game. They
got crushed in that first game against the Colts, and
they've been competitive in every game since. They're just not

(06:12):
things are not working out for them at the end
of games. But like Quinchawn, Judkins is kind of starting
to feel the pull of gravity in the Cleveland Browns offense.
He averaged five and a half yards per carrying in
his first two games. He's at four point one yards
per carryover his last three. He only has three targets
and one reception in Dylan Gabriel's first two NFL starts,

(06:34):
and I kind of worry about that if there's not
any sort of passing game production to help lift up Judkins,
like he has to smash as a runner, and maybe
he just does and I'm overthinking this, and he has
one hundred and fifty yards and two touchdowns against the Dolphins.
Entirely possible, but I don't know. It's just this Browns
offense is kind of sickly. He's not catching passes and

(06:58):
recent production. Granted, yeah, Steelers tough matchup for sure, but
I just wonder if in this offense he can take
advantage of the matchup.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
Judkins smash for me. Rico Doubtell comes in at ten.
Now I think we're presumably having Cuba back this week.
I think that's the conversation A report Jeremy Fowler out
there said, I mean, this is kind of like a
no brainer that both running backs would get more, would
both get touches, Like dull, They're gonna get both touches.

(07:29):
I think the question is is like will they'll be
like a starter. This seems to come on the heels
of like it doesn't really matter who starts, They're both
gonna go. So this kind of opens up this full
conversation fits You've got him at nine, ericson, you've got
him at thirteen. Difference between an RB one and an
RB two, I think Rico looks like the guy, but

(07:50):
regardless of being the guy, he's been so amazing because
he's getting.

Speaker 4 (07:53):
Thirty plus touches.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
If that cuts down to fifteen, does he still deservedly
you know, should he be in these spots, especially for
the Jets. So Fitz, let's start with you. You're the
high guy on him. Do you buy neither reports? Do
you think Rico is going to get twenty plus touches?

Speaker 5 (08:08):
Like?

Speaker 1 (08:08):
How do you sparse him out as an RB one
this week? Because I think there'll be a ton of
questions about am I safe to start Rico this week?

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, so right now I'm tentatively ranking Rico as if
Hubbard isn't back, And it's going to be a real
dilemma if he is back, because how do you weigh
this the two fantastic games that Chewba Hubbard has had
and he's making Bryce lunk Young look better too in
these two games, like he's making Bryce Young's job easier.
But at the same time, Chewba Hubbard played really well

(08:36):
last season in sort of an uphill struggle in this
Panther's offense, and hadn't been quite as effective early this year.
But he's got I don't know, maybe some goodwill built
up with this coaching staff. So Rico Dowdle has had
sixty touches the last two weeks, fifty three carries seven catches. Like,

(08:56):
I'm not predicting thirty touches for Rico this week, but
if he does the backfield to himself again, pretty good
bet for run twenty touches. And the Jets run defense
has actually been pretty good, but the Panthers offensive line
has been absolutely mashing in the running game. So I'd
have to give it a little think as to how
I'm going to rank these guys. If Chewba Hubbard is back,

(09:18):
I'm still probably gonna have Rico ranked a little bit higher,
maybe projecting that they don't give chewbo full workload right away.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
What would be the vicinity?

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Like you don't have to give an exact number, but like,
would he hover in the top twenty, would it be
outside the top twenty or twenty five?

Speaker 4 (09:32):
How would you do it?

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Yeah, I mean I would probably have I probably have
Rico around like high end RB two like sixteen seventeen,
and maybe a Hubbard like down around I don't know,
and like Tony Pollardsville like RB twenty eight or.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
So okay O.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Our injury expert Deepak Chona a couple of weeks ago
had said that based on this analysis, it looked like
around A two could be a two to three week
injury for Cuba. He had essentially said week five and six,
you'd have Cuba out. So this is what opens up
the window. Erickson, is your rank at thirteen relative to
both of these guys being active? Or is thirteen only

(10:15):
with Rico being the starter?

Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah? That was just with Rico being the starter, just
kind of acknowledging that he's had the two best matchups
you could ask for for running back the last two weeks.
And look, the Jets defense played well against Denver. Denver
had been a team that was running the ball over
a lot of different often a lot of other defenses,
and they couldn't really run the ball at all between JK.
Dobbins and RJ. Harvey. So I think the matchup is tougher.
And it's also on the road, guys, the Carolin Panthers

(10:40):
played like a completely different team when they're not playing home.
Like Bryce yelling, I don't know what the deal is,
but he goes from like being a competent quarterback at
home to just being absolutely terrible on the road. So
that concerns me about this just offense overall. And then
if you are splitting the pie between Hubbard and Dawbell,
look if chub Babber plays, I think it's going to
be a fifty fifty split, like and that's kind of

(11:01):
what the reports are kind of suggesting that, yes, Rico
dol has been absolutely fantastic the last two weeks, but
to FITs' point, Cuba played really well last year. This season,
they're both top four and rushing success rate. Last year
they both rushed for a thousand yards. Like they're both
good running backs. Like it's not oh Rico's great, Hubbard sucks.
That's not the case here, Like they're both really good

(11:22):
running backs. Hubbard got hurt, Rico stepped in, had great
matchups and smashed. So I think that yes, he has
earned a right to see touches in this offense. But
if Hubbard had stayed healthy, he would have smashed too,
And like there wouldn't really be this conversation or discussion.
So I think you shouldn't be just pouring so much
cold water on Cheba Hubbard because he is their starter.

(11:43):
He is the guy that they paid to be their
starting running back for the long term, and Rico is
on a one year deal. They're both good running backs.
The matchup's not as good. So I do think though,
that when you're comparing the Carolina Panthers to a lot
of these other dual backfields, like you want to play
at Panthers running back or Patriots running back? Probably pay
Panthers running bait. Do you want to play a Panthers
running back or Texans running back? Give me the Panthers

(12:05):
running back, Like like, I think you want to play
those guys even with the touch and ambiguity, because I
think that we should probably see both guys see double
digit touches because the Panthers are more than happy to
run the football and not necessarily have Bryce Young drop
back to throw forty times a game with only really
one strong receiver. So I think they both have floors,
but they'll probably end up being in that outside the
top twenty twenty four range for me.

Speaker 4 (12:27):
Okay, that's what I was gonna ask.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
What I was just gonna say. Bryce has thrown thirty
or fewer passes in each of his last four games.
And the Panthers are three to one over that span. Like,
I think it pays to hide Bryce Young as much
as possible in that offense.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
All right, those are your running back ones. We're gonna
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percent off. RB two's we're going to kick it off
with number thirteen, Ashton genty, Cam Scataboo at fourteen, Brice Hall,

(14:51):
Rashad White, JK. Dobbins, Jalen War and DeAndre Swift, Travis
Etn at twenty, Jordan Mason at twenty one, Comani Vidal,
Chase Brown, and Alvin Kamara. Let's jump back into the
Cam Skataboo space ECR fourteen. FITZI, you're an agreement. Ericson,
you're a little bit lower. Cam doesn't have I guess
on paper it's a great matchup.

Speaker 4 (15:12):
It is funny.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
The matchup star rating actually gives him a four out
of five matchup. So, FITZI, you're the high guy or
ECR guy for Cam Skattabuo. It's been amazing. How is
he going to follow up the three touchdown performance? Is
it going to be RB two worthy?

Speaker 2 (15:25):
It will be and high end RB two worthy. And
I'm a little disappointed in Ericson having him ranked significantly
lower than I do. Clearly Ericson just doesn't like fun anymore.

Speaker 4 (15:37):
He got no why do you hate Cam Skataboo, Erickson?

Speaker 3 (15:39):
He got married.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
He does things like winneriz this sprinkler system for fun
these days, you know, Cam Skataboo is going to get
a lot of touches this week. He's averaging just under
twenty carries a game over the last three weeks. He's
averaging four catches a game over the last four weeks.
The guy's freaking indestructible. And you know the Giants are

(16:01):
going to lean on him against a tough Denver defense
that absolutely wrecks opposing passing attacks. And I know Denver's
good against the run two, but I think volume is
the key for Skataboo. They're just gonna feed this guy.
And you know he's he's been really good lately.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Fizy's got him as a high RB two. Ericson, you
got him as a mid RB two, so as he says,
you hate him, so ericson, why do you think Campscott
is going to fail?

Speaker 3 (16:27):
I don't think he's gonna fail. I just I don't
think he's going to score three touchdowns again. And I
think the matchup is much tougher, and they're playing on
the road. Where do we see the Giants not playing
nearly as well? And Jackson darts three starts was on
the road in New Orleans against a much weaker defense.
Now he's gone the road against Denver. We talked about
this on the Betting Pro Show, where one of the

(16:47):
most profitable ways to bet against rookie quarterbacks is their
early starts on the road. So they're massive underdogs playing
in Denver against a defense that gave up zero expulsive
plays for an entire game against the New York Jet Breeze,
Hall got a ton of carries and did nothing with
them because they were stuffing out the run at every
single opportunity. So that's just my read on the play.

(17:08):
Just the matchup. Again, you're still starting because again he
has the really really high volume touch floor. I will
say too, like right now, have Doubtll ahead of him,
Like I'm going to move down all down if Tubro
Hubbard ends up playing, so he will move up one
or two spots, So closer to a mid RB two
for me. Maybe not as high as ECR at fourteen,
but closer too easy R.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
You guys have these two guys flipped where Fitzi's high on,
you know, or easyr and Scattaboo and Erickson's a little
bit lower.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
JK.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Dobbins ECR seventeen. Fitz, You're a couple spots lower. But Ericson,
You've got him at RB fourteen, So the Cam Scattaboo
spot goes to JK. Dobbins. Dobbins has got the Giants
this week. It is a very good matchup.

Speaker 4 (17:47):
He is a beast. R. J. Harvey has not taken.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Over a lot of the force there, so I actually.

Speaker 4 (17:51):
Am in agreement with you. I like Dobbins.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
I think over Skataboo this week. But Ericson, let's hear
your take on JK Dobbins.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah, I think that last week just wasn't a great
spot for the Denver Broncos run game. They did miss
one of their starting offensive guards, so that does kind
of concern me long term if we see the Broncos
running game struggle again. Okay, this is a really big
difference when it comes to this offensive lineman missing. But
the Giants have been a team that you could run
all over unless you're the Philadelphia Eagles, So I like

(18:18):
them in this spot. Here, the Broncos playing at home,
strong home home favorites, you should be seeing a positive
game script. JK. Dobbins has touchdown equity, So again, Scattaboo
and Dobbins for me is just I'm just looking at
the matchup right, and according to Vegas, the Denver Broncos
should win by a touchdown at home. What does that mean? Okay,
the running backs should eat for Denver. Here Dobbins should

(18:39):
score one, if not two touchdowns against a really bad
run defense. So that's why I like Dobbins, Fitz.

Speaker 4 (18:43):
I'm actually curious because you are a little bit lower.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
I feel like he would be the type of guy
you would really like, Like are you worried about the
offense that you saw in London? There's a hangover from
coming back, Like, where is Dobbins going a little bit
lower for you versus? What is a really good matchup?

Speaker 2 (18:58):
Maybe a small part of it is the London hangover,
but yeah, it is a great matchup. I mean, unless
you have a garbage running back like Saquon Barkley, you
can run all over the Giants. Giants are thirty first
in DVOA against the run. I guess part of it
is that Dobbins hasn't been really involved as a pass catcher,

(19:18):
just five receptions in five games. We haven't seen a
usage spike for RJ. Harvey. But like would shock anyone
if there was suddenly a week where RJ. Harvey had
fifty percent of the offensive snaps, so a little trepidation there.
Just I wish we were getting the full, the full

(19:39):
Monty from Dobbins as far as like running and contributing
as a pass catcher. And it's just strange, like this
seems like the year where Sean Payton's running backs are
less involved in the passing game than they've ever been
in any of his offenses ever, And I just it
seems like it's going to continue to work that way now,

(20:00):
especially with Evan Ingram healthy again for the Broncos, so
it's kind of one dimensional usage for him and maybe
he smashes against this bad run defense, but I don't know.
They're just some things that have me kind of cautious
about the Dobbins ranking.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
Former Charger to Bronco to former Bronco to Chargers. Shout
out to me for not screwing this up. Kimani Vidal
e cr RB twenty two. Like I mentioned before, we
really thought it was going to be Haskins. They kind
of set there.

Speaker 4 (20:29):
There's just so many pieces to it.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
It was like Vidal is the practice squad guy, and
you know Haskins is going to get the first kind
of shot and run. Nope, Vidal, which just was the dude.
He looked super efficient, great attempt percentage was up. I mean,
he looks like he is the guy in an offense
that wants to run the ball. ECR twenty two. You
guys are a little bit flipped though, Ericson, you got

(20:52):
him as an RB two fitz. He's got him outside.
It's not anything crazy, But Ericson, let's start with you. You
are a high guy on him. I am in more
of your camp of this. I think Vidalla is like
a top twenty guy. I got twenty plus touches. I
don't see why that's going to change. He's going up
against an Indianapolis Colts defense, which you know, if you're
going to be able to successfully pass some it's going

(21:12):
to create more run opportunities. They used him a lot.
I like Vidal this week, and I will suggest him
after being wrong with Haskins. What say you, Ericson, Yeah,
I like him a lot this week too.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
I think that he's a strong, strong start now not
going to put nearly up the type of production I
think that he did last week against the Miami Dolphins.
Sure again, I think the Colts are an average matchup,
but the production aside, you're looking at the usage. Right
Let's say he had had a like a okay game
against the Miami Dolphins. The usage is what we'd be
talking about, where he played seventy percent of snaps, like

(21:44):
he out snapped Haskins forty three to twenty. I carried
him eighteen to six one hundred and twenty four rushing yards,
three catches for fourteen yards and a touchdown. He was
used in all facets of the game. He was used
as a pass catcher. He was used in the red zone,
which has actually been used two weeks in a row
in the red zone. So even last week in the
game where Hampton got hurt, Bidell had three red zone

(22:04):
touches and that carried over into this game as well,
when he had I think eight red zone touches. So
they're using him a ton in the areas of the
field that we care about the most. Will he be
as productive? I don't think so, because it's not nearly
as great of a matchup, But you play for the
Chargers offense. The one thing that the Chargers can feel
good about with their offensive line is the interior, Like
that is still somewhat intact. It's the tackles that have

(22:26):
kind of been the issues with most of the injuries.
So I think they do need to estopish some type
of run game to kind of help keep the pressure
off of Justin Herbert, keep him upright against the cold
Stevens that can get off the pass rusher a little bit.
So yeah, I think that he's a really solid start
from here on out till we see Hampton come back.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
Moy we're just waiting to for like it'll be twenty
touches for Hoskins this week and then we're just going
to be like, never start a Charger's running back because
we don't know. But Fitz, what do you think RB
twenty five, You've got him just outside of like the
startable RB two range. Are you not sold on the
offensive line? Are you not sold on their running Sita situation?

Speaker 4 (23:00):
What do you think about Videll?

Speaker 2 (23:02):
I'm glad Erickson mentioned the offensive line because like, if
Joe Alt comes back this week, I will probably move
up Videll like three spots and be more in line
with ECR. But they're just still really banged up there
and no Alt makes a big difference, and Ericson mentioned
the difference in the matchup going from this cakewalk matchup

(23:23):
against the Miami Dolphins to a matchup against more of
a neutral matchup, Like a lot of credit to lou
Anarumo for the job he's done with the Colts defense,
which has been pretty, you know, pretty credible this year. So, man,
I do like Videll a lot, Like, I don't want
to bag on this guy, the all time leading rusher

(23:43):
for Troy University and a guy who's like his contact
balance is pretty awesome. Like he's not quite Devon a
Chen or Ashton Genty in that department, but he's he's good.
This guy bounces off tackles. So I like Videll, but
tougher man and still a banged up offensive line. If
alts back, then I'm going to move off by Dell

(24:04):
in my rankings.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
Yeah, this could be the first time by Dell actually
faces an NFL run defense. He didn't face one last week.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
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(24:34):
RB three's that is twenty five through thirty six. We
start with Ken Walker at twenty five, David Montgomery, Rimandre Stevenson,
Tony Pollard, Trevion Henderson.

Speaker 4 (24:42):
Isaiah Pacheco. That's your top thirty.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
We got Bam Knight at thirty one, Zach Charboney Woody Marks,
Kenny Gainwell, Nick Chubb, and R. J.

Speaker 4 (24:50):
Harvey. You can see as it gets grosser down the list.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
Tony Pollard, do you see our twenty eight? Fitzy, you've
got him at twenty eight? Erickson, you've got him at
thirty one. They fire the coat, which Taji Spears is
in town. I am of the like that. I think
that Spears is going to be used more and more
in this offense. And I don't think Pollard is going
to be phased out or anything like that. But you
know Spears had some moments here. What do you think, FITZI,

(25:14):
you've got him at twenty eight. It's kind of a
flex option. He doesn't feel good to me, where are
you out on Tony Pollard?

Speaker 2 (25:21):
Doesn't feel good to me either, quite honestly, Taj Spears
out snapped Pollard last week and just looked better. It's
possible I'm underreacting to that, and the Patriots run defense
is pretty good. I do still think Pollard is a
pretty good bet for at least twelve touches, which is
the number of touches he had last week against the Raiders.
But it's possible we see a major backfield shift here,

(25:43):
and if I accordingly shift in my rankings, it's going
to be downward for Pollard and upward for Spears.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Upward or downward for you Erickson on Tony Pollard? Is
it Taj Spears seison coming?

Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yeah? I think it is when you're just reading how
these guys have been used traditional a Spears as the
pass catching back, so when they're playing in a negative
game script, he's playing more snaps than Tony Pollard is,
and Pollard the only way he pays off is if
he scores right. I still think that he would probably
have the first crack at a red zone opportunity. So
that's kind of the one thing that works in his

(26:17):
favorite because everything else about this matchup just as terrible.
I think that the Patriots are really good run defense.
They've really stopped the run this season, and Spears is
more effective as a rusher last week six point two
yards per carry sixty percent success rate to Polich twenty
six to twenty percent success rate. We also don't know
what the backfield shift is going to look like under
a new play caller, like it's all brand new. They

(26:38):
just fired their head coach. So I do think that
maybe they get a little bit of juice just from
that dead cat bounce type of angle where oh yeah,
they fired Callahan, like we're gonna come out of the
gates and maybe Pollard scores. But besides that, I mean,
you look at his game logs. When he doesn't score,
it's RB thirty, RB twenty nine, RB thirty two, RB
thirty three, So like that's probably what you're gonna get
from him at the floor. But that's not even considering

(27:01):
a lot of those games came without Spears playing. So
I think that he is a low floor, low ceiling,
just someone that I don't want to play this week, like,
quite frankly, someone I would rather play somebody else. I
get that he has like a certain projection and we
have to rank him in a certain way. But I
mean we're talking about upside. Give me R J. Harvey.

(27:22):
I mean he can at least rip off a big
running it's a terrible Giants defense. Is that gonna have
for Tony Pollard? Probably not?

Speaker 2 (27:27):
So you have scars, you have spirits ranked higher Ericson.

Speaker 3 (27:32):
I don't, but I should. So I'm gonna make that move.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
It's kind of how I feel, too.

Speaker 4 (27:37):
Move Make the move, boys, make the move Bam Knight.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
I have seen no less than twenty thousand questions of
Michael Carter Bam Knight this week that the whole mess
of like it's gonna be Bam, It's gonna be Bam
starting and then Carter's starting, like it just has everybody
kind of thrown off. Bam Knight is the one that's
ranked higher ECR thirty one. Neither one of you guys
are super optimistic about it. Ericson will start with you.
You're the least opt I missic about Bam at forty.

(28:01):
But what what say you with the Michael Carter element
to it? So just wrap that in Bam Knight and
Michael Carter.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
I prefer Michael Carter much more this week than Bam Knight.
Michael Carter had more touches last week. He also has
five targets in both games played the last two weeks.
They're playing the Green Bay Packers. Are we expecting the
Cardinals to play with the lead in this game? I
don't think that. I think it's more of a negative
game script. Now I could be wrong with protecting game script,

(28:30):
but I'm just going with what I think is the
most likely outcome, and that means you're going to see
more Michael Carter on the field. So I'm not trying
to be swayed by Yeah, I know, Bam Knight played
fifty one percent of the snaps that led the Arizona backfield,
but Michael Carter played forty four And if Amario de
Mercado is out, then Michael Carter's taking all of the
pass down work. So Bam Knight, is he gonna score
three touchdowns in three weeks? Maybe he will, and that's

(28:52):
what pays, but he is touchdown or boss, and against
a Greenbackers, Green Bay Packers defense, I'm going to bet
against him scoring, which is why I I haven't completely
buried this week I have no confidence in playing Bam Knight.
I think that if you've been starting the last couple
of weeks, like you're really happy that's worked out, but
I think that it's going to end in a very
very bad way, and think it's probably gonna happen this week.

Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
See that's where I'm It's not even about Bam versus
Carter as much as like neither, Like I don't want
to start either, because the reason I like Knight, well,
the reason I like Night over Carter is because of
the touchdown equity because all the things of like Carter
get more opportunities, and it's like, great, you know, fourteen
carries for thirty yards. I don't care about that. I'll
take the donut versus the touchdown equity. But neither one

(29:34):
of these guys versus this defense. So I really want
to play. So I'm a little surprised Bam is ranked
maybe in the high level that he's at. Fitzy, what
do you think? Do you think this is too high
of an ECR rank on Bam Knight.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
I do, and I should maybe be a little closer
to where Ericson is. Ericson summed it up really well,
like if there is a negative game script, then I
know Bam Knight played more snaps than Carter last week,
but it was what like a five snap edge. It
was pretty close to even. And you know, I don't
like making sweeping assumptions about gamescript, but if a game

(30:08):
is close to a touchdown in the spread, like you
have to figure that it's probably going to be more
likely than not a negative gamescript for the Cardinals. And
I do think Carter is the guy you want in
a negative game script. Bam Night is probably the guy
you want in a positive game script. And against the
Packers is six and a half point dogs, I think
it's probably going to be a negative gamescript.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
This was teased at the top of the show, so
here we go. Apparently Isaiah Pacheco season is upon us.
He is ECR RB thirty fits your just about there
at twenty nine, Ericson almost for statement, you should just
put him two spots higher, just to make him an
RB twenty four. For so an RB two. You got
him at twenty six, and you said that you think

(30:51):
this is the time to buy in, But is this
the time to start him versus the Raiders this week?
Ericson let's start with you.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
Yeah, I think that you can. And all I got
to do is movem ahead of Alvin Kamara and Ken Walker,
who is the second running back on his team, So
maybe I can make that switch to the top twenty
four pretty easily. So the thing with the checkout that
I like a lot is I think they're really trying
to get him going. They talked about that on the
broadcast after he had one of his first carries in
the first quarter. They said, yeah, they're really trying to

(31:19):
get to Checko a larger workload in this offense, and
we saw that in the game. He played seventy seven
percent of the snaps. That was a season high. He
has had a season high and carries at twelve and
that was after he hit season high numbers in Week five.
So it's trending in the right direction. I think that
he's looked the part against the Lions four rushes at
fifteen plus yards. He had four of those types of
rushes combined leading up to Week six, so he's getting

(31:41):
a workload bumped. Check he's looking more explosive. Okay, check
red zone usage. Four red zone carries to hunts one
against the Lions. Check so he's starting to check off
all of the boxes we're looking for of a running back. Hey,
they're ten and a half point favorites at home. He
has touchdown ATKA. We're talking about Bam Knight's touchout at
What about isaia Aa Checko's touchdown equity. I think that's here,

(32:02):
especially because you used more in the red zone instead
of Kaream Hunt and the match up against the Raiders,
so on paper doesn't look great. The Raiders have actually
been pretty decent against running backs overall the season, but
part of the reason is they like to stack the box.
The Raiders actually have one of the highest stackbox rates
this season. But we've talked about this two guys the
last couple of weeks, a Chan and Krosskey Merrit. Yes,

(32:25):
teams will stack the box to try to suffocate running backs,
but what happens is sometimes they over pursue and then
it creates a lot of big running plays. Checko against
stack boxes this season seven point five yards per carry,
third highest in the NFL, fourth in success rate. He's
ripping off the big run this week.

Speaker 1 (32:41):
Pachecko Isaiah Pacheco over under fourteen point five.

Speaker 4 (32:47):
No, not fourteen point five.

Speaker 1 (32:49):
Rush attempts over under Ericsson fourteen point five. I'm gonna
say yes, so fifteen rush attempts. No, it's not, but
I think you might be the one out in public.

Speaker 3 (32:59):
It probably won't be that, but I'll take the over.

Speaker 4 (33:01):
Sure you can take the over. Okay.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
He has not had fifteen rush attempts since the first
two weeks of last season. In the return this season,
he has not had it.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
You mean when Rashie Rice was on the team. You
know who's back this week? Rush rise?

Speaker 4 (33:14):
Oh, because ra she Rice would be back.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
So that's gonna make it that they're gonna be like,
now we need to use more check out because now
we need more weapons. Fitzy, what do you think about Pachecko.
I've been like a Debbie Downer on him the whole
season just because of the I think the backfield is muddy.
I'm not sold that it's going to change, but there's
a compelling case that this might be the start of it.

Speaker 4 (33:33):
What do you think.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
I'm kind of with you. I don't have a real
sense of certainty about this, and I would love to
believe because I do have Isaiah pitcheck on a few leagues,
and I would love to think that the fact that
he outsnapped Kareem Hunt forty nine to nineteen last week
means that the Chiefs really are in the process of
kicking Kareem Hunt to the curb. But I just don't

(33:56):
know if the usage shift is sticky or not. Plus,
Kareem Haunts's has been the primary goal line back this season,
like I know Pachecko got a little bit of usage
there last week. It's just and despite the forty nine snaps,
like Isaiah, Pacheco only had thirteen touches last week in

(34:16):
a game where it was a positive game script throughout
for the Chiefs holding a lead against the Lions pretty
much that whole game. Rishard Smith is in the mix too,
and maybe the Chiefs just keep throwing like crazy now
that Rashi Rice is back. I mentioned in the show
we did with wide receivers, they're passing rate overexpected against
the Lions plus thirteen and a half percent last week.

(34:38):
So it just seems like the Chiefs are back to
being this aerial assault. I don't know whether Pacheco is
going to be like a plus fantasy asset for people.

Speaker 1 (34:51):
But legit ericson for our prop show, I'm betting pros
this week, you know that number is going to be.
It cannot be higher than eleven point five rush attempts.

Speaker 4 (35:00):
It should be ten point last week, so I know
that's why.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
Like, yeah, but he's it at once, so like maximum
twelve point five, it's probably eleven point five. That should
already be one of your best in Lock it in,
Lock it in, Lock it in, come and listen to
that show.

Speaker 4 (35:12):
All right, let's finish overtaker.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yeah, the overtaker. That's one hundred percent right. Let's finish
off with another running back debate because as we've you know,
kind of hit at nauseum. It gets pretty gross done
in this territory. But how about the Texans running back situation?
And what is interesting about this is ECR is really close,
so it's kind of a hand up situation. Nick Chubb
is thirty five versus what he marks at thirty three.

Speaker 4 (35:34):
You two are split.

Speaker 1 (35:35):
On who you like more. Fitzi's in favor of Nick Chubb,
ericson you're in favor of Woody Marks.

Speaker 4 (35:41):
FITZI. Let's let you have the table here for Nick Chubb.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
Yeah, I don't feel strongly about this, but the last
time we saw the Texans before their Week six by
Nick Chubb was out touching what he marks eleven to seven.
Like Chubb isn't going to disappear. I think everyone thought
we were getting the Woody Marks backfield takeover, but I
think it's going to be fifty to fifty. Now, maybe

(36:04):
Marx is the right play this week because the Seahawks
have allowed I think the second most receiving yards to
running backs, So maybe things should skew a little bit
towards Woody Marx depending on the game script. But again
I don't want to make sweeping assumptions about game script.
I still think Nick Chubb is probably the better bet
for a touchdown between these two backs, So I do

(36:26):
think it's a really close call here. I still give
a very very slight edge to Nick Chubb.

Speaker 4 (36:32):
Erickson. Is Woody Marks the right call for this week?

Speaker 3 (36:35):
I'm leaning in that direction, and that's just because I
saw the Seahawks defense pressure Trevor Lawrence on fifty percent
of his dropbacks last week, and if that's going to
be the case, then straw is going to have to
find a check down option, and I think that that's
more likely to be Woody Marx than Nick Chubb. I
think this is a brutal matchup for both guys.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
On the ground.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
This Texans offensive line took steps against the Ravens JAB squad.
Will that work against the Seahawks on the road. Probably
not so. I think it's dump off season for Winnie
Marks and that's why I have him ranked why we're
running back thirty four this week. So very very confident.

Speaker 4 (37:09):
Tell yeah, very exciting for both of those guys.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
Lots of questions at the running backs, and if you've
got more, remember we got that weekly start and sit
livestream on our YouTube channel, YouTube dot com slash Fantasy Pros.
You're watching on YouTube, you're like, duh, we know we're here.
But if you're on the podcast, make sure to go
subscribe click on notifications. Thursday three pm Eastern is when
we will be live for that every Thursday. So come
and bring your running back questions or any other fantasy questions.

Speaker 4 (37:34):
We got you covered.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
That's going to do it for our week's seven running
back ranks. I'm Welsh, that's fits ericson.

Speaker 4 (37:41):
We're out peace.

Speaker 5 (37:42):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football podcast.
If you love the show, the best freeway. To support
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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 7 Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1776)