Early RB Rankings: Top 10 Countdown + Player Debates, One More Ride - Fantasy Football Podcast for 4/13

It's countdown time. We are countdown from number 10 to number one at the running back position as it currently stands for 2023. A lot of great debate, a lot of good discussion. Leave a comment. Let us know what running back you're after than this year's draft and enjoy the show. Hey, this is Austin Eccler and you're listening to the fantasy footballers podcast. To the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Thursday, April 13th. Welcome into the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway. Oh, Holloway. Ain't no Holloway. What? Were you trying to go Gwen Stefani? Yeah, I think he's trying to go. I thought you were doing the Hollywood. Was that a Holloway? Hollow Back? Yeah, it was more of a holo back. Holloway back. Okay, good start, everybody.

Well, Jason was out sick yesterday. We didn't record this show early. This is a record release early morning. As we call it in the biz. Thursday. Mike was at jury duty. I don't know if we're allowed to talk about it or not. There's probably rules. Are there? I don't think there's rules to say you've been summoned to jury duty. Yes. Okay. I'm not going to get into the details. Yes. I'm just saying like. Mike convicted a man of murder. But I will get into it. To make sure that I've not selected. Right. I mean, break the rules to not be. I only brought it up because I was going to ask Jason to his face whether he thinks he would be a good juror in the event that he was selected for, you know, significant crime. I think I would be a very good juror and I think I will never be one. Yeah? Yeah. Because to my knowledge,

I have never received a summons in the mail. To your knowledge. Yeah. Nice. That's, I've, I've never seen one. I think it should be directly related to, like, instead of finding you from making mistakes on your taxes, it should all be paid out in. Oh, I love it. In jury duty. Okay. So, like, you get the audit, like, sir, this is fraudulent. You have two years. Jury duty. Two years. Yeah. Or I just feel like all these government systems should be intertwined. Like maybe also your stamps costs more. Oh, okay. Yeah. For that letter you send once a year. Yeah, I'm going to garnish your stamps. Yeah. I thought maybe you would be you'd be a good. I thought we talked about this on the footcast a little bit and this would be me and Kyle because yesterday you guys were gone. But.

I said I thought you'd be a very fair and good juror, but there was a chance that if the courthouse was serving some delicacies with their lunches, you may extend the trial. Oh, for sure. I need a little bit more time to think about this over donuts. They just served donuts to the jury. That's it. Yeah. We've got a top 10 running back countdown on today's show. We just covered 20 through 11 on Tuesday's episode. So these are early running back rankings, counting them down. Kind of an early overview of these players, the lay of the land. I looked over, you know, we each kind of ranked our guys and then averaged them. You guys screwed some stuff up. Pretty usual. We'll have to talk about that. But what else do we got going on? The Dynasty podcast, second episode came out yesterday. It's hot. Wide receiver episode. Check that out.

The community is over at jointhefoot.com. You get a bonus episode of the show, some premium perks, and of course the ultimate draft kit is available for pre-order. The dynasty pass is part of it. Ultimate draft kit.com. Quick question of the day ties into the dynasty leagues you're in. For brand new leagues, when is the best time to have a dynasty startup draft? All of the time. Um, there's, there is, it's not all the time. If it's the best, it can't be all the time. The best is a long period of time though. The best is anywhere from May through August. I don't know that there is a reason why May would be better than August or vice versa.

Just post NFL draft. Post free agency and NFL draft. You don't want that. If you do it before that, it's a lot of fun and dynasty allows for it, right? You can do it any time you want. But if a startup is like such an important event, the core of the league will be that way for the next six years based on that draft. And when you make mistakes that are not your fault because. You just didn't know. Every year there's just crazy. This guy got cut or some insane draft pick got taken that you never could have seen coming. And then all of a sudden, major foundational pieces of one or two or three people's rosters are screwed up. And it was just, you know, avoidable. So I would not do it before the draft. That's my vote.

Yep, I'll do it after the NFL draft, specifically because what Jason was saying of the new players, you need to give them a chance to learn the game. And if you're a seasoned player, do it whenever. Like, you know what you're getting yourself into, but generally after the draft. All right, let's dive into the news. News and notes from around the league. All right. We're getting a report that Saquan will not sign the Giants franchise tag yet. There's multiple players that will not. That's the way you got to do it. You missed the offseason program. I don't think he missed it. Fair enough. The Giants don't have much of an interest on signing him long term, according to a report on Fox Sports. They pulled back the offer that he had been given earlier, which makes sense because you look at the running back marketplace, and it's like, yeah, no one's given.

that kind of contract. So they give him the franchise and then he'll be one and done in New York. The quickest way to get someone to not sign their franchise is have it be leaked in the media that they have no interest in signing you long term. Yeah, I think you could just rent Sacoan for a year or two more, right? And then move on. If he dominates, he would get. He'll get a contract. Like Sakewon Barkley, I do believe the highest probability is he gets a contract after this. it probably won't be what he's looking for and it won't be with the Giants. And then we have a report that it doesn't look like Aaron Rogers will get traded before the draft. What a mess. It's, I mean, to me it's just kind of like not even worth much of a discussion at this point. It's like it's going to happen. We had a question on the footcast, what percentage chance do you think Aaron Rogers plays for the Packers this year? To me, it's 0%.

Sure. Like I don't think that there's any, I don't think there's any chance he goes back there. Right. So this thing's going to get done. Yeah, we assume so. I think from the outside looking in and, you know, mixing in some of the rumors, it's just, it has to do with the Jets' first round pick. The Packers seems like they still want it. The Jets are saying you're not going to get it and you're going to trade us here in Rogers anyway. So we're going to go through the draft. We're going to use that pick. And then you'll have, you'll still have to trade him to us, but that pick will no longer exist. Any other news we need to cover? How's Deucer's Alley? How are things over there? Pretty smelly. Okay. I mean, I guess that makes sense. I like that Brooks leans into it now. How many King Griffey Jr. T-shirts do you own, Kyle? I mean, is it the whole closet full? It's six, six of them. Do you have six Ken Griffey shirts?

Honestly, I think that number was low. If I had been betting on draft kings, I would have taken the over. I feel like it's almost a permanent Ken Griffey Jr. celebration. Have you reached out to Guinness to declare your world record of owning the most Cangriffy shirts? The beer company? I thought the same thing. But no, there's some people that are way out there for King Griffey Jr. Like their whole basement. Even now? Decorated in King, yeah. What? He's still getting paid quite a bit. Yeah, he's still getting paid this year from the Reds. I like this deferred contract thing. Bobby Benia is still getting paid too, right? Correct. Baseball! Jason, you got anything else? No, I'm leaving. Let's get into the rankings. Running bags. Well, let's get into it. We're starting at number 10 today. Counting it down. Dalvin Cook comes in at number 10. Individual rankings as of right now. Mike, you have him a couple spots higher than us.

Honestly, evaluating players in this category is very difficult for me. Dalvin Cook, I think, is still a very good player. If you look at the most explosive plays on the field from last season, think about that Bill's game, the breakaway run towards the end of it. Like, he is still very capable of explosive plays, finished at 10 last year, right around where we have him ranked. So, You know, there are question marks about his future in Minnesota, but as of today, I suppose we're all presuming he'll be their starter. Yep, this is essentially, I'm in until I'm out. And that seems a little bit wishy-washy, but it's, if Dalvin Cook remains on the Minnesota Vikings, I will be very, very in on Dalvin Cook. Should he be traded to another team, then you have to fully reevaluate the situation. But.

As of right now, this is the information we have. Just no speculation out there in the Twitter sphere is talking about Dalvin Cook moving on. But he still has it. He's just unfortunately, you know, like when it comes down to the economics of football, probably not worth the contract with the production that he brings for the Minnesota Vikings currently, which is why the rumors are abound. 13 touchdowns in 2019, 16 and 2020. down to eight in 2021. I think we all saw that year as a bit of a, you know, probably low for what you would have expected and then back up to eight last year. Six, six in 2021. What did I say? You said eight. No, that's not what I meant. So if you go down to eight and then back up to eight, that doesn't make sense. No, no, six and then eight last year. It was still a good year. I think the days of obviously domination are over for Dalvin Cook.

This is Justin Jefferson's team for a long time with Mike Zimmer. It was Delvin Cook's team. Number nine is Najee Harris. Okay. We have a decent range of outcomes here between the three of us. Comes in at nine, 25 years old, finishes the RB 14 last year, which feels like an accomplishment considering how it started. And Mike, you've got him down at 13. Jason at 7. I have him at 10 right in the middle. There are very few head coaches in the NFL, like Mike Tomlin, actually want a three down, always on the field running back. That's why I have him at 10. I don't think he is a, you know, I don't think he's a top 10 running back talent in the NFL, but I do think he is a top 10 fantasy player at the running back position. I have him the highest and I'm a believer in Najee's talent. I'm a believer in his situation. I think that the.

Steelers offense will be better in year two with Kenny Pickett than it was last year. You saw that towards the end of the season as well. And if you remember last season, he had the injury. It was his foot, right? Yeah, his foot preseason. Preseason, like training camp. There were videos, you know, of him like sneaking off climbing this little hill and then getting on a cart so people couldn't see, even though we all saw Najee. And you drove away, played through that. And it was obviously. hampering him or it appeared to be hampering him. He didn't look good. He was playing with essentially like a piece of metal or so in his shoe to help stabilize the injury. And then you can see it just sounded like it was something he could have taken out of the shoe. Like a pebble in the shoe, but he's just like, I'm leaving him in there. Like get it out. Well, he did. And then he went back to fantasy when he was just, I wasn't.

Greatness is too high of praise, but in the second half of the season, he was back to what you expected from Najee Harris. Yeah, the second half of the season, he averaged 14.2 half PPR fantasy points per game. That's fantastic. He was on pace for over 300 carries, and even though the targets and the receiving work weren't quite there enough, he would have been on pace for about 50 targets and 30 receptions. This is the area that I think Pickett is going to improve upon. And going into next year, healthy with a better offense, Najee to me is as high a floor as exists out there. And right now in best ball startups, he's a fourth round pick. And if you're telling me I can get a guy who's going to touch the ball 300 to 350 times in the fourth round, I'm all about that. I mean, he was the running back four, a season before last year.

this past season in the second half when he looked good. I'll look up what his rank would have been during that time. But it seems like he was back to his usual rookie self. The only thing I'll say is that Jalen Warren is a good player. The team made commitments to him over the back half of the year, especially the last four weeks. It's a little unusual to have another running back in Pittsburgh getting 40 plus percent of the snaps, which is what Jalen Warren was kind of dialed in at. There was some rumors midseason that there could be a...

formal change at running back. Naji kind of alleviated those and then Warren got hurt as well. I wonder what's your guys' long-term outlook for Noggi? Because you have like availability in the NFL is an ability, you know, per the coaches, and he has played every single game. I look at him like David. Or appeared in every single game, but sub four yards per attempt both seasons now. I look at him like David Montgomery. Same type of kind of talent base. reliable runner, not going to have breakaway runs, but it's going to get into the end zone. But do you feel like the Steelers will, at this point, I mean, we're projecting, but do you feel like the Steelers are going to ride out his whole contract, or do you feel like another year of this where he is durable, but the performance on the field isn't exactly what you would hope for? I mean, you're not getting huge.

You're not getting a ton of chunk plays from Najee Harris. You're getting inefficient work. He's good at catching the ball. But do you just keep going to that over and over and over when you have someone like Jalen Warren who, when he's on the field, is absolutely electric? It will depend on how much offense they need to generate and how well the quarterback's playing. They're not better than Cincinnati. I don't think they'll be better than Baltimore with Lamar. I think Cleveland's going to be very good. and success determines transition. So do I think that there's a potential risk? I mean, you had conversations in the middle of last year about a transition of running back. But overall, I think they'll probably stick with Naji Harris because I think he's their best running back. Yeah, ironically, when Jalen Warren started getting more involved towards the end of the year, 40%, 34, 40, 42% of snaps, that was...

at the same time that Najee was actually doing very well for fantasy purposes. I looked that up the last nine games of the season, the second half of the season. Najee was the running back five. So if you just take out, you know, obviously he sucked the first half of last year. If that was the injury, if that was the metal plate, if that, you know, which coincides with when he was stinking. I view him as a value. That's my outlook. He's just too well-rounded. I love the David Montgomery comp. Not sexy, not the number one running back out there, but really, really solid, super involved in the team. And obviously, the Steelers are a better offense than what we've seen from the bears over the most of David Montgomery's career. Yeah, if this team has to reset at quarterback, we're not going to be happy with any of the offensive producers. George Pickens.

anybody like that. If they make a step forward, we'll see a light at the end of the tunnel. At eight, Derek Henry, the Yeti at eight. Mike, you've got them the highest, Jason the lowest. I'm right in the middle again. Best ball, ADP right now is the RB9 for Derek Henry, who is now 29 years old. And yet, I think we all know what Derek Henry's capable of. 1,500 yards, 13 rushing touchdowns, 400 through the air, been a top four fantasy running back in three or four seasons. 33 receptions this year. Yeah, this past year. Yeah, this past year, which... That's delightful. Yeah, they didn't really have any of those other guys to catch the ball. What do they call them? Wide receivers, is it? That's fair. There's a lot of age and wear and tear. Derek Henry at 8 feels a little bit like... Like you guys are wrong?

Well, yeah, like Nick Chubb's situation last year where he went around eight, and yet everyone was like, why didn't I take Nick Chish? Like the first half of last year was a bunch of people saying, why didn't I just take the guy and I was really good at playing football? Yep. I am guessing this ADP is age plus situation, right? The Tennessee Titans, could they trade up for a brand new quarterback? Could... Could they end up in the doldrums of nobody at quarterback for a while? There are just questions right now, and they fired their offensive coordinator because they weren't happy with what happened. So Derek Henry's range of outcomes. Does he still have top three potential? Yeah. I mean, he's still got top three potential. It feels silly where, you know, I've got him at 10 right now. I happen to have quite a few shares in best ball because when he drops to that running back nine, I'm like, man, Derek Henry's.

output, his top in potential, if you want to win a league, if you want to finish in first place, Derek Henry has been over the last two, three years, just about the best running back for fantasy. Obviously, he got injured during the playoffs a couple of years ago, but he's just been so good. And the question is, is it over? Because the issue when you draft Derek Henry is very boom bust. I don't see a world where he is ever the running back 20. on a per game basis where he's just an RB2. He's going to be a dominant top six running back for fantasy until it is over. And when you draft him, whichever year it is, and you're holding the bag where it's like, oh, he aged out, the wear and tear caught up. It happens with all of these guys. That's a huge bag, by the way. That is a big, that's a 250 pound bag.

You got that over your shoulder. You go nowhere. You know, so it's just a matter of gut check at your draft where you're saying, I believe he is this monstrous outlier of a man who will keep going at, you know, at an older age because he's always just continued to do that. He's 29. You know, and right now if I had to bet, is he going to be good this year? I would bet that he would be good this year. So I guess I'm in despite where I have him ranked. That's where I am. I will go one more season with confidence if we have what I would expect, which is another dominant year. Again, finished as the running back four in just 16 games. He finished as the running back 16, appearing in eight games. He played less than half of the season, and he was a top 16 fantasy running back. I think there will be enough.

left for this year. Next year, I mean, we can have those conversations, but I'm going to push the chips in for one more round, one more ride here, like much like the Indiana Jones here. We got the last one coming out. We're hoping it's good so that we can close on a bang. That's how I look at Derek Henry's season. Yeah, I mean, I hope he has more athleticism than Harrison Ford at this stage of his career. I would. Yeah. I'd bet on it. All right. This is where it gets interesting because I want to debate specifically the next two players against each other right after this. So at seven, we have Josh Jacobs defending rushing leader. And at six, we have the promising rookie of last year going into a second year. Kenneth Walker, the third for Seattle. This is where I want to have an interesting discussion because Josh Jacobs last year, we know the resume at 340.

for almost, what, six, we went for over 1,600 yards, 12 rushing touchdowns, more impressively caught 53 passes, finished at RB3, and then Kenneth Walker, we all see the juice, we see the potential for Kenneth Walker, finished at RB16. I have Josh Jacobs at 4. I have them ahead of Kenneth Walker. Both of you have put Kenneth Walker. Actually, no, Mike, you have them back to back. Okay, so I'm not alone here. I want to kind of understand maybe the argument and path for Kenneth Walker over Josh Jacobs because the Raiders brought Jacobs back. He's going to get paid over $10 million this year. Coaching staff is the same. Obviously a new quarterback. But to me, your eyeballs told you about Josh Jacobs last year. And we were all, a lot of people were wrong about Josh Jacobs going into the season. I think the Raiders were wrong. Yes, they were. I think the Raiders thought it wouldn't be.

a season like Josh Jacobs had. And then all of a sudden he was their entire offense. And, you know, he had 404 opportunities as a running back. And so I kind of want to understand because of his past catching ability versus what we saw to Kenneth Walker. Like I think we'd all bet on Jacobs having more receptions. Yes. I guess I don't understand the case for Walker above him, despite how fun it is to watch Kenneth Walker play. Because I think Jacobs catches more passes. I think he has more total opportunities on the year. We have a little bit of a history of Seattle mixing it up at running back. So Jason, talk to us about why you like Walker significantly more. You haven't met four. Jacobs down at eight. Yeah. So Jacobs had just an unbelievable season. And I firmly, and I don't think this is even a take, think that last year will be the best.

career year of Josh Jacobs. He'll never be as good. He was 4.9 a carry, had 340 carry, 16153 yards, just an outlandish season. You look at the previous two years, you know, this was his fourth year in the league. And his previous two years, sub four, a carry on average, wasn't really that... crazy performance we saw last year. Now, I don't think Josh Jacobs has lost the step. I do think he will catch the ball more than Kenneth Walker, but I like the youth of Kenneth Walker, the fact that we saw him once and in his first showing as a rookie, keep in mind the first month of the season, he wasn't really...

involved that much. He wasn't the dude. That was still, you know, Rashad Penny was dominating. And if you look at once he took over, he was a 300 carry 1,400-yard pace player in his rookie season. So I like the youth and the arrow kind of pointing up versus the question mark of was this last season from Jacobs more of an outlier? Obviously, in the draft, I think both of these teams could add a running back to make it a little bit murkier, and my rankings could change after that. But if we were to go with depth charts kind of as they are right now, I see the Seattle Seahawks offense being better than the Raiders without Derek Carr, you know, and without Darren Waller. So scoring opportunities might be a little bit higher. They're very close. I'm not...

in love with Walker and against Josh Jacobs by any means. But if I was staring them down, you know, at the same pick, I would lean Walker. Now, I think I need to turn it to Brooksie because, Brooks, you never wavered on Josh Jacobs coming into the season. Kind of had a breakout career year, obviously, at 25 years old. Is it going to stay the same for Josh Jacobs? Are you as bullish this year as you were last year? Definitely. I mean, it sucks. His draft cost is going to go way higher, but I think he can put up similar numbers. I guess, yeah, I think so. Yeah, I'm actually surprised at where he is in best ball leagues right now. He's back behind Brees Hall, Nick Chubb, Kenneth Walker, Bejohn. I think a lot of people taking that view of like, look, it's always hard to believe that a player, there's two options for Josh Jacobs. It was an anomaly year.

And he goes back down or it's a new standard. We had these same conversations about Derek Henry, right? First three years in the league. Then he has a breakout year. And then we're all going, is this the new normal or is this not? And that's what's going to. make or break Josh Jacobs for this year. I would say the difference. But I'm trusting the eyeballs of saying that is a different football player than we saw the years before. Derek Henry was sitting behind DeMarco Murray before he got his opportunity. Josh Jacobs had his opportunity immediately. And I think that it's part of where we are right now with Josh Jacobs is the entirety of the story that you have to go back. Remember, Josh Jacobs was a first round pick,