Top 10 RB Rankings + Austin Ekeler Joins the Show! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/9

I know he's the Yeti, but eventually human beings just your body. Even Yetis. Even Yetis, you know, mythological creatures. Right. Even they start to break down and seeing these running backs get that level of work of just over and over and over. And not just like, you know, catching a bunch of passes where he can take glancing blows. It's just so much punishment on his body. Should probably draft him. I'm, look, I, and I get it. I am, I'm blocked in with Jason that, yes, I've, you should probably be drafting Derek Henry. I admittedly am a coward when it comes to Derek Henry, but when I'm in that, that ADP slot of, well, here we go, I'm lined up to get Henry. I go, eh, I'll take, uh, Justin Jefferson or Cooper Cup or Jamar Chase. And I, I just move on.

What about the other running backs? You know, I brought up Dalvin Cook. Dalvin Cook, you know, one of the problems with Derek Henry is that he doesn't catch the ball. I have Dalvin Ranked higher as much. And so, you know, whereas Dalvin Cook catches the ball, Austin Echler obviously catches the ball a lot more. But are you taking those running backs over Derek Henry because of the age and foot? I mean, just in your draft, are you drafting Derek Henry over those other two guys? What were the two? Austin Hickler and Dalvin Cook. It's really difficult. It's difficult because you look at the situation and you say I have the potential to have the number one overall running back. Yeah. Like that's part of the equation for Derek Henry. Like I don't think Echler can be the number one overall running back. That's fair. I don't know if Dalvin Cook can be the number one overall running back. And so if that's something that like you're shooting for the moon there, like Derek Henry, part of what I'm thinking about with him is will the Titans continue to be competitive without A.J. Brown.

Now, their win totals at nine and a half. So that says yes, they'll be competitive. Can they execute this offense? Do you have trust in the coaching staff? Yes, they've always been successful. So then the question is when he's on the field, is he great? Well, all those other pieces say yes. So if I'm playing the injury game, I don't think it's much of a different gamble than Christian McCaffrey. I don't think it's any different in terms of just saying when he plays, he's probably going to be a top three running back. So I like giving my opponent that stick of dynamite, throwing it in their lap and saying you sit there and they're worried that it's going to blow up on them because Derek Henry just wins you a week. Yeah, he does. The difference to me with McCaffrey and Derek Henry, there are the injuries. I've been hearing that McCaffrey is doing some very different things to get his body ready, some different training, you know.

And we've heard those things before about different players, you know, but like a big man with a foot problem terrifies me. And because once your feet start to break down and you're just, you're too large for your feet, you don't recover. Too large for your feet. No, I mean, it's not going to last forever. And eventually you'll enter an end of career Marshawn type of analysis where Marshawn wasn't going. Top five, top ten, but he was still contributing. Right. Like, I think Henry will contribute. But, yeah, I mean, elite play, what he was doing, 16 touchdowns, 17 touchdowns. Last year was on pace for 20 touchdowns. So, you don't want to be too large for your feet, as Mike said. Mike, the fantasy doctor. If you're scared, go to church. If you're not, draft Derek Henry. I mean, I don't even know what our summation for that analysis really was.

The summation is that Derek Henry is awesome and was the best running back in football. If you are not afraid of his age and specific foot injury, then you should draft him. If you are scared of it, then go to church, I believe it was our analysis. The one thing I will add is that he was, you know, he was getting targeted last year. He was on pace for 40 receptions or something. Yeah, about that. So. Given the fact that AJ Brown is gone. Yep. And vacated targets often go to the running back. You could see Derek Henry used still a little bit more in the passing game, never to be a full pass catching back. But that would be nice for, you know, having him be a little bit more game script proof. Dalvin Cook is 27 years old. Comes in at number five on our consensus running back rankings. Mike and Jason, four and five. I have him at seven. I don't even know if I realized that.

That would probably mean I have Alvin Camara a spot ahead of Dalvin Cook, which shocks me. But the stats do what the stats do. Dalvin Cook, maybe it's a little bitterness. Maybe it's because I needed like six points from him to win a championship in the final game of the year. And he couldn't give me six because what did I have? Kellen Monde? Yeah. Kellen Monde. Yeah. I was shaken, not stirred. Despite playing in only 13 games, fifth most carries for Dalvin Cook. Second most 15-yard runs. He came back. He wore the device. He went absolutely insane on Pittsburgh. That was a delight, but scoring two points in Week 17, not a delight. Over the last three years, despite missing two games, two games, four games, only Zeke has had more opportunities. So here's kind of what you can bank on, which is ironic with the whole conversation on McCaffrey and Henry. Look, Dalvin's going to miss games. He's going to miss a game or two.

He just, something happens. And he goes down in a heap. And normally the injury is not as bad as you think it is. But then he misses a game or two. Like he is one of those players where, I don't know, if you want to take Madison with the last pick of your draft, or the second to last pick, at least you know you will have a starter for the two, three, four games he misses. Yeah, I mean, the thing with Delvin Cook is that he always gets a little bit banged up and misses a couple games. But. He plays the majority of them, and that's pretty much what you can bank on for most running backs. His talent is exceptional. I think the offense of the Minnesota Vikings is one that I've tried to get a lot of pieces of. I think Krisha Kirk is going to be better. I think Dr. Krisha Kirk is going to be better. The passing game, I think Dalvin Cook will be more involved in the passing game. He is still a stud running back. We forget.

solely because of touchdowns. Dalvin Cook was the second running back drafted last year. It was like, oh, Christian McCaffrey and then Dalvin Cook because he's been great forever. He's been a top five running back so many times. And here you have him as a guy that, I mean, he just had six touchdowns last year. If you look at his touchdown rate, you know, over the last couple of years, you're talking about a huge swing where he averaged a rushing touchdown every 19.4 carries. the two seasons prior, and then last year he averaged a touchdown every 41 and a half carries. So positive regression for a player that we already know can score touchdowns in a good offense. I really liked that. It was madness with carries inside the five for Dalvin. He had 15 carries inside the five. Very solid number. Three touchdowns. So compare that to Ackler, who had 16 carries inside the five, and that was nine touchdowns. Damien Harris.

15 carries just like Dalvin, eight touchdowns. Like that's more of the range that you should expect. And they just, just some, some bad touchdown look there for Dalvin Cook. So I think he bounces back and is an elite running back again. Yeah, he's a tier lower for me due to the fact he will guaranteed miss games. Because it's five consecutive years that he's missed significant work. And it's, it feels a little different with Dalvin because it's pretty consistent. Kevin O'Connell coming in, I like that. Kirk Cousins has the occasional off game, which hurts the entire offense. But there's a lot to look forward to. You're getting a potential top five running back in Dalvin Cook. And that's where he's being drafted at number five. Alvin Camara. Super. Do I have the drop? Of course. Camario. Maybe my cohorts in the back have the drop. All right. Thank you. Alvin Camara. Is he still super?

finishes the RB 8 last year. Okay. Being drafted as the RB 10 this year. So by rankings, we think he's super compared to everybody else. Average the most touches of his career was the least efficient he had ever been last year. He's always been a high efficiency guy. I mean, in his career, he's averaged five yards of carrying. That's including this last year where he was down at 3.7 yards per carry. Now, some of that you can't. blame him. They had a lot of offensive line injuries. They had a lot of quarterback injuries and just volume. Yeah, the more volume you get, the harder it is to be super efficient with it. But you could also say, okay, he's getting older. They lost Taryn Armstead on the offensive line. Is James Winston really the salve, you know, to make him spectacular? Basically, is he losing a step or not? That's the question, I think.

And obviously he's not going to be the same without Drew Breeze. Yeah, that's the bigger question to me is just what is Alvin with Winston? We haven't seen much of it. His entire career of excellence was under Drew Breeze. And then last year they went through different quarterbacks. And so there's some risk, the suspension, not likely to happen this year, but it's still looming in some capacity. And then you don't know what the flow of this offense will be. For the first time in a while, you have some pass catching options outside of Camara. with Chris Oliva and Michael Thomas's return. Jarvis. Yeah, and so I think we have some concerns that Camara's passing, you know, past catching volume will match what it had been in previous years, which really was the crux of his value, where he was doing the Echler thing, 200 carries, 80 receptions. That was just kind of like you print that up for Alvin Camara every year. And so I think there's a little bit of suspicion in the fantasy world of whether that will happen again.

I mean, he was still, he pulled in 67 targets and he missed four games. And no Sean Pate. And so he was on pace for 87 targets, how he played a full season. And that includes that weird mystery game where he had. He said 87 targets? Yeah, that was his pace. That was his full season pace. Yeah, that would bum me out. I get it. That's not the Camara that we're used to with Drew Brees, but that's still, that's still a very legit target share. 87 is a very legit target share, great for what he's done historically. But then you add Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry, and Chris Olivae. Oh, yeah, Landry's looking great in camp. So it's like, he's not, he's not going to be the 80 reception guy. Again, that's just, I don't, I don't think that's realistic to stat him down for that. I agree. I agree. Because what, didn't he hit like 81 receptions three straight years? Like receptions, not targets. Yes. Yeah, he started his career, 81, 81, 83.

Yeah, I mean, I think a season that might be more in line, you know, it's the touchdowns. What's going to happen there? He's had those years where he's had 14, 16. He's had a year when he's had four, right in the middle of it, even with Drew Brees and then four last, or sorry, five, and then four last year. So a little bit more questions. I mean, all these guys, again, we're talking about the top 10 running backs. They're the top. They're the best. You want them. You want them all. Yeah, I'm still in on Camara. I want that target share. I want looking at the depth chart, like Mark Ingram is the backup for Alvin Camara. And Ingram's fine. Okay, fine. He can play the role as a backup. But we've seen him now for multiple years of he doesn't have the juice to compete with Alvin Camer at this point. And there's no one else on that roster.

that can i mean dwayne washington malcolm brown tony james jones brooks junior whatever we call him on this podcast like it's alvin camara he's going to be the guy and he probably will be a little bit more efficient on the ground like he was last year but he's going to get a massive amount of volume yeah and even though we've got him at the six don't draft him there because he does carry we expect as of this time that the suspension that will come for him will be next year but that's not a guarantee That could change the legal proceedings two months from now could continue on as they are currently scheduled and then he has a mid-season suspension. So there is risk. Let him drop to the third round, draft him there, get a value. Joe Mixen comes in at seven. Pretty polarizing player to rank right now. I'm at four. Mike has him at 12. I really want to ask Mike some questions about that comparison, comparing him to Alvin Camara because.

Look, we know the Bengals offense is going to be outstanding. You love that for a running back. You want them to be in the red zone. You want them to be scoring. And he finished as the running back three last year. So that was a proven commodity at the running back position from weeks six through 12, 23 plus fantasy points in five of six weeks, third most carries, fifth most red zone touches, fourth most touchdowns. And a coach who doesn't mind inefficiently running the ball. You know? That's true. Yeah, I mean, he had 292 carries last year, which is wonderful. I think that Mixen is polarizing in part because we've hoped for this for years. And then last year you got it, but you got it later than when you drafted him, right? You started the year. You bought in. You got some great week one, then mediocrity for four weeks. And then he really got it going in a consistent fashion over the back half of the year and was an elite.

option for your fantasy team. Um, so why the disparity between Mixon and Camara? Is it proven commodity from the past? Is it the past catching volume, Mike? For Camara specifically, it would be, yeah, those things that I, I know that Camara is the guy and I know that he's going to see, you know, over 60 targets for sure. And with Joe Mixon, like, they, he's the guy. He's the guy. And, but. And honestly, I talked about this on a recent show of it. It just comes down to me liking other running backs a little bit more. And Joe Mixon at 12 does, it does feel very low. But when you're doing your rankings and your projections, there's always, always players. We're like, that guy's too low. And there's just, I can't artificially bump him up. So you're saying you don't actively dislike Joe Nixon. You just actively like other players more. Now, that is correct. To both of you, can Joe Mixon finish?

in the top three this year? No, I don't think so. I think obviously he finished as the running back three last year. So that's some absences, McCaffrey, McCaffrey, no Henry. No Henry. So barring other people above him getting injured and him being healthy at the same time, I don't think that's in the cards. And the reason is because of the past catching work. He's not, as a running back, he's not Derek Kennedy. He's not even Nick Chubb, this incredibly efficient superstar. running back who's just, you just can't stop him. And then in the passing game, he is more involved than a Derek Henry and he's capable, but they don't use him that way. He is not a game script proof back. And that's my worry with him. That's why you saw a lot of, a stretch run of good games and some games where it was bad. In the Super Bowl, there's some Ajay P. Rine out there because the way they give him rest is in passing situations and the two minute drill, they don't use him as the guy. And that's stupid.

But that's the truth. And so that's my issue with Joe Mix. And I really like him. I've got him as my running back seven. I think their offensive line is improved. Their offense is great. And he's the dude. But he's not the full-time dude. He is the guy that they want to give breathers in passing work. And passing work is where fantasy points come quicker. Their offensive line ended 2021, ranked 20th. It begins 2022 ranked 8th. In the NFL, which is nice. They made upgrades at guard and tackle. Najee Harris comes in number eight. His consensus ranking by the three of us puts him two spots behind ADP. I got him at 12, Jason at 6, Mike at 9. He finished to RB4. Probably the player we get the most hate about disliking.

I think it's what Mike said. I don't think any of us dislike Najee Harris. It's liking the potential upside of other running backs slightly more than Najee Harris because last year, look, it was a bit of a, I mean, he was everything. He had 307 carries on the ground. He had 74 receptions. And that's not to, that doesn't take away from Najee Harris. That's a point for what he's capable of doing. But it was also a byproduct of a noodle armed retiring big bin. And you have question marks now. Mitchell Trubisky. Is it him? Is it a rookie over the second half of the year? So it's an expectation, I think, for those numbers to come down a little bit. Yeah. But for him to still be a top 10 running back. Yeah. The bet on Najee is, one, I think he's a very, very talented running back. I love the player. The volume will be there. Over 400 opportunities. Perhaps it comes down a little bit in the target.

department, but Mike Tomlin rolls with one running back. That's just, that's how he does things. That's how he coaches. That's how he's done it for years and years and years. And it's, it's not going to be any different moving forward. So the volume is safe. It's just, you know, in this range, because these are the best players. We're asking ourselves the question. Can Najee finish again? Or this year, could he be a top three guy? Can he finish in the top five? And it's, It's hard to see him getting over that threshold, not by a ton at all. I think he's still fine. If he ends up as you're running back one, I think that's fine. He's going to be a good foundational fantasy football running back because of the volume. But that ceiling, I just don't have it there compared to the other guys. Second lowest yards per carry ever among rookie running backs with 1,200 plus rushing yards. It really was a volume runner last year. Not a lot of big plays on the ground. Now, huge in the passing game.

You know, he's awesome. He's a great running back. And he's built. Look, there are only a few guys that are built to handle a workload. Naji's built to handle it. He didn't miss time, right? I mean, he missed zero games last year. Yeah, he's awesome. I think he's a great player. He could catch the ball. He's built for the workload. You're right there? I get a little choked up talking about Naji. I get it. He's a beautiful man. He's got a great smile. The thing with Najee for me is where I love him the most is in the passing game. That's where he excelled last year, and his targets are going to come down. He had 94 targets last year with Big Ben, snapping the ball, getting rid of it as soon as possible. Deontay, Najee, the checkdowns, he's still going to be involved. He'll have 70 targets, but if you lose 20 targets, you come down a little bit. You don't view the Steelers' offense as one that's going to have the same scoring opportunities.

As the Bengals, that being said, if we put Najee and Joe Mixin right next to each other, you can make arguments for either one. Honestly, I would prefer Najee. That's how I have it ranked because he is more game script proof. You look at the consistency of him, he might not go out there and have the number one overall fantasy finish getting a three touchdown monster performance while their offense just decimates another team. But he didn't have quite that many games where he disappeared because if they're down, he's getting checkdowns. If they're up, he's getting the ball. He's just, he is one of the very few full-time backs. He's just not on an offense with an offensive line that we are in love with right now. That you trust as much. James Connor at number nine. I have him at 11, Jason at 12, Mike at 7. He finished the RB 5 last year. I'm going to be transparent with you. I don't think he's going to be in my top 12 by the time the season starts. Okay.

question his ability to repeat what he did last year. I'm starting to believe that the team trusts, you know, Benjamin more than we think they do. And you're talking about a season that had 18 touchdowns on the ground for an older James Connor that I think that variable, because of how inefficient he was as a runner. It throws into question whether I think he can get back to that mark, that RB5 mark. I love the offense. We've made the argument for him. But I understand why he's being drafted at RB16 in the third round. It doesn't, like, there was a time this off season where I was like, that's outlandish. That's ridiculous. That's absolutely insane. But he does possess injury risk. Sure. And I think part of managing that injury risk, Arizona is going to use.

a couple of other guys more often than we want them to. Now, not around the goal line. Like, he's going to have opportunities to score a lot of touchdowns. But I guess I don't want to overemphasize the departure of Chase Edmonds, and I don't want to under-emphasize these other backs that may do a little bit of what you just talked about with Joe Mixon. I think some of that's going to happen in Arizona with Eno Benjamin on third down. Eno can be the P. Rhine, the Chris Evans from Cincinnati. But I'll leave you two to discuss Connor. Those things are, they certainly could happen. What we have to go off, though, is last year when Chase Edmonds went out and James Connor's usage went, you know, through the roof. We're talking from, you know, 14 opportunities a game to over 22 opportunities a game. Just that's a sensational workload for fantasy. Eno was the, was that guy. You had like a month stretch here from weeks 10 to 14 where.

or 10th through week 13 where Chase Edmonds was not involved. And Eno Benjamin's getting seven opportunities a game. Like he's last year they really didn't use him. Maybe they trust him more. It felt like more of a break glass emergency admin's injury thing. But yeah, maybe. Maybe Eno has finally stepped up. Basically the only thing you can say for Eno is as a seventh round pick, he has managed to stay on the team. Yeah, they added Darrell Williams too. But I'm saying like most seventh rounders, it's difficult to stay on a team for multiple years. And Eno has done that, so maybe they like him even more. But like James Connor, where he was awesome, was as a pass catcher. And these first six games for Arizona, you don't have the number one pass catching option with DeAndre Hopkins, who is suspended for PEDs. Like Connor is, Connor is great.

at that comparatively to the rest of the running backs on his team. I know Daryl Williams volumed his way there last year with the Kansas City Chiefs, but in my opinion, Connor has a much better option there. And then when they get to the goal line, Cliff Kingsbury's favorite play in the entire world is to run the ball up the middle. Rodney Hudson, their center. Coming back. Flirted with retirement, but he is coming back. He's not what he used to be, but he's still. He's still good enough, clearly, to get it done where you had 15 rushing touchdowns for James Connor. And the volume may come down, but James Connor to me is a very high probability to repeat double-digit touchdowns when you combine rushing and receiving. So I...

High risk, very, very high risk player. I totally admit that. But I think at the end of the year, he's still a top 10 guy. Yeah, with the Eno Benjamin stuff, I was looking for the quote. I couldn't find it. I read it. It was about a month ago. One of the other Arizona Cardinals players was talking about how Eno Benjamin is finally out of the doghouse this year. And I found that so interesting that it was like, oh, so this is a player admitting that this guy was in the doghouse last year. Cliff Kingsbury said it's like a completely different player coming in this season. He's been criticized for his work ethic, his film study, all of that stuff. And apparently whatever he's done this off season, he's come ready to play. And the buzz has been real around here. The local guys, you know, we're a lock for the backup. We're from Arizona. And it does seem like it's Eno's job. I think that he will play most of the Chase Edmund role, but not as much. So he will, so James Connor to me will be what James Connor was with Chase Edmonds.

plus a little bit this coming season. And to illustrate that, if you just take out the first two weeks where James Conner wasn't really the guy at all yet, the rest of the season he was the running back five. So that is a huge chunk. That is plenty of games with Chase Edmonds. And I think he could, you know, I think he could repeat that because he is involved in the passing game. He is the clear goal line guy. He's on a high-powered offense. But he's got a good injury risk. So he's risky. Thankfully, he's dropping to the third round. One stat that is worth mentioning, not just for Connor, but anybody in this category, but he had a league leading 15 red zone touchdowns. And over the last decade, 43 different running backs that had double-digit red zone rushing touchdowns. Only five of those 43 repeated that number the next year. It's very difficult to do. Yeah. Aaron Jones comes in at number 10, one of my favorite picks in the draft right now. I think the opportunity.

To get a value on Aaron Jones is very high. He's a late second round pick. Packers need past catchers. And Aaron Jones is a proven commodity in that department. You're going to get, you know, to me, I'd rather take Aaron Jones, no looming suspension, same amount of opportunities, more trustworthy quarterback. Give me Aaron Jones at his draft cost over Alvin Camara. That's my take. I think he's just a very, very good, efficient runner. He's going to share time. with AJ Dillon, but they're going to share time together on the field as well. Yeah, I mean, you look at the games that Devante Adams has missed. You watch the target volume go up for Aaron Jones, who's probably the best offensive piece on this team outside of Aaron Rogers. He is someone that is reliable for fantasy, reliable for the offense. He's been a top 12 running back the last three years, even with missing a couple games. His target,

Total should go up. I know that he's probably going to seed a few more goal line opportunities and a few more carries to Aaron Jones or to AJ Dylan. But Aaron Jones to me is one of my favorite picks. I mean, right now he's at the 208. When you're getting a player like this who's been a top 12 running back three years in a row, who's the center piece of a great offense who catches the ball, you know, and he's, you know, he's still. young enough to where I don't think he's lost anything. I love the Aaron Jones pick. I don't see much wrong with it other than he isn't. I mean, the reason he's being drafted where he's being drafted is because he's not a guy that's going to touch the ball 325 plus times. The top 10 running backs. Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey, Austin Eckler, Derek Henry, Dalvin Cook, Alvin Kamara, Joe Mixen, Najee Harris, James Connor, and Aaron Jones. We will be talking more running backs on tomorrow's show. Out of those 10, who are you most worried about busting?