FullTime Fantasy RB Rankings

We are talking Running Backs!! Jody Smith joins Adam Krautwurst to discuss 2025 RB rankings. They discuss what players can lead the league in rushing and what RBs are over and under valued.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Welcome to the Full Time Fantasy Podcast. Please im it
by the Fantasy Football World Championship, home to the industry's
most accurate rankings.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
What is up, everybody?

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Welcome to the full Time Fantasy Football Podcast, recording today
July ninth, Wednesday, and with me, I am your host
Edum Crowerston with me Jody Smith. Mister full Time himself
had a pretty good year last year, the current number
two ranking in the world for fantasy football rankings. Welcome
to the show, Jodie. What's going on, bro?

Speaker 4 (01:07):
Just the usual man. We're neck deep in draft prep
and rankings and all that now because we've got training
camp coming up in a couple of weeks, and after
you and I all the work we put on the magazine,
you just go straight into a regular season routine now, So.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
For for sure. Yeah, And like you know, our our
intro talks about how the number we had number one
ranking in twenty twenty one, and to kind of follow
that up a couple of years later with I think
it was you, you and Billy we're at rocking that out,
and then coming back a couple of years later with
you getting the number two over our ranking and Fantasy
Press with people who don't like understand that's like the
top expert. That's like your main event, that's your you know,

(01:48):
super Bowl is those rankings and the coming seconds.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Really good you congratulations, dude, Yeah, thank you?

Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah, uh so yeah Billy one And was it twenty one? Yeah? Finished,
I finished eighth that year, and then I fell off
a little bit in twenty two. Then last year I was,
uh top ten, and then yeah, the highest I've ever
finished was this one in twenty two. I thought as
the season was progressing, you know, I thought I was,

(02:16):
I was doing pretty well. Like I can't come up
with the formula, but I knew there was It's it's
those it's the mid to late round guys. That's where
like I stand out when it comes to doing the
Fantasy pros. Is you know, nailing those guys, you know
running back strength twenty five to fifty, That's that's the
range where you know, it's easy to pick the top five,

(02:38):
top ten guys. But and it's like we were talking about, like,
you know, if I hadn't of over ranked Tyreek Hill,
which definitely won't do this year, but that was that
was the difference between first and second.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
That's it, man, it's just said spontible.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Hey, getting nailing those running backs in the twenty five
to fifty range is big and helping players win Fantasy
Football championship because that's where that's where you went.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Where you get those late round flyers.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Those those players that you know people aren't drafting they
was drafting really late.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Those are the league winner type type things.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
Yeah, that's it. And uh, you know, with with last
year running back we actually, you know, had this unusual
percentage of running backs that stayed healthy. We're normally, you know,
at the top of drafts, the zero RB club, we're
always trying to pick the wide receivers because they tend
to stay healthier. But last year we had some of
the elite wideouts. Cooper Cup was drafted pretty early and

(03:31):
missed miss time, Pouka Nakua missed time. Uh, Nico Collins
ended up missing time. You had some of the strong
wide believers.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Chris Chris Godwin.

Speaker 4 (03:40):
Yeah, well, Krik Chris Godwin was a guy that you know,
we were all here at full time fan. It's extremely
high on I love that they were moving him back
into slot and he was and I had him on
just about every roster last year. So right up until
Week seven, we're smooth settling along getting he was wide

(04:00):
receiver too or wide receiver three points per game at
the time, and then then he went down. But you know,
last year, running back state tend to stay healthy, so
unusually high percentage of running backs stayed healthy last year,
which is why you see, you know, us in this industry,

(04:20):
you always uh stak with the recency bias. So now
you have pretty much the first round is you know,
loaded with running backs, so you know, we'll see what happened.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, not only that the guys stayed healthy, the Alvin Kamaras,
the Joe Mix and the Derek Hennery is all the
kind of the older guys.

Speaker 4 (04:39):
James Connor finally think he missed the season finale something
like that. But you know, when you draft James Connor,
you're gonna get he's gonna miss one or two games.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
But it was it was crazy. Everybody stayed healthy, so
so it was tough. It was a tough year for
the zero hero RB crowd. But yeah, the other thing
you said, you were working on the magazine, I got
I got my copy right right.

Speaker 4 (04:59):
Here right Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
Pro Forecast thirty six season. Congratulations on that. Of course,
Josh Daddy Allen on the cover. I got to contribute
to this.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
That was really cool. I did a high stakes article.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
I did a couple Siever rankings and stuff, and so
that was cool to be a part of that and
have that as like a little uh, throw that on
the coffee table as a little convoke starter, especially with
Josh Allen on the cover of that.

Speaker 4 (05:21):
But yeah, about a couple of copies that today because
my mom always wants to have a cops write. Like
the local grocery stores they don't even carry magazines anymore.
I guess that's something that's that's fading, Like you know,
when we were growing up, Yeah, paper, the newspaper was
integral for keeping up with news and all that kind
of stuff, and now you don't even see him anymore now.

(05:42):
I guess magazines are next.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
If you're in the northeast, Wegmans has them for sure,
and also barn Burns and Nobles. So those are those
are the two main spots you'll find them. But one
of the articles I do want to talk about today,
not in the magazine, but on the Full Time Fantasy
website is a running back regression article that you came
up with.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
I think these and then we're gonna.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Get into kind of your running back rankings and stuff,
but I think these articles are very important to kind
of kind of reset your brain as to kind of
what happened the year before, what leads to regression, What
are the things that you know? There was a number
a couple of years ago of hey, if this number,
if this running deck got three hundred and I'm making
this up. I forget what the number was, like three
hundred and forty carry or touches or more, the next

(06:23):
year he plummeted, no matter how good was. Think back
to the you know, the Larry Johnson's of the world,
the priest Holmes, of all these guys that took all
these carries and then the next year they would just
kind of really die off. So this this goes into
that all that type of stuff. So why don't you
talk to us kind of through the article and what
you kind of came out of it.

Speaker 4 (06:43):
Yeah, you're you're referring to I believe it was Gary
Davenport who originally came up with what's what's called the
Curse of three seventy and that's three and seventy. I
don't know if it's carries or or touches for a
running back, but you know, another figure that's more prominent
seems to be four hundred touches because you mentioned Priest
Holmes Larry Johnson are both guys that kind of fell

(07:04):
apart after topping that. And let's not forget Levey on Bell.
He had a season where he was way up there
over four hundred and he didn't even play the next year.
Now that was for a different, you know, various reasons,
but still it's obviously when people were doing their drafts
and whatnot, you're spending the top three pick on Levy
on Bell because he was so good but came back

(07:26):
and just didn't play next year. But those are things
that I'd been thinking about for a while, you know.
Plus you know Gary's article, he updated it this year
and I had kind of rant read it and you know,
was thinking, you know what, another thing I have noticed
over the year is it seems like when a running
back leads the league in rushing, that the next year

(07:47):
there's there's a huge, fellow, huge decline. And so I
just decided to track it. And you know, in these days,
you know, you could argue amount of time something relevant,
but I decided, you know what, let's go back a
full twenty five years. That way, there's just a huge
collection of data and you're basically covering two completely different

(08:11):
errors of football, whereas into that late nineties when running
backs dominated everything, and then you know, the receivers became
more prominent. But yeah, it was it was very telling
just how often running backs are falling off.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
You know.

Speaker 4 (08:26):
In that article, I think it was what three running
backs in the last twenty five years that led to
the league and carries were either as good or better
the next year, So three three out of twenty five
the average drop off was thirty seven percent. It was
just huge and huge. It is huge, and you know,

(08:49):
you look at various reasons, but you know, I think
it just comes down to the you know, what stood
out to me is probably is you know, again with
the four hundred touches, the curse of three seventies, it's
just where and terror It's a lot to ask for,
you know, and in these days, uh, you know, another
wrinkle thrown into it is that players have less reps
in the preseason. And you could argue that's good or

(09:11):
that's bad, but they have more, more punishment, more carries,
more usage, more touches in the regular season, and and
then you have expanded playoffs now, so all in a
you know, I don't know how relevant it is for people,
but you know, I've my walk. My takeaway from this

(09:31):
was that, you know, it's not it almost becomes factual
that you have to be concerned for players that take
on that kind of usage. And looking at what Sekon
Barkley did last year four hundred, four hundred eighty two
total touches when you when you include the postseason, and

(09:52):
remember he sat out the season finale, so it would
have been higher four hundred eighty two touches last year
when you throw in the Super Bowl run. So huge concern.
You know, I think I love Saquon Barkley. He's a
great player, a great dude. But you know, and at
one point this year, do you get concern? You know

(10:14):
a lot of people are taking first overall. I prefer
Jean and I would take jimyor Gibbs before and take Barkley.
But you know, how far can you drop him if
you're concerned or if you feel like I'm gonna sell
high whatever I mean me personally, it comes down to
I couldn't take Barkley any lower than you know, if

(10:35):
you really want to gamble, you could say six. You know,
you could take Devin h Chan, Derrick Henry, and Christian
Caffrey if you're willing to, you know, take that risk.
I guess you could all argue maybe you could take
those guys ahead of Barkley, But I don't know how
I feel about that.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah, it's a it's a it's an interesting point, Jody,
because you know you're talking about the three running backs.
It was two thousand and two Priest Holmes, that was
twenty ninety Adrian Peterson and twenty twenty Derrick Henry were
the three guys that got better the following year. If
you're living in the League of rushing, every other rushing leader
for the last twenty five years has gotten worse, he said,
an average thirty eight percent. And you can talk yourself

(11:13):
into it, like like right now, it's like, you know
sak who say one and Blacket, how do we not
take sake one of the top five. He's you take
him for this reason and that reason, good offense, good player,
this that and the third but if you go back
to every single player on that on in this list,
Adrian Peterson, Zeke Elliott, Maurice Jones, Drew, Arian Foster, Chris Johnson.
You can make the cases for all those guys every

(11:34):
year and why I have to take them in the
top five. But history shows you that these rushing leaders,
you know, twenty two out of twenty five seasons have
plummeted the following season. And it's because you could say, oh,
well this guy towards ACL well, yeah, well that can
lead from wear and tear of the year a year.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Before, you know.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
So it's it's are you kind of blindly just looking
at it and going, yeah, I'm passing on this guy
because you know, can we predicting you? No, But we
can look at data from the last twenty five years ago.
Twenty two out of those twenty five guys plummeted the
following year. And there's other options. No one's forcing you
to take it. Like you said, you could take a Gibs,
you could take a stud receiver. A lot of these

(12:14):
leagues FF TOWC. You've got to start three receivers. Receivers
are very valuable. Take a receiver this year the receivers
are loaded in the first round. So this article is
so good. You talk about, you know, what are the
contributing factors for success, health, winning, team, age, and skill set? Right,
so you kind of want to factor those things in.
Talk to me a little bit about like the age distribution,

(12:38):
you know what kind of ages that it falls in.
Where you're finding these kind of smash rushing seasons.

Speaker 4 (12:44):
Right, Well, you've only had two players in the last
twenty five years that were age twenty nine or older
that managed to even lead the league in rushing. So
you're talking about this is a young man's game, you know,
which makes sense. There's Zeke Elliott is the only player
that was below twenty two that was able to do so.
But overall, what sixty eight seventy percent of running backs

(13:09):
are in their prime are between age of twenty four
and twenty eight. That's what you're coming up with. So
when I'm looking at, you know, potential candidates to lead
the league in rushing this year, that that's the wheel.
How you're looking at guys that are in there that
have acclimated to the league a little bit now, of course,
you know it's not unusual to see the occasional rookie
come up. We had a what Edrin James mantually the

(13:33):
league as as a rookie.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
I think his first two seasons he le he led
the league in rushing.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
I think, yeah he did, and then then he had
that massive knee injury. But it's not unusual to see
a rookie lead the league and rushing. And you know,
Ashton Genty, if you're looking at if he's able to
carry over his success, he's a candidate that could do that.
But you know, I'm more looking at those players that
are in their prime years and you know, like I said,
that makes sense. But you know, Barkley, he's he's approaching

(14:00):
the you know, the ladder end of that. Not to mention,
you know, you said on Barkley that he's actually missed
multiple games, uh with injury, four out of a seven
year so I mean he only missed it one game
last year and he was healthy. You know, that was
a him making a team first decision to not go
for that NFL record. So again that I mean, that's
more credit to this what a great, great player he is.

(14:24):
But that's what I'm looking for. You know, in that article,
I identified a few targets that stood out as players that
could potentially lead the league in rushing that check those
boxes of you know, three down skill set, that are
in a offense preferably you know, a winning team, and
that are that are in that that are in that

(14:44):
age gap there, and you know Jami or Gibbs, be
Jon Robinson obviously a couple of guys that stand out
and check those boxes. But another one that kind of
stood out was I felt like he's a long shot
because he can't say healthy, Jonathan Taylor. That's another guy
that that you know, potential candidate there.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yeah, I know those are all good ones at go
on to the end of the article you talk about that,
So yeah, I really think, uh, those are some good
things to kind of look at, like, hey, how do
we how do we apply this and who are the
guys that kind.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
Of fill into those situations there. So yeah, really great article.
Everybody check that out.

Speaker 3 (15:22):
Just so just a little food for thought when you're
kind of looking through your guys or maybe using it
as tie breakers between two players like a Saquon and
a Bijon or a Saquon and a Gibbs or something
like that. So, but yeah, we want to talk a
little bit more about running backs today, kind of get
into your running back rankings maybe a little bit. So
I guess we'll just start with number one and then
I'll kind of go through it from there.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
Who do you got? You know, we're talking about Saquon,
I'm talking about Bijon Gibs. Who do you have? Jody?
Is your number one running back this year?

Speaker 4 (15:48):
Bijon Robinson. Uh, It's It's a pretty easy one on
one for me. Now. I regret that my Scott Fish
Bull draft is coming up Saturday and at the time,
I originally signed up for the eleventh spot and then
I moved to six, and I'll kind of regret it.
So as I've seen the way the things are playing out,
there's there's running backs. I wish I had a kind

(16:10):
of waited and you know, maybe take a stab of
something like a Christian McCaffrey trade McBride thing there at
the end of the first But that's not gonna happen
because generally in drafts, I like to be in the
middle because I don't like those long runs, in particular
in the format like Scott Fish Bull that's third round reversal.
But point being that Bjeon Robinson is easily my my

(16:31):
one on one and I'm not gonna get a chance
to get him there at six, which which I think
what I was getting at. I can't remember the numbers
right in front of me, but when I was researching,
you know, for the magazine and all that, I looked
back at when the Falcons gave the offense over to
Michael Pennix, there Bijeon went absolutely crazy. At the end

(16:51):
of the year. He had something like in the final
three games, he was averaged like something like one hundred
and fifty scrimmage yard and scored six touchdowns on the
final three game. And of course I don't necessarily expect
that to carry over, but he checks all the boxes
that I'm looking for. In particular, looking back during my
research for this article, you know, he's got the three
down skill set. He's on a roster that, you know,

(17:12):
argue arguably is a competitive team. It's a winnable division.
For for years, NFC South has been that one division
that seemed to have a until this recent run by
the Bucks. They had a new winner that seemed like
every year like whoever was in fourth would win it
the next year, and it was a cyclical thing for
a long time there. I feel like the Falcons can't
compete in that division, and I just like Robinson. He's trending.

(17:37):
You know, he's he's a third round breakout candidate. He's
you know, three down skill set, he's he's been healthy
both years in the league and a good offensive line,
and he checks all the boxes for me for a
guy that it could be the next candidate to regress
after leading the league and rushing next year.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, oh guy Rightbery looking at twenty twenty seven. But yeah, no, no,
you're right.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
I think he he like you said, age talent team.
Like you said, they're going to compete to win that
win that division depends on Penix, the whole, the whole offense.
But I think I think Bjon could definitely be be
the guy there. You know, you mentioned, you mentioned Gibbs, you.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
Mentioned we talked about Barkley a little bit. Do you
have a tier of running backs there, bijon number and
number one.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
I know some people have, you know, Barkley and Gibbs
a step below. Maybe Barkley in that tier and then
Gibbs a step below. Kind of where do you where
do you have those those guys rank Jody.

Speaker 4 (18:34):
I feel like I've got Bijon and Gibbs as my
elite top two. I mean, you can argue where you
want to take Jamar Chase. Guess it depends on your foram,
but that's my my two and only for the reasons
we've mentioned. I have Barkley like the top of the
next tier. Granted, you know, right like right now as
a hedge, Barkley is my running back three, which is

(18:56):
maybe one spot below where most people are are taking him.
But I would I would take Gibbs over Barcoley just
about everywhere. And in that second tier, you know, Derrick
Henry might be the safest bet in that tier because
after that, I have Christian McCaffrey and Devin h. Chan.

(19:16):
You know, both come with with their risk. Eight Chan
he's been a little dinged up, but overall, the biggest
concern for e Chan is what happens if two of
missus time. Because his UH once teams didn't have to
account for two of last year, a Chan was really
saddled in and UH his target his target production dipped

(19:37):
and people were able to shut down his run. You know,
if you knew that that two was going to start
every game. You know, you're talking like, you know, a
guy who's probably gonna lead to all running backs and
targets and all that. So you know, you could argue
that he could jump up to RB three. And you
remember last year I was I was off on a
Chan because I felt like he was being drafted at

(19:59):
his ceiling. Yes, and I didn't see a lot of
value in taking him. I mean, now, like I said,
he's you know, RB five, RB six range for me,
I feel like that's safe. I mean, he came through,
he stayed relatively healthy. I know he was a little
bit deemed up at times, but it was it was
the target load when he was in that offense. And

(20:19):
now you're talking about with Miami getting rid of John
hus Smith, who was there easily there his Miami's sheep,
you could argue was their their number two receiver last year.
With Waddle falling off like he did, a lot of
potential target opportunities for a Chan continue to just just
rack it up, so for sure. And then of course

(20:41):
Christian McCaffrey, uh you know, nothing enough said about him
obviously one oh one upside, but extremely extremely low uh
risk with I mean extremely extremely high risk with with
his worrisome injury history, and going back to to the article,

(21:02):
Now Christian McCaffrey is getting towards the top of that
aged here with a fairly checkered injury history and a
San Francisco team that you know, it looks like, you know,
the forty nine ers fell off last year. I think
they'll be more competitive this year. But you're talking about
like a team that really sold a lot of their
roster and it looks like it's going to be a

(21:23):
totally different team.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
So, yeah, it's interesting. A couple of points I want
to just talk about real quick. Yeah, Christian McCaffrey, not
much to say there, just is he gonna stay healthy?
I'm listen, I've been playing faces football my entire life.
I remember when handcuffing was like the thing to do.
Now it's now it's in vog like, oh, it's not
plus ev. You don't handcuff your own guy. You handcuff
somebody else's guy, and then if there's an injury to

(21:46):
their guy, then you've got two rb ones. Listen, if
you take Christian McCaffrey, you have you have to handcuff,
and we don't necessarily who knows who it's going to be.
We got Grendo, we got the rookie. They might add somebody,
so we'll kind of see on that. Gibbs, I do
want to press that. I get you talked about eighth Chan. Fine,
we haven't talked about Genti yet, but gibbs on't a
press senser.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
You have Gibbs your RB two.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
Are you not worried about Montgomery taking away valuable touches?
You don't worry about him not getting enough carries, enough
touches to be that RB one or RB two.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
I guess, oh see that's interesting. Now you've got a
new with them losing Ben Johnson Chicago, the new coordinator
might not necessarily follow the same playbook, and he might
look and realize, you know, when David Montgomery was sidelined
last year for what was that three games for whoever
it was, Gibbs was what was one hundred and seventy
five yards a game and scoring one point three touchdowns

(22:37):
a week, some you know, just crazy numbers. Morton might
be like, you know what, that seems to be the
way forward for us. So obviously, Jamior Gibbs, which you know,
for various reasons, is one of the players I listened
that is right up there with Bejean is being likely
to lead the league in rushing last year, and let's
not forget in PPR scoring. Gibbs was was the running

(22:59):
back one last year. So for him to repeat that
always going to do stay healthy, which you know again
he's done a great job of doing that. You had
twenty touchdowns last year. He's an absolute stud. And yeah,
I wouldn't argue with anyone that decided I'm gonna go
ahead and take Gibbs over Began at you one on one. Great.

(23:19):
You know, like I said, I have them both in
interchangeable as my tier. It's the drop off after those
two where you know a little bit more risk starts
coming in.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
Yeah, talk about Gent kind of have a little job off.
Maybe maybe the next tier down. I really like the
Raiders is that Chip Kelly there runs the fastest offense
in sports. Their defense isn't going to be very good.
They're going to be in some shootouts. I think they're
a sneaky offense overall. You know, we don't got to
talk about all offense, but I think Gent might have
an opportunity there to kind of press into maybe the

(23:50):
RB one overall.

Speaker 4 (23:53):
You know, it's funny talking to my son the other day,
this is his He really started kind of sat down.
I went me one Sunday, I think at the end
of twenty three, was like, hey, this is kind of fun.
This red zone, it's kind of crazy. He didn't really
understand at the time, like why I wouldn't just watch
the Texans game. I said, ain't nobody got time for that. Man.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
I got read some much.

Speaker 4 (24:12):
But for the sundays that he was off last year
he wasn't working. He really enjoyed. He got his first
fantasy football experience. He was in scott fish Ball with
us last year and I got him into a dynasty
league and so he's becoming really really excited about it.
And I told him the other day. He was watching

(24:32):
some YouTube videos and I said, don't discount the Raiders
as being a wild card contender this year. He goes
the Raiders and I said, look, I understand, man, but listen,
that division is, you know, it's not overwhelmingly talented and deep.
And the biggest addition sideration to the Raiders Chip Kelly,

(24:56):
Pete Carroll, and not to mention they have a legitimate quarterback.
There were times that the Raiders were, you know, offensively competent.
Last year. Jacobe Myers pretty good for fantasy perspective, brought
Bauers obviously record setting as a rookie, and you know,
they look good that they knocked off what was it
the Patriots earlier in the year, and I think they

(25:16):
were two and two or something like that. Competitive, But
the lack of quarterback play, well that's kind of solved
with Geno Smith. So overall, I think the Raiders can
be competent, and obviously last year they didn't have much
at running back either. Now you have the word generational
gets thrown around too much. I don't know that Ashton

(25:37):
Genty is generational. He looked great at Boise State. You
could argue what you want about Boise State's strength of
schedule and all that, but you know, Genty, he checks
a lot of boxes. Again he's listed in my article.
He checks the boxes of a player that could immediately

(25:59):
come into the league and compete for leading lea and rushing.
You don't have much on that roster. It's going to
take touches away from him either as a receiver as
a running back. There's still concerns with the O line.
You know, not that long ago the Raiders had a

(26:19):
pretty strong offensive line, but it's just slowly gotten worse
and worse. I know they made some some changes and
we'll see how, you know what Chip Kelly can get
together schematically to overcome that weakness. But I like Genty
just fine. He's in that for me. I dropped him
into my third tier running back, so he's RB seven.

(26:42):
I think Fantasy pros consensus has him as RB four.
It feels a little a little high for me because
at that point you're taking you're taking Genty over Derrick
Henry and maybe that's just here. It's still fairly early
in offseason, and a lot of times, Adam we see
this early in the off season, ADP is skewed because

(27:05):
of so much dynasty outlook, so much people are focusing
only on their dynasty startups and their their rookies and
all that. So you'll start to see things even out
a little bit. So for sure, I don't know. I
haven't had other than some fast draft great app by
the way. Uh, I've got some fast draft chairs of

(27:26):
Ashton Genty so far, but I haven't been able to
get him hardly anywhere else. And he's someone who, like
I said, mine Scott Fishball draft coming up Saturday. He's
on my short list of people I'm considering.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
I wish fast app is a great app. I wish
I could draft right now. But they're not in New York,
so they got they got pulled. Hopefully we get we
get them back.

Speaker 4 (27:48):
That's unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
But yeah, no, those those are all great points on Gentt.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
I'm hoping that the speed of the offense and the
overall play them out and there's no you know, I
love Jacobe Myers this year, but there's no alpha receivers out,
so a lot of times those running backs are able
to get a lot of that volume.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
Geno can keep the offense on the field.

Speaker 4 (28:06):
We'll see Myers. What's what's his latest? I'm looking at
how many years in a row? So looking at Fantasy
pros right now, Jacobe Myers ADP is forty. I don't
understand that because how many years in a row has
he been top top twenty five? Last year? Last year
he was wide receiver twenty four. And the Raiders should

(28:28):
be significantly better. They got a massive upgraded quarterback and uh,
there's still not a lot after him, and.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
Uh right, that's right. I mean what'scerned is I.

Speaker 4 (28:41):
Think somebody tweeted this the other day that there's never
been a one hundred catch wide receiver in a Pete
Carroll offense.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
Interesting. Interesting, but listen, I think he'll be We'll be fine.
Is it a peak? Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
They do like to run the ball for sure, which
again goes goes back to that gentt. Some of the
running backs I want to talk about kind of some
guys that have fallen maybe fallen out of grace from
last year, so maybe mid to late round targets. Breece
Hall was a guy that was being taken in the
top three, top four overall last year. Now you can
get him at the three four turn. And a lot

(29:15):
of these drafts, I know, I know, no Aaron Rodgers there.
You know, they they revamped everything, but I think drafting
an old alignment in the first round, you know, everyone
was worried. To me, I think what's happened with the
breeste idp is they were all concerned. Aaron Glenn comes in,
They're gonna end another running back and do what they
did in Detroit, and they didn't add out in another

(29:35):
running back, and.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
I think the ADP is just but has just stayed low.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
You're the projections guy, Jordan, You're the one that kind
of does all this stuff and kind of tries to
project carries and targets and all that. He can clearly
touch the ball, great, great receiver. I feel like he's
just type of guy you know you should be targeting
as a He's my like league winning pick in the
three four turn there that a guy that could finish
in the top three to five of running backs this seasons.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
I'm a little more skeptical you're looking at Bruce Hall
is looking at him earlier. His his yards per carry,
a lot of his metrics have declined each year he's
been in the league. The Jets offensive line is starting
to look more and more like a mess this week,
and it depends on coach speak. Aaron Glenn has repeatedly

(30:27):
said that they plan on using multiple backs now. The
officive offensive coordinator over there has told Bruce haw, hey,
you know you need to be prepared to be a
three down back and do everything, but again, justin fields,
justin fields. You know, he has a tendency to push
the ball to his tight ends. More than than your

(30:48):
average quarterback. He's not a guy that, you know, given
a choice justin fields, if he can dump a pass
off to his running back or he just take off running.
He generally tends to like to take off running. So Brisaw,
I think there's a lot of upside with him. But
I have him around like RB sixteen, which is around
what his ranking is, around his consensus. It's because, like

(31:15):
I said, what if the coach speak is right? What
if the Jets decide what if Aaron Glenn was like,
you know, this whole multi running back with David Montgomery
and Jamior Gibbs thing here that that Ben Johnson utilized
right here on the same sideline with me, Maybe that's
a maybe that's a good idea, And we like what
we have in in the ancillary backs there in New

(31:36):
York with Davis and who's the other Braylan Allen and
Isaiah Davis And let's not forget you know, last year,
I think Braylan Allen was a top forty, top forty
running back for the season. He had a little bit
of you know, a higher touchdown luck. Yeah, yeah, I
mean I think he scored like six touchdowns on fairly

(31:58):
limited touches. But I think there's risk with with with
Brice Hall. He's a guy that I think the fantasy
community was really excited about after some of the explosive
plays and big plays that he had, and it's you know,
early on in his career. But like I said, it's overall,
he's seems like he's fallen off a little bit and

(32:21):
he's somebody Adam like if there's I think in every
league there's a person like you who just still remembers
that still loves him and it's willing taking. So it
means that I probably am not going to roster him
too much see the upside. But like I said, there's
a it's a it's a it's a tricky situation because

(32:41):
if they if they decide to implement this street back
rotation or even a two back rotation, if just a
field stays healthy, uh, you know, it takes away not
only from targets, but it takes away from Russia's in
particular valuable red zone snaps.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
So yeah, I know, so I totally, I totally get it.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
I you know, Braylan Allen wasn't very good if you're
you know, the same metrics that they use for Berrie
Braylan Allen wasn't very good lesure. A lot of his
touchdowns too, were scored kind of on these gimmicky like
wishbone formation type carries, and I mean, we don't want
to have to get into the weeds there. I like
stacking him, honestly. I mean we're getting kind of macro
big game theory. I like stacking with fields as like

(33:21):
a poor man's like a poor man's I don't know,
Eagles right with Jalen Hurts and Saquon like, you'll you'll
get every pretty much every goal line carry will be
uh will be in your backfield between fields.

Speaker 4 (33:33):
And well if they if they both stay stay healthy,
that's a way of you know, getting yourself what rushing
yards twenty touchdowns maybe on the ground.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
So yeah, Brimushaw is a guy that I like taking,
especially if I start receiver receiver. I think he's a
guy kind of in a group of other running backs
there that you can take. And also you know they're
coming over from from Detroit. Well, David Mattgomery was a
great running back before he even got to Detroit. I think,
so I think you know they were able to do
that because Gibbs and Moncomer are both both awesome. A

(34:09):
lot of times you get these new coaches, they come
in and they like actually laid feast their eyes on
a guy like Breece s Allen or a guy that
Garrett was like, Oh, this guy's a stud.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
I think we're going to use him more than more
than I thought.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
But all right, guy that I've been lower on generally
than con said, I want to hear kind of what
your thoughts are. So James Cook running back for the Bills,
and I think last year, you know, he scored a
ton of touchdowns. I think it was like eighteen scores,
and a lot of them were from distance. He wasn't
getting goal line carries, he wasn't getting targets. I think

(34:40):
it's like his expected fantasy points was like twenty eighth
or something for running backs. Like he just he got
super super lucky, I guess is the word. And and
right now he's going again around like RB thirteen or fourteen.
Where do you have him, Jody, And to see a
guy that you're kind of looking to target.

Speaker 4 (34:56):
So, guy that's tumbling down my rankings, you kind of
hit the hit the nail there when you said the
goal line looks I was looking earlier. I believe he
ranked twenty first and running back carries inside the five. Now,
he did a good job punching those touchdowns in. But
you talk about regressing to the mean. The guy had

(35:18):
two rushing touchdowns his first two years, each two, two,
and then last year sixteen. It's like hold up a
set it You remember, remember Jamal Williams in Detroit back
in twenty twenty two just came out of nowhere, punched
in a bunch of touchdowns and then regrets. Now, I'm
not going to say James Cook it's going to do that,
but you're talking. I don't see any way that he

(35:41):
comes anywhere close to those touchdown numbers. Again, and keep
in mind, Josh Allen is going to call his own
number there on the majority of those inside the five carries.
So it's very touchdowns are one of the more erratic
things to predict when they're not coming near the stripe.
You're talking outside of four and five yards, it's very

(36:03):
hard to project touchdowns. And not to mention, a bigger
concern is potential contract and pass. He's out with a
team because they've got backs behind him that they like
just fine kind of makes you wonder. I believe he
set out what for OTAs, but I think the last
thing I read is maybe he's going to show up

(36:24):
here for camp. But still I have a hard time
thinking that the Bills are going to be willing to
brank the bank for a running back because I'm not
going to say that James cooks replacement. James Cook is replacement. Well,
he's better than that. But he's a guy that, after
finishing top ten in Fantasy production last year. I remember,

(36:45):
for roughly forty percent of his total Fantasy points came
from touchdowns. So if you're expecting a regression to mean
if let's just say, you know, he goes down to
I don't know what eight eight touchdowns, uh, then you're
talking about a in RB two, which is about where
I have him ranked. I think on the update that

(37:06):
I'm working on, which i'll publish this weekend. If you're
new to not knowing who I am because of you know,
the rankings thing at Fantasy Pros, I'm working right now
on a pretty massive rankings update which will be published
probably I don't know, this weekend or maybe Monday at
the latest. But James Cooks is down from you know,

(37:28):
the mid teens RB fourteen thirteen fifteen range. Now he's
you know, he's falling down a couple of spots.

Speaker 3 (37:35):
Yeah, I mean you you said it the best for
whatever forty something percent. Georgie had eighteen touchdowns last year
and he finished his RB eight like that that like
you think you score eighteen touchdowns, especially for the Buffalo
Bill's offense. At scored I think the most points in
football last season, you'd be at the number one running back,
number two, right, No, he was RB eight with eighteen scores.

(38:00):
So it's going to go down for sure, and he's
going to finish RB twenty. And so I faded him
heavily last year. And even that, like I fitted him heavily,
I didn't really have him anywhere.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
He finished with eighteen scores and he really didn't even
kill me because he was he was OURB eight.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
So it's like whatever, you can get other other good
players in the same same range. He's kind of going
in the same ranges as the Breis Halls and the
Elvin Kamaras of the world.

Speaker 4 (38:25):
Like I much rest, I'm taking Kamara, I'm taking Ken Walker. Uh,
you know, Chase Brown, all these guys and and and
that range over over over Breeze Hall first, but that's
cool if you want to go bries Saw, but definitely Overtook.

Speaker 3 (38:39):
Yeah for sure. What are some running backs? Kind of
as we kind of close it out here, maybe a
running back Jorvity that you're higher than consensus on on
your rankings, and maybe uh maybe one that you're low
ron I'll give you one on my why you kind
of look that up? I really like a guy that
I'm higher on just based on eightp and stuff is
Taj Spears. I think that don't know what's going to

(39:01):
happen in that in that backfield yet.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
And Taji Spears was incredible.

Speaker 3 (39:05):
It was top five down the stretch last year for
running backs in fantasy football, and I think we got
there's a there's a world where.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
You draft him and he's got some contingent.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
Value right there as maybe he's splitting carries with to
Tony Pollard and then if you get an injury to
Tony Powerd who has a history of it, now you've
got yourself a top twelve running back later on. I
think he's very talented. He might even be as talented
or more than Tony Poalitcher. He's a guy going around,
you know, RB forty ish range that I'd like taking

(39:37):
for sure.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
At his at his ad P and a guy I
have been looking to take. Who do you who you got, Jodie,
a guy that you think is undervalued.

Speaker 4 (39:43):
Yeah, it's funny with with Spears. Last year, my one
of my buddies. We're in a Dynasty League and he
wanted to make a run for the for the title.
So I had already been eliminated, and so he traded
for Jonathan Taylor. I told him, We'll just you know,
give me the give me the first and just you know,
you're gonna cut somebody from just give me ta j Spears.
And he did, and then you know, Spears ended up

(40:04):
basically outscoring Taylor during the playoffs, so he ended up
as a runner up. Some of the guys I'm hired
and consensus on. I just pulled it up here. DeAndre
Swift really interesting, very polarizing, I think because you have
experience with Ben Johnson. In twenty twenty two, the aforementioned

(40:27):
Jamal Williams season, when Williams ran for a thousand yards
and something like sixteen touchdowns, Swift wasn't used a lot
that year, but he was a little hurt. But if
you look at it his metrics that was the best,
Like as far as yards created and elusive all these kings,
that was his best showing in the league. And he
had a pretty healthy target share. Kind of assuming that

(40:52):
Ben Jonson sticks with his one two approach here in Chicago,
you're talking about a significantly improved offensive line. So Swift
as the you know one A and Roshawn Johnson is
the one B or both guys that I kind of
like a little bit. I feel like Swift's eighty piece
has risen a little bit. I'm not the only one there,

(41:12):
but you know, there's some people that just outright feel like, hey, listen,
DEANDREI Swist's been in the league, what five years? If
he was going to be special, we would know which
is true? You know, I I one hundred get that.
But I still feel like he's a you know, pretty
decent value. Looking at other guys, Uh, Trayvon Henderson good
past catching ability, Uh, I don't see. I think the

(41:35):
Patriots are wanting to really regret that contract that gave
Ramonde Strivens and uh should have another offensive line that
should be better, that sporting cast should be better. I'm
starting to, uh, starting to come up on Henderson a
little bit. I'm looking at my my thing here. Uh.
I'm not a hugely popular I mean higher than him

(41:59):
on a consensus, but kN Walker kN Walker, like I said,
he's right outside RB one territory. For me, it was
electric in that in that scheme last year when given
an opportunity, I know a lot of people like to.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
Go with.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
What's their number two, Zach Charbone. But you got to
understand when when kN Walker was healthy last year, Zach
Scharbonay average four carries a game. The vast majority obviously
of Zach Charbonay's usage was because he was basically a
workhouse workhorse three down back. When Walker was healthy, Walker

(42:38):
huge huge role in the passing game last year in Seattle.
And I believe when he's healthy, he's going to be
right up there fringe RB one type of producer. And
you just Adam, you just talked about handcoff backs. It'll
be hard I think to handcaff those two because, like

(42:58):
I said, I'm actually lower and consensus on Zach Sharpenay
just because I feel like this is ken Walker's backfield now.
Of course, plenty of injury risk with him, but I
feel like it, you know, it's his backfield.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
And yes, speaking of Ken Walker, I think they go
to that wide zone scheme there now, and I think
works great for his style. So I think I think
it's gonna be really good for him. I've actually I've
never bet at Kenneth Walker guy, but I am this year.

Speaker 4 (43:26):
Looking here, let me get another one. I don't have
any advanced dad or stats off Tom had. Why are
we still little on Kareem Hunt? I mean, given the
opportunity last year, I know Pacheco was working his way
back from a pretty major injury, but it seemed like
they just trusted Kareem Hunt more down the stretch, in
particular in short yardage. They quickly re signed him in
an off season. Seems like everyone's forgotten. You know, Kareem Hunt.

(43:51):
He's down, you know, around RB fifty nine, RB sixty
looking at ECR and you know, at one point I
had him, you know, right behind Pacheco. I don't know,
you know what what Andy Reid's thinking in that backfield obviously,
and we know Pacheco has significantly more upside. But I mean,
looking at the usage down the stretch and in the playoffs,

(44:12):
it just feels like they trusted Kareem Hunt more so.
To me, he seems like he's a really solid value
that late.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
Yeah, that's that's a good point. It's one of those like.

Speaker 3 (44:23):
Points with the Titans, like just hey, you don't really
know yet, so just take the cheat the cheaper guy,
and and see if it ends up playing out. You
can get Kareem Mount for almost almost free essentially those
I do think the Chiefs like Pacheco better. I think
because of the end he was coming off the injury.
I don't think he was he was fully back yet obviously,
but I think I think time will tell during this
during this offseason here, I think I have like James

(44:46):
Cook is the guy that I think is way over valued,
but a couple other kind of in this same vibe.
I also think, again I don't have the advanced at
it for this either, but Bucky Irving, I feel like
I feel like every.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
Year there's a there's there's a Bucky Irving.

Speaker 3 (44:58):
There's a guy that's like come out of nowhere, has
a great like second half to a season, and they
starts getting drafted in the second round. I wouldn't hate
Bucky Irving he was going in like the fourth, but
like second round value or second round you know, cost
plus you know, a new offensive coordinator, Like I just
feel like, and there's still some decent talent there Sean.

(45:19):
I think Tucker's good. I think Rashan White's decent enough.
I think there's enough talent there where. I also think
the Buccaneers offense as a whole, it's gonna regress a
little bit. So I don't know, but Bucks Irring going
at the two three turn, I think to me is
just super expensive. But a couple a couple of guys
that I that I do like. They're all in the
same in the same range, and they're all kind of

(45:43):
low for the same reason. You know, I really like
the the Joe Mixon, James Connor, Alvin Kamara kind of
range of guys because I get it they're all low
because they're old and they're old news and it's not sexy.
But you know, handcuff these guys, man. I mean again,
we don't really necessarily their handcuffs aren't incredible, but like
we will know, you know, Kendra Miller will kind of

(46:05):
know who they are by August when we're really drafting, drafting,
and if you go take like a Joe Mixon, like
maybe it's Nick Chobb, Like, go get these guys. If
they don't fall off a cliff, if they don't get
hurt or completely fall off, which they might, they're hitting
that age cliff.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
They're massive value. I mean, Joe mentioned a top.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
Ten running back every single year and every year less collusion,
you can draft it is like RB twenty.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
So again you can go get these guys.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
Kamaraw it's like a top he was like a top
three running back five running back consistently and he catches ten.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
Balls a game.

Speaker 3 (46:34):
Like again, another guy that you can get him as
RB in the twentiest range, and if he's not hurt,
he's going to be a top five to seven running back.
So if you're worried about injuries, go and go and
draft their handcoff. If you're worried about the offenses, well
that price is already baked in on where you're drafting them.
So I really like that range of kind of older
running backs.

Speaker 4 (46:55):
Yeah, James Connor being of value rinse and repeat, yeah
every year.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, And he's got a good handcuff like
Condor right love, because if Connor is going going to play,
if Connor does get hurt what she used to all
the time, Benson will be fine. Like I think people again,
they don't like to handcuff. But if you go get
Connor and the let's say the sixth and Benson in
the tenth or eleventh, you're locked into an RB one
I think all season, you know, depending.

Speaker 4 (47:20):
On I won't take my shots on on the James Connor,
but Terry Brinson. I wasn't impressed with what I saw
last year, so maybe he just wasn't healthy. We'll see.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
Yeah, yeah you can easily.

Speaker 4 (47:31):
It's it's not easy to I mean, he's easy to acquire.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
Yeah, exactly exactly. The opportunity costs is low. But all right,
my friend, Hey, it was great talking running backs with
you today.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Again.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
Congratulations on the top two ranking there, Fantasy pros. Everybody
go pick up your fantasy magazine. Get it for the
for the kids. I bought a couple of copies. They're
loving reading the articles.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
Hey.

Speaker 3 (47:53):
Also some great articles in here, some your rankings in there,
some some really good expert mock drafts in there for
everyone to check out and we'll get together. I got
a show coming Friday, Friday night, doing a live draft here,
the Red Versus Blue two, So check that out.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
That'll be Friday night.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
I'll be drafting in that and then Jody, you and
I will get back on together next week.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
We'll talk receivers. How's that sound?

Speaker 4 (48:15):
Sounds good?

Speaker 2 (48:15):
Buddy beautiful?

Speaker 3 (48:16):
All right, guys, thank the thanks for tuning in again.
We recorded this early on Wednesday. We'll get it out
to you this this evening and we'll see you guys
night next week